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Tag Archives: model railroad
Off my trolley – interurban branchlines – 1
A good, if rather conventional, place to start with interurban layouts, is the conventional branch line. Some electric railroads were no more than a branch line in total. Others, like the Pacific Electric, had twigs off the branches off the … Continue reading
Posted in Layout design, Traction
Tagged interurban, layout design, model railroad, traction
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Jon’s modules – Mojo coming back!
The mojo returneth (at least in part). After an interlude that included reading the first 400 pages of Bishop Tom Wright’s 1600 page magnum opus on Paul, lumberjacking a 40 foot pine tree in the garden, and clearing up after my … Continue reading
Hints and tips – N gauge handbrake
Browsing RMweb today (looking for I don’t know what) I came across this idea by Andy Gautrey on his Yakima Valley layout. It is for HO, but I see no reason it won’t work in N. “There are also a few 2mm … Continue reading
Off my trolley – interurbans
WARNING – if you are from North America, please look away. This is a confirmed UK resident writing about US railroads, so total accuracy is unlikely! But I hope in this post to give some idea of the breadth of … Continue reading
Posted in Jon's layout ramblings, Layout design, Traction
Tagged interurban, layout design, model railroad, traction
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How long to keep an old layout?
For the author, this would have been a academic question 15 years ago. At that time I hadn’t actually ‘finished’ a layout. This has only happened after joining ESNG and going ‘N’ gauge (after forays in OO, EM, OO9 and … Continue reading
Posted in ESNG, Jon's layout ramblings
Tagged layout design, Lehigh Valley, model railroad, N gauge
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Off my trolley – streetcars and trolley layouts
Again we need a cultural translation here: trolley = streetcar = tram. Streetcars tended to be smaller that the big interurbans running between towns. But you could find an interurban winding its way through the city traffic on its way to … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Jon's layout ramblings, Layout design, Traction
Tagged interurban, layout design, model railroad, traction
5 Comments
Layout design – different voices – simple layout, complex operation
Another interesting voice in the layout design world is Lance Mindheim, who most originally posts at http://www.lancemindheim.com/. He has built a number of very interesting layouts. The first was a 20×20 foot N gauge layout of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Jon's layout ramblings, Layout design
Tagged layout design, model railroad
2 Comments
Jon’s modules – the thrill is gone…
According to B.B. King and numerous other bluesmen. You may have noted how my module posts have slowed up. I seem to have been distracted from railway modelling over this Christmas. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve now laid all … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Jon's layout ramblings
Tagged model railroad, modular layouts, N gauge
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And a Happy New Year
Who knows what 2014 will bring? There are some very interesting models promised by the UK manufacturers. I am very much tempted by the Farish Merchant Navy and Dapol’s 33 and Maunsell coaches. But no doubt they are still stuck … Continue reading
Jon’s modules – staging a fiddle
Or to put it another way, how am I going to add the fiddle yard (UK usage) or staging (USA) to the short line? I thought I had this all worked out, but once again reasoning through the options came … Continue reading
Posted in Jon's layout ramblings, Layout design
Tagged layout design, model railroad, modular layouts, N-Club International
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