Prototype – Page 12 – Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal operations – pt 1

The first B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal operating session of 2015 was held on January 30th. Mike came in from Las Cruces to participate. I think this was the fifth session since operations began in late June 2014. While the layout is not large, we did move 71 freight cars in a three hour session. Some of the operating methods have altered since the first session and I wanted to share these ideas. This will probably end up as two or three parts so I don’t bore anyone with too much detail in one sitting.

Continue reading “B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal operations – pt 1”

Resin Freight Car kit builds – part 6

On December 1, 2014, a few modelers from across the country began to build HO scale models of the Southern SU, 36-foot, double-sheathed box cars. Models by Funaro & Camerlengo and Westerfield were used in this group build.

Ray Breyer sent along his build updates though December and approved sharing them here on the blog. I hope to share a couple more of these builds very soon. Here are Ray’s thoughts and processes for his Southern SU box car build. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

Continue reading “Resin Freight Car kit builds – part 6”

Weathering Railroad Models – Hopper Car Interiors

weathering_car_interiors — Recently weathered HO scale hopper cars, and one gondola.

About a month ago I shared this lead image on Facebook and with a few friends. There were several compliments and a recurring question, “How did you do that?” Here’s a walkthrough of the basic steps I used on these hopper car interiors. Click on any image here to review a larger version.

Continue reading “Weathering Railroad Models – Hopper Car Interiors”

RPM Meet season!

While it is not Spring yet, we did reset the clocks for Daylight Savings Time over the weekend and that adds anticipation for the upcoming season change. There are several Railroad Prototype Modeler events in the next few months for modelers to become inspired to move your model efforts forward. Here are the events!

Railroad Prototype Modelers Valley Forge – March 28-30 in Malvern, PA (metro-Philadelphia)
Western Prototype Modelers Meet – March 29 in San Bernadino, CA
Central Ohio RPM Meet – April 24-26 in Marion, Ohio
New England/Northeast RPM Meet – May 30 & 31 in Collinsville, CT
Bay Area Prototype Modelers Meet – June 21 in Richmond, CA
St. Louis RPM Meet – August 8 & 9 in Collinsville, IL

I strongly recommend attending one of these events to learn more about the prototype and new techniques to use on your model building. I’ll be attending the Valley Forge event and giving a presentation on the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal prototype and layout update. I hope to see you there!

Blog Update

All of the blog posts here have been updated so all images appear again. There was a small coding problem that occurred with a software upgrade. It took a little while to figure out the problem and then some extra time to make the individual corrections, but that work has been completed and new posts are on the way soon!

Scratchbuilding a Shed

Building models using a minimum of commercial parts or set directions is often referred to as scratchbuilding. Anyone who is building a model railroad that closely follows a specific prototype location will need to scratchbuild a number of structures to capture the look and feel of the real place. In some cases, commercial models can be modified and altered to represent an actual structure but those instances are infrequent. Scratchbuilding has challenged many model railroaders over the years. The fear of failing or messing up a project inhibits many modelers. I think all model railroaders should attempt at least one scratchbuilt structure. I recently finished two small buildings and learned new skills in the process. Click on any image here to review a large size. Let’s take a look at one of these projects.

Continue reading “Scratchbuilding a Shed”