I don't know anything more frustrating than having a beautiful model railroad but not being able to keep train cars on the track long enough to enjoy it. Face it, you can have glorious scenery with incredible detail down to the smallest blade of grass. Your livestock looks like it could stampede at any moment. …
My last model railroading post was in September. I was elbows-deep in plaster powder and working hard to move my layout project toward some kind of coherency. Now, after almost 80 pounds of plaster, trials and failures with various mixtures of acrylic paint, I am really pleased with the Maple Valley Short Line. It's almost …
Before you get upset and say something you might regret later, let me explain. I’m making progress on my model railroad and I’m excited about it. It’s been a long time since I spent more than an hour with my layout. In the last few days I’ve probably spent fifteen hours with The Maple Valley …
Continue reading A Messy Model Railroad is a Happy Model Railroad
I’ve been struggling with a couple of things on my model railroad. I love my scratch-built basswood and balsa bridges. I used dark brown spray paint and I had to decide how to apply weathering finishes. I used a mixture of Ceramcoat acrylic paint, light gray, dark brown, a little yellow, a little red, and …
Photos and Blog by Dale Parsons In this post I’m adding some additional details and photos that will be helpful to those who read the original post, “How to Build Strong Model Railroad Benchwork.” This is a close-up of the braces I made for my first shelf-style layout. These are the same braces but I …
Continue reading Strong Model Railroad Benchwork – More Helpful Details
Are you tired of waiting for patience? Model railroading is a great exercise in stretching your ability to wait for something good to happen. My current layout project began, literally, on the floor. The room I am using was a storage place for all the overflow stuff. I had to move, package, stack, sort, discard, …
Are you working on your HO scale train layout? Are you anxious to see trains moving through your scenery? So am I! This new layout I'm working on has taken a very long time, but I am taking serious steps to move forward. I have never used extruded foam as a base before, so I'm …
People who consider themselves model railroaders, or someday hope to be, had to start somewhere. Not very many start with a bunch of locomotives, tons of rolling stock, loads of scenery and a ready-made layout just waiting for an engineer. Usually, they start with a "train set" and a dream. Even a small oval on …
Continue reading Adventures in Model Railroading – Small Beginnings
A Coffee State of Mind 