The Rip Track

UP has put up a press release today to announce that the latest heritage scheme is in honor of Denver & Rio Grande Western. UP 1989 sports a three-color (black, yellow and grey) scheme featuring a profile of mountains on the cab sides and the Rio Grande logo on the nose. The press release includes a few photos, there are bound to be more at the railfan sites soon.

Rust streaks often start at points on a car where two pieces of metal intersect, such as where the roofwalk supports meet the top of the car or along the weld joints in the side panels on this covered hopper. From the origin point, the rust normally flows downward, pulled by water and gravity.

When you're assembling a kit structure, spend a little extra time to make sure that all the parts fit snugly, even going so far as to fill, sand and paint over any gaps that result from assembly. A seam like this one will definitely not help you in merit award judging.

Adding a backdrop to even a small layout can make the layout look a great deal larger. This scene under construction is on a 4'x6' HO scale layout. Sure, there's a lot going on here, even without the finished scenery, but in hiding part of the layout, your imagination and sense of reality make you believe that there's quite a bit more on the other side.

When you're planning your model empire, look at the places on your layout where you plan to have a lot of switching (the yards and heavy industrial areas). These are the places where your operators will congregate, so leave enough room in the aisle that they can get by each other. Sometimes it will require curving a yard around a corner, like you can see here. Believe it or not, this photo is from an operating session at a home layout.

There have been quite a few letters written to various publications about the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and its value to the average modeler. Many of the letters that I've seen boil down to the question "what's in it for me?" For me, personally, there's quite a lot in it. So why did I join the NMRA and why do I stay a member? Read more to find out...

Adding interiors to your foreground structures can not only get you extra points on NMRA contest judging, but their presence on your layout makes the viewer believe that your background buildings are also as detailed, even when they aren't. The model pictured here was entered in the structures category at the Seattle convention.

On this date (May 26) in history, the Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr made its famous "dawn-to-dusk" non-stop run from Denver to Chicago in 1934 at an average speed of 77 mph; the trainset was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago on May 26, 1960, and it can still be seen there today.

With the move to more prototypical appearance comes smaller profile track and consequently, a need for smaller flanges on equipment. A lot of the newer equipment is already manufactured with small flanges or replacement wheelsets are readily available. But what do you do with the equipment that can't be addressed this way? Chuck the wheels in your Dremel and turn down the flanges. I've got to try this!

Install your tunnel portals before you add the plaster and other scenic materials so you can better integrate the portal into the surrounding scenery. Unless the tunnel prototype you're modeling is brand-spanking-new, you shouldn't generally be able to see every edge of a portal that's at the bottom of a cut. Plus, you'll be able to fine-tune your train clearances more easily.