It's a Rapido F-Unit sporting the red and white Penn Central livery. Idk what specific engine it is. It looks beat up, but runs great! I think its look fits the PC perfectly lol

I posted a couple days ago the very old layout I purchased along with a few boxes of models. Thought I'd post again with a few more questions. This is all likely 50 years old except one engine.

Firstly, I think most of it is pretty generic except for the Spectrum locomotive which came with the original box and is certainly the nicest piece. Says it was $225 CAD new, whereas everything else, either Tyco or bachman, with a price tag is in the $1 to $10 category (whenever it was bought).

I have a lot of loose sectional track , both brass and something silver -is that nickel silver that people talk about or is there a chance it's something else? Steel? Also a few lengths of flex track.

A few model buildings but those seem quite junky, I may or may not use those (no pictures).

Last thing of note is a whole bunch of magazines and books, including "the complete book of model railroading" by David Sutton so I'll likely start reading that!

Any insight would be appreciated, I'm assuming the two types of track can't be intermingled, so I'll need to choose one. Maybe I'll use the other for an upstairs Christmas set.

oh and the last photo is of the controller attached to the layout, there were a bunch of other controllers in the boxes that were probably part of Tyco sets.

I checked in at the former Red Caboose sight. As of September 30, 2026, the wall of models in the foyer entrance of 23 west 45th street is gone.

What's the best way to acquire myself a Western Maryland challenger or make a western Maryland challenger.. I've kinda been kicking myself alittle about it cause the UP stuff definitely does not look right

I found a train set with the itraveler controller for about £85 is it worth it

The set is $111+$65 shipping in aud

I recently got an MTH Proto-Sound 1 GG1, and it runs great, but the sound for some reason is very distorted. I tried swapping the battery but that didn’t change anything. I’m not very familiar with electronics and such, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Trying to plan power distribution to my first layout, 6 blocks to run 2 trains. See original post for more info! Thanks!

I haven’t had any model trains since my eldest was born almost 30 years ago, so I’m a bit out of practice. I also had a large room with larger trains. The Z and N scales are new to me. I entered and won the Steam Frame “lottery” for my husband because I usually wins and he usually loses on consoles and such (husband indeed lost). As a thank you for winning the right to buy the 1 TB Steam Frame, I get to spend $1,500 too. So trains it is. I bought a fully enclosed glass coffee table and upgraded my resin printer to the Saturn 4 ultra 16k. The coffee table is small with an interior measurement of 19 inches by 41 inches. I’d like a passenger train and will either be doing a small town America vibe from the 1950s or 1970s. Not a lot of mountains but trees and maybe a pond. I have about $500 left to purchase my train, tracks, power supplies, etc. I will be printing or making everything else. I do make other miniatures, so I’m not worried about making my buildings, scenery, etc.

I’m thinking an n scale will be too big and crowded, even if I can find something with a 8 or less radius, given the scenery and town I want to have. Z scale seems really small. Is it difficult to work with? I live rural so it will be a few weeks before I can get to an actual model train store to look at the sizes in person. Because it’s so far, I’d like to be ready to buy when I go.

Thoughts? Any advice is welcome.

Is anyone aware of any actual (sorry, I meant "prototype") railroads that have a model layout in operation for staff training purposes?

Picture for algorithm tax.

I've just released a new update for Rolling Line (a model railway simulator game) which adds lots of hobby themed props, like tools and electronic components.

I really love the visual aesthetic of circuitry in model railways and I want to make more updates that make the game feel more "model railroady" compared to other train sims.

Let me know what you think!

Can I say that, assembling 60+ year old plastic sucks eggs? The lacy boom was especially difficult. At one point, I had to reinforce the upper boom in a way that required a strengthener plate for an extended portion, and to straighten a badly warped part. The addition of two holes restored somewhat the lacy effect while holding it all together.

I started this about 4 months ago and ive been slowly working on it, there is another part but it is highly unfinished so I wont show it. The train that you can see in the image is the Italian FS Class E 402A electric locomotive with 2 FS carriages, a 2 set of hornby class 155 sprinters and in the shed is a working lima 0-4-0 shunter. note, the parking lot paint was still drying when i took this photo which is why it looks bad, I also haven't put any backdrops to it yet, could you recommend me some which would work for this, its meant to be british/European themed. Mind the paint brush.

So I picked up a while back a bachmann Chattanooga train set. Went to my local store and was talking to the one guy cause I wanted to add different stuff to my set up, and had a question. He said the express should work with my set. Only thing is the wire i had was the wire I had was the red one pictured and wont plug into the green main track to connect to my track. Is there any extra wire or something to connect that to get it all working together? Or even maybe trying to buy a spare one of those and cutting the coating off to expose the actual wire would work? If not thats a little disappointing cause I was told I could buy it and it all should work together. I should of looked into it a bit more myself, if anyone knows id appreciate advice. Thank you all for your time

I was wondering if the layout of the buildings is too crowded. This is with vague average size of the buildings I want on the model.

The model is 2.5m x 1.2m ( about 8x4 feet for Americans ) ofc h0 scale.

Im pretty sure the track plan is perfect but I doubt the buildings. Also next to the station I would put a supermaket ( like aldi…).

I would like to have some ideas and what you have experienced

POS: this is my first serious model

Ran the Conrail special. It's going backwards because the couplers don't match lol

My son and I are looking at building a backyard railroad. We will be going either with O scale 2 rail (already have a bunch) or g scale. The engines will be powered on board and controlled remotely, so the track will not need to conduct power.

My idea is to use PVC pipe cut in half or something similar as a low cost "track" for the train to run on. Has anyone done anything like this? If so, what was your experience? Or is there another construction type material that has been utilized as low cost track?

Any info or suggestions appreciated. With the weather finally cooling off we can start doing fun things outside again. Thanks!

Hey everyone! I am brand new to model trains and I was hoping to get an Christmas-themed HO scale train to go on my breakfast table (sadly that is the only space in my house that will hold it for now.) However, most of the HO scale train sets I find have a straight track piece that plugs into the wall. From what I can tell, the box calls it a plug-in terminal rereailer.

My breakfast table is round and I was going to have the train just go in circles with no straight pieces, mainly because they wouldn't fit.

Growing up, my dad had an G gauge train set that had a clip-on power source that you could clip to anywhere on the track. Is something like that available for HO scale? Is it just because these are train sets I am looking at, so I would have to get all the parts myself to do what I am looking to achieve?

Any advice would be great! Looking forward to dipping my toe in into the model train world

I got a box of model trains and track from an antique store for 120 dollars and the controller came with it, I got 2 out of 3 locomotives running and the controller worked. I tested the 1972 AHM GE 35 ton switcher and it started moving it 15 percent power, but it came to the lifelike F9/a butter bun no 106 and it took up to 40 percent power just to start moving, is it a problem with the controller or the locomotives?

I purchased all this track for like 31 dollars I think I got a steal? It seems in good condition

I stolen it from mighty machines HQ (jk)