Designing a freelance model railroad with heavy Rock Island influence....

This layout is 3'10" by 5'9". It is designed to fit in all standard size mini-vans and SUVs as one piece. All of the structures are attached with epoxy to the layout, making it easier to move. This is about the minimum size layout you can design in HO scale to run standard engines and...

This 4x8-foot model railroad layout was designed and built by St. Louis area members of the National Model Railroad Association and is inspired by scenes and railroads of the Saint Louis area. It is perfect for the beginning to advanced model railroading enthusiast....

Photos of the construction of the St. Louis Central 2001 4'x8' model railroad layout at the National Train Show. This layout was sponsored by Model Railroader magazine and assembled by Gateway Division NMRA members during the 2001 St. Louis National Train Show. The layout was designed...

The Gateway 2001 national convention and train show was the culmination of five years of planning and preparation involving not only our local members, but volunteers across the country and abroad. The event was a great success....

As my layout moves from concept to design, one of the major hurdles is the creation of the main yard. An important part of the plan is creating a yard environment that looks real....

This article focuses on the task of the yard crews in getting each type of freight train ready to depart....

The role of transfer yards. Some of the loads and empties received will not be forwarded to another city. In any train there will be cars which have reached their final destination. Some of these cars must be delivered to other roads for final delivery, some are empties being returned...

A major yard facility looks very confusing but there is a purpose behind each and every track within the yard limits and that purpose helps to determine location, access and size for each track....

The Harriman Dispatch Center is within an 1891 Union Pacific freight depot that was converted in the early 1990s to the dispatch center and administrative office housing around 800 employees. Union Pacific dispatchers work in a steel-reinforced concrete bunker within the building. The...

Gateway Central VI HO scale project railroad was designed around two logging industry scenes (one on each side of the layout). One side features a paper and kraft mills with a chip unloading area. The other side is a sawmill scene. The layouts was designed as two pieces that stack for...

One way to add operating pleasure to your railroad, and hopefully prevent these types of mistakes, is to copy the actions of the prototype. Real railroads have documents known as a train procedures directory, click book and yard book. These different books were used by the train crews...