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Scratch & Bash
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Engines / Rolling Stock
The History of National Garden Railroad Convention Cars
Member Brent Stuvland has put together a pictorial history of The National Convention Cars. Can you help complete the list?
Jun 6, 2013 - 9:00:00 AM
Building a Large Scale Locomotive Kit
This loco was a real challenge to assemble. It is not a kit for the amateur modeler or the fainthearted. The entire project probably took almost 100 man hours to complete.
Dec 14, 2012 - 11:00:00 AM
Video - Chicken Train - Live Poultry Transit by Rail - Large Scale Garden Train Model and some History
Allan Warrior has created a Large Scale Garden Train model of a box car that was used in the late 1880's and later to transport live chickens to market.
Aug 10, 2012 - 9:00:00 AM
A Track Cleaning Car You Can Build Today
Do you need a track cleaning car for your railroad? Member Bill Ness explains how to build one today so you can have clean track by tomorrow.
Jul 13, 2012 - 11:00:00 AM
Installing a Gear Reduction Case in a Bachmann K-27 Increase Performance And Pulling Power
As delivered by Bachmann, starting in late December 2007, the locomotive has a gear ratio of 14.5 to 1. Within the last several months Rodney Edington has offered a gear reduction box that changes the gear ratio to 26 to 1. This new gear ratio really does make a major difference in the K-27 operating characteristics. The change in operation is dramatic. Come see how you can update yours.
Jul 13, 2011 - 8:00:00 AM
Building a Phil's Narrow Gauge Craftsman's Kit - Part 4
In our last segment I installed the roof walk and completed the underbody details. In this one I will be finishing off the details on the car and decaling and weathering it. here is a considerable amount of hardware to be put on this car. There are a total of 236 cast metal and brass parts to be installed. There are 36 grab irons and 150 brass nuts and bolts. This part of the project was the most time consuming, but also was a lot of fun to do.
Jun 8, 2011 - 8:00:00 AM
Building a Phil's Narrow Gauge Craftsman's Kit - Part 3
As I continued building Phil's Narrow Gauge Commissary Car kit, I was getting to the more enjoyable part of the construction. In the first segment of the article, I built the basic box of the car and in the second segment I constructed the windows, doors and roof of the car. In this segment I will be installing the roof walk and completing the underbody details. In this segment we begin to get into the more interesting and challenging modeling.
Jun 1, 2011 - 8:00:00 AM
Building a Phil's Narrow Gauge Craftsman's Kit - Part 2
In the first section of this article, we had completed the basic box of the car and in this section we will construct the windows, doors and the roof of the Phil's Narrow Gauge Commissary Car kit. I located the two bags of door parts and the bag of window parts and laid them out so that I could identify each of the parts. They included doors, windows, spacers, screens, door casings and trim. Let's get to work!
May 25, 2011 - 8:00:00 AM
Building a Phil's Narrow Gauge Craftsman's Kit - Part 1
Every year I try to come up with projects to do while we spend the winter in Florida. This year I actually finished three major projects. The first was the GP-9 that I gutted and built up the interior to include models of the diesel and traction motors. The second was to convert a 1/24-scale Aristo Craft cabooses to a 1/29 scale New York Central caboose. The final project was to construct one of the Phil's Narrow Gauge craftsman's kits. Come see how I built it.
May 18, 2011 - 8:00:00 AM
Hand Lettering your Freight Cars
As most of us who model, I have need for lettering. And since dry transfers are getting hard to find around here, or are a special order item. And since they never seem to be in the color I want. Come see how I solved this problem.
Feb 23, 2011 - 9:00:00 AM
The Largest Tank Car Ever Built
This is the story of how I build a #1 scale model of GATX 96500, the largest tank car ever built.
Feb 16, 2011 - 9:00:01 AM
Light Duty Maintenance Stand
This write-up describes a little project I had in mind for several years, but somehow the right piece of lumber was never on hand. Finally, prompted by the invitation to submit hints for the 2011 LSOL calendar, I decided to go ahead.
Feb 9, 2011 - 10:00:07 AM
(VIDEO) New Product: USA Trains Body Mounted Couplers (HiDef)
USA Trains Ultimate Series rolling stock have a ready to use area for adding a body mount coupler. USA Trains has made it simple with some upgrades that will let you body mount your USA knuckle couplers with just a simple modification. Come see how easy it really is and how good it really looks.
Jan 12, 2011 - 10:00:00 AM
GP-9: If it Does Not Run Well, Make it Look Great Standing Still - Part2
In the last part of this article I explain how I found the materials I needed to prepare the loco shell and construct the EMD 567 prime mover. I will also show how we painted, lettered and weathered the final model. I returned to the access doors to apply hinges and latches made from .040 styrene strips.
Dec 22, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
GP-9: If it Does Not Run Well, Make it Look Great Standing Still - Part1
A couple of months ago I was reading one of the several model railroading and railroad magazines that I receive each month and came across an article that really got my attention. I didn't want to duplicate the prime mover failure, but I liked the idea of having the locomotive with most of the access panels open for servicing, allowing a view of the prime mover.
Dec 15, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
Log Cars: From Plastic to Real. It is Easier Than You Think.
The Bachamnn skeleton log car is a nicely detailed car as it comes, but the molded on detail doesn't stand out too well since the car is molded all in one color. But I can fix that, but so can you.
Oct 27, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
How hard is it to install Kadee Couplers?
What's keeping you from Kadee Couplers? See how easy it is. I thought the easiest way to answer many of your questions was to show you how-to actually replace your current couplers.
Oct 27, 2010 - 9:00:01 AM
Paint them Kadee Couplers
Then one night on the chat line I got a compliment on how I weathered my couplers. So I thought that maybe that would make a good article.
Oct 13, 2010 - 9:00:00 AM
Making your Rolling Stock More Real. ACI - Automatic Car Identification
Most of my childhood I grew up in a house that had railroad tracks running behind it. For many years it was the Penn Central that ran on those tracks, some Norfolk and Western trains would occasionally pass over those tracks and in later years it was Conrail. I was always interested in trains and used to stop whatever I was doing to watch the trains go by. I noticed that the cars back then had these colorful signs bolted to the sides of them. It was only years later that I found out these were ACI plates, a sort of color bar code used to identify the cars.
Oct 6, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
Body Mount Kadee Couplers
Last year, I picked up a couple of Bachmann cars: a box car and a tank car at a train show. I planned to detail and paint the cars and convert them to Kadee couplers. I found the conversion was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated and took less than 1/2 hour each.
Oct 6, 2010 - 9:00:00 AM
Durango & Rio Grande Western Gunnison Wedge Snowplow Kit - Part 2
Last week I explained how I had completed a good part of the model of the Rio Grande Models UK Gunnison snowplow. This week I will explain how I finished building it and then painted, decaled and weathered the final model.
Jun 15, 2010 - 9:00:00 AM
Durango & Rio Grande Western Gunnison Wedge Snowplow Kit - Part 1
I immediately recognized it as a project for my next winter in Florida and purchased it from Jonathan. I put it on a shelf and then took it with me when we traveled to Florida for the winter. When I arrived in Florida, I began building the model.
Jun 14, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
Add Detail to Aristo Evans 53' Plug Door Boxcar
When Aristo came out with their 53' Evans cars I hesitated on buying them at first because I didn't like the fake plug doors. That changed the first time I saw a 53' Railbox car with the painted black doors, so I thought I'd try one. I felt the difference in the painted doors helped to add more to the car and not make it look so plain.
May 26, 2010 - 10:00:00 AM
What do you do with an old Santa Fe U-25B?
What do you do with an old Santa Fe U-25B? Do you scrap it, do you try to resurrect it or do you simply just let it fade away? This the story of how the Wooster, Worthington & Delaware Railroad came to own its very first engine, the "Hybrid", made from a Santa Fe U-25B, for its roster.
May 12, 2010 - 10:00:05 AM
IDA (Ruby) Transformation into a Porter Type
The purchase of an IDA was a decision made after scratch building two live steam "Project" Engines and deciding to move into conventional G-Scale Live steam.
Oct 28, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
Kid Size Garden Train Projects: Making Rolling Stock More Real
I figured I could come up with some simple projects that you could help your children or grandchildren do. I wanted to keep them simple so that younger kids could do them, but at the same time give you some ideas that you could use to improve your railroad.
Aug 19, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
Super Bash: Making a 2-8-8-2 Cab Forward Part 2
My next step was to figure out how to build the pipes for the steam exhaust that go to the high pressure cylinders. I needed to acquire some 1/4 inch copper pipe and 90 degree fittings. The pipe was not a problem, the fittings, well that is the problem. My thought was to make the fittings with 1/4 inch tubing. The problem was getting the curve in the 90 degrees.
Aug 12, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
Super Bash: Making a 2-8-8-2 Cab Forward Part I
In the past several years I have converted over to 1/20.3 modeling. I enjoy the logging phase of modeling in 1/20. I have just about every scale in large scale trains and before converting to 1/20 my last purchase was the Aristo Craft 2-8-8-2 Mallet. I ran it but not as often as I did my 1/20 scale trains. It was becoming a shelf Queen and while on LSOL one evening I saw some photo's that Ron Senek who had converted the Aristo Mallet into a cab forward #4181.
Jul 29, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
Converting New Bright Trucks for Your Railroad
Well, here is the next of a workbench project that won't take long, involves only two tools (saw and drill), and gives you the excuse to, as you told me a bit back, purchase those "New Bright" freight cars that are popping up in yard sales and flea markets.
Jul 22, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
Let's fill those hopper's... so to speak.
No. I'm not speaking of the "library" hopper! I'm talking hopper cars, gondolas, ore cars, tenders and the like. Many of these cars arrive empty and appear to be begging to be filled with revenue generating cargo.
Mar 18, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
Making of the LSOL.com container cars for the World's Longest Train
Suleski Transportation was intrigued by the attempt for the world's longest train that was being put on by Rick the Railroad Guy on the Dynamite, Rio Verde & Eastern Railroad in Scottsdale, AZ. Always willing to help out, Suleski Transportation sent down two five car intermodal sets to add to the length of the train. We then got contacted by Jon DeKeles of the B.I.G.D. Railroad in Post Falls, ID. It seems Jon was sending down a bunch of well car sets and wanted to have 50 containers lettered for his business, LSOL.com.
Mar 11, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
AMS 1:20.3 Freight Cars Truck and Coupler Tune up
Usually when rolling stock or locomotives do not track well, i.e. they derail, the problem in the majority of cases can be traced to one of three causes. Or a combination of the major causes. Those three causes are; wheels sets out of gauge, lack of car or locomotive side-bearing, and track cross-level.
Mar 4, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM
Converting an AMS Jackson & Sharpe Coach to a Combine
I decided I could not wait any longer for a Combine, so I decided to convert one of my coaches. I used the internet to search for various combine layouts, including the drawing of the delayed AMS combine (Now due later this year?) and the kit from UK Engineering that consists of laser cut wood replacement sides.
Mar 4, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
VIDEO: Bachmann Rolling Stock Kits
Come watch this HighDef wide-screen video and learn what the Bachmann Rolling Stock Kits are all about. At a time when we want to make every penny count you just might find out these easy to build kits could be the ticket to custom rolling stock on your railroad.
Feb 11, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
Aristo Dash-9 & Kadee Couplers
One thing I love about Large Scale Trains is that there are at least two ways to do something.
Jan 28, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
Painting your Large Scale Engines
Painting large-scale engines and rolling stock isn't as hard as you'd think. I paint of lot of equipment for Suleski Transportation. I think engines are the most fun. Just like real railroads the engine is what shows off your image to the public.
Jan 21, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
Improving Aristo Freight Car Trucks
One of my early experiments involved making the Bettendorf trucks under the Aristo line of freight cars look more realistic and I thought some of you might enjoy learning about what I did.
Jan 14, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
G-Scale Drag Strip Controller
Why on earth would anyone want a drag strip controller for a model railroad? What is this, a trick question? The answer is simple, what could be more fun than a little friendly competition racing locomotives on a G-Scale drag strip??? Come see why...
Oct 8, 2008 - 10:16:00 AM
How to win at the LSOL.com Drag Strip!
A fair drag race between track powered engines requires that both tracks be powered by the same model power supply. This assures that the engines compete on an equal playing field. In order to make things a bit more interesting (some might describe it as "cheating")
Oct 8, 2008 - 9:00:00 AM
Simple self-propelled Track Cleaner
When our railways were young, cleaning track was a duty that was handled with interest and enthusiasm.
Sep 24, 2008 - 9:00:00 AM
Add Weight to your Tank Cars
Adding weight to your rolling stock can help them run better and stay on the track when the wind gets high. But a little weight can also help in temporary situations when you want to keep two trains apart.
Jul 23, 2008 - 9:00:00 AM
Bachmann Passenger Car Coupler Modification
Jackson & Sharp coaches marketed by Bachmann offer good value along with acceptable prototypical detail for operators of narrow gauge equipment.
Jul 16, 2008 - 6:00:00 AM
Add Kadees to your USA streamline coaches
Because each garden railway trains manufacturer has a unique coupler design and these designs are not always compatible with one another.
Jul 2, 2008 - 6:00:00 AM
Wheel Mod: AMS Jackson & Sharpe passenger coaches
I recently purchased a couple of the new AMS Jackson & Sharpe passenger coaches in plastic. Overall I'm very pleased, but one thing you will notice right away is the amount of drag on the wheels. Time for a fix.
May 28, 2008 - 10:00:00 AM
Learn How to Make a Pickle Car
No, I have yet to see this type of car except for a set of side and end plans, so I'm putting this down as a "How to do it", scratch built/freelance project. Apparently in the early years of the twentieth century, before transport by truck became a more convenient method of transport, this type of car was a means to get a specific product from a processing plant to a packaging facility.
Jan 23, 2008 - 10:00:00 AM
Update your Aristo-Craft SD-45
One summer the wires on the connecter between the locomotive and tender broke because of the constant flexing and times when the train derailed.
Jan 9, 2008 - 9:00:00 AM
Disassembling the Bachmann Ten Wheeler
I recently had to replace the motor in one of my Bachmann Ten Wheelers. I decided to do this myself rather than send it to Bachmann for repair since I had heavily modified the engine and had considerable experience "inside" the engine. Bachmann sent me a new motor for the usual repair fee.
Oct 17, 2007 - 10:00:00 AM
Conversion of a LGB 2-6-0 Mogul into a Uintah 0-6-2T
A little over a year ago, one of our club members passed away and his wife sold his railroad to many of our members. I purchased the Uintah Mallet #51 and a water car. After looking at pictures of several model engines that might lead to a good conversion rather than building one from scratch, I settled on the LGB Mogul #23191 Come see how I convert it to a Uintah 0-6-2T
Sep 19, 2007 - 10:00:00 AM
Scratch Built A Cattle Car
After a few months of thought on how to approach this, I have compiled a step by step assembly of a generic cattle/stock car using basic scrap wood and "household" Goop with no brads, nails or screws used in constuction.
Aug 22, 2007 - 10:00:00 AM
Installing a New Drive in an Old Pacific
When my new Pacific arrived I threw it on the test bench and was not disappointed with its performance. I started to look at my old Pacific (about 9 years old) with lots of hours and worn bearings and tires, and the wheels started turning.
Aug 1, 2007 - 10:00:00 AM
Large Scale Couplers Today
Coupling your trains in large scale model railroading can be an interesting misadventure. Those that are new to the world of large scale may not realize there is more than one type of coupler out there while seasoned modelers can?t believe the mess on our hands.
Jul 4, 2007 - 5:00:00 AM
LGB Forney Coal Bunker Modification
After receiving my fourth LGB Forney on the property, I decided that something had to be done with the coal bunker. The original bunker is unrealistically too small to provide an adequate coal supply to the locomotive, unless maybe the engine is assigned as a yard goat.
Mar 14, 2007 - 10:00:00 AM
Make a Valentine's Day Car
I always like to do something special for Valentine's Day. Being married to Jo Anne for over 25 years has given me the challenge of coming up with something new each year.
Feb 14, 2007 - 6:00:00 AM
Making Your Christmas Cars Better
Each year I see rolling stock for sale that has had extra decorations added on them. Sometimes the prices are $10 and $20 higher than the regular cost of the car. I wonder what it takes to make these cars even more cheerful? Guess what? It only takes about $3.00. Let me show you what I mean.
Dec 13, 2006 - 9:00:00 AM
Archbar? Bettendorf? Keep on Trucking!
In this hobby we discuss trucks, the wheel sets that are under our train cars. But I have found that there is some uncertainly about the different types of trucks in use on people's railroads. Come learn just what might be under your rolling stock and maybe why it is there, and knowing why just might be a good thing.
Nov 15, 2006 - 10:00:00 AM
Adding a Working Bachmann Coupler to the Front of a Ten-Wheeler
But the front coupler has always been and still is strictly for ornamental purposes. Since I have knuckle couplers on most of the rolling stock, I really wanted to be able to couple up to the front end for switching and double-heading.
Oct 18, 2006 - 7:00:00 AM
How to Modify your Engine. Make it What you Want
I know there are a lot of you, like me, who want a locomotive that is not available in the road name and equipment design of your favorite road. You do, however, have a locomotive that would come close with some minor structural changes, painting and decaling. What do you do? Just modify it.
Oct 11, 2006 - 10:00:00 AM
Updating Trucks on USA Covered Hoppers
I recently purchased the new USA center flow covered hopper freight cars at the South East Large Scale Train Show in Perry, GA. When I started changing out the truck, I discovered that there was a difference in the depth of the bolster frame between the USA and A/C trucks. What to do?
Oct 11, 2006 - 9:00:00 AM
LGB Genesis Kadee Upgrade
Since Kadee couplers are so popular with many large scale operators I thought it might be interesting to install a pair on the LGB Genesis. The Genesis, with its pivoting pilot/snow plow, adds another dimension to a Kadee installation.
Mar 22, 2006 - 8:44:00 AM
LGB Genesis Smoke Unit Upgrade
As delivered the LGB Genesis diesel locomotive is not equipped with a smoke unit. The Genny could use some smoke to add additional visual interest.
Mar 21, 2006 - 9:07:00 AM
Building a Rotary Snow Plow
had seen a USA rotary plow several years ago and thought it was a neat car, but when I found out it was not really meant to blow snow, I kind of lost interest in it.
Jan 24, 2006 - 6:34:00 AM
Building A New Incline in Pittsburgh
I have always been fascinated by Pittsburghs two remaining inclines, the Duquesne Incline and the Monongahela Incline.
Jan 11, 2006 - 7:05:00 AM
Build a Large Scale Engine Carrier
Build an Aristo Craft Mallet Carrying Case with Hillman Bridge clamps
Nov 9, 2005 - 7:04:00 AM
Build your own Bachmann Mallet - Part 2
I have always had a fascination with articulated locomotives but, due to lack of space, I can't run large radius curves.
Oct 26, 2005 - 10:18:00 AM
Build your own Bachmann Mallet - Part 1
I have always had a fascination with articulated locomotives but, due to lack of space, I can't run large radius curves.
Oct 19, 2005 - 8:25:00 AM
Installing Aristo-Craft's lowered floor assembly in the 40 foot freight cars
I decided to install the Aristo-Craft, ART-29706, floor assembly with its shallow bolsters starting with my Reefer cars, particularly the PFE cars
Aug 17, 2005 - 4:47:00 AM
Custom Painting an Aristo Dash-9
Recently I asked him to make a custom "Spirit of America" LSOL Dash-9 for us to use on our railroad and to take to shows.
Jun 8, 2005 - 7:24:00 AM
Hand crafted Passenger Cars - The Full Story
In a previous article I built the passenger locomotive for my version of The Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Rail Road. Now I needed passenger cars, and again I couldn't find what I needed commercially available.
Jun 1, 2005 - 11:41:00 AM
How to: Bachmann Mogul Cab Upgrade
An easy modification to bring the little engine more in line with 1:20.3 proportions is to install a larger cab. There are several suppliers of well designed, easy to assemble, laser cut wood kits.
Apr 6, 2005 - 5:06:00 AM
Whistle/Bell Device: For LGB steam type engines
The device that LGB sells or furnishes with LGB steam type engines is a "snap between the rails" device that is neither easy to install and even more difficult to remove.
Feb 3, 2005 - 6:59:00 AM
USA Gunderson Intermodal Car Modifications
I delight in running my USA Gunderson Intermodal consists on my Heartland Garden Railway. It is, however, a lot less delight when windy conditions prevail.
Feb 2, 2005 - 9:00:00 AM
Cabooses: The train crew's home away from home.
I don't know about you, but I love cabooses. I don't love them as much as I love Hudsons, Pacifics, PA's or observation cars, but I do love them.
Jan 5, 2005 - 4:53:00 AM
USA Trains PA - fixing the derail problem
When I finally put them back on the indoor track to pull my passenger cars, I found that they tended to derail pretty regularly. I quickly grew frustrated and decided to seek help for this problem.
Jul 21, 2004 - 10:13:00 AM
Build a one of a kind MOW Crane
I like to create projects that give me things other railroads don't have. I like Maintenance of Way construction equipment that I can play with.
Apr 21, 2004 - 7:13:00 AM
Adding People to an LGB Trolley
One thing we saw that could use some improvemeant was adding more people to our Trolley.
Mar 31, 2004 - 6:47:00 AM
Making a Interurban - Part 2
This article describes converting another Interurban Street Car and one of Hartland's line cars and adding them to my growing fleet of Indiana Rail Road interurbans.
Feb 25, 2004 - 8:28:00 AM
Making a Interurban - Part 1
For many years I have been fascinated with the concept of the interurban. It was a very big item in my home state of Indiana in the early part of the 20th century. Learn how to modified a Interurban Street Car and one of the Rail Motor Cars to replicate Indiana Railroad interurbans found in the mid-1930s.
Dec 17, 2003 - 9:26:00 AM
Kitbashing a Hartland Forney
This is what presented me with the challenge; no one commercially produces a model of these prototypes. This meant that I was going to have to create my own model. I chose a Hartland Princess 2-4-4 Forney as the basis for my first conversion, due the small drivers, correct style stack and light, and cost.
Nov 26, 2003 - 9:08:00 AM
Painting Bachmann Log Carts for Added Realism
Bachmann's log cars are credible inexpensive models, which come complete with logs and metal wheels. Their only drawback is their plastic looking logs and unrealistic coloring.
May 14, 2003 - 3:31:00 AM
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