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...

How prototype operations can influence what we do as model railroad operators by examining the operations of prototype yard crews in the time period from 1957 through 1961....

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...

1999 contest results. NMRA conventions and train show events feature a model and photo contest where entries are displayed to be viewed and enjoyed by other model railroaders and the general public. Any NMRA member may enter models and photos into these contests....

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...

Developing a comprehensive inventory of a model railroad's inventory - cars, engines, structures, details, books, and tools - serves a number of purposes, for the present, for protection, and for your estate....

Timetable and Train Order Operation Basics, a primer from the Gateway Division NMRA....

Modelers enjoy visiting and running on model railroads that are realistic in appearance and operated in a realistic manner. This only happens when the model echoes the mission of a real railroad — cars move to transport freight and passengers....

I was reading some interesting letters that discussed the impact of real problems on a layout owner’s operations. The general thread of the discussion focused on how the prototype railroad would respond to a similar event. What havoc would this unleash on the scheduled trains, the con...

I wonder how many of us who model passenger operations from the pre-Amtrak era model one of the important aspects of their operations. One of the most important aspects of a passenger train, at least to the accounting department, was the head end traffic. This traffic is the reason so...

1998 contest results. NMRA conventions and train show events feature a model and photo contest where entries are displayed to be viewed and enjoyed by other model railroaders and the general public. Any NMRA member may enter models and photos into these contests....

Article & photo by Tom Troughton, MMR How many times have you entered a fellow model railroader’s train room to be awe struck at the magnificent layout before your eyes. There’re several hundred feet of meticulously constructed hand laid track, on tie plates even, trac...