How to Model Locomotives is a handy resource consisting of 22 articles on how to enhance your locomotive fleet, selected by the experts at Model Railroader. You’ll get complete how-to articles, techniques including painting, weathering, and DCC programming, and plenty of tips for realistic results.
MOTIVATION FOR MOTIVE POWER
How to Model Locomotives
Modeling a COMPACT DIESEL SERVICE TERMINAL • Add fueling and sanding operations without taking up a lot of space
Sound for legacy locomotives – F units • A little soldering goes a long way
How to detail, paint, and decal a locomotive • Give a road switcher a new look
How diesel facilities work • A lot of work goes on behind the scenes between road trips
MOBILE SERVICE
Speed matching for DCC consists • Learn how to make your locomotives play well with others
Weathering N scale locomotives • Paints, pastels, and washes enhance this six-axle road unit
Detail a remote-control locomotive • Modernize yard and road switchers in one evening
Below decks • A hidden world in the diesel shop
How to weather without an airbrush • A modern unit gets some road grime
Kitbash a MODERN SAND TOWER • Build this yard fixture like the prototype did – start with a hopper car
Getting the LOCOMOTIVE you want • Modify a Stewart Alco RS-3 to create Jersey Central No. 1554
How to install DCC sound in ready-to-run locomotives • Commercial sound decoders bring realistic audio effects to a pair of HO scale diesels
Kitbashing an HO scale 2-8-2 steam engine • Swapping out a drive axle for a trailing truck is just the start of this conversion
Scratchbuild a branchline water tank from stripwood • A cardboard mailing tube is the core for this rustic structure
Coaling trestle refuels steam locomotives Walkway • Railroads used trestles and gravity to feed their hungry engines
Turning BIG BOYS in 2 x 5 feet • This HO scale locomotive terminal lifts to the ceiling to clear a doorway
SCRATCHBUILT TURNTABLE
BETTER PHOTOS WITH REMOVABLE FOREGROUND
Upgrade a steam locomotive • Modeling techniques to make a good engine even better
An engine-terminal layout • A multi-deck staging yard feeds this busy urban facility
ENGINE TERMINAL STATISTICS
TERMINAL OPERATIONS
WEATHERING A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE IN 7 minutes • PanPastel colors and applicators make it easy to simulate the dirt and grime of railroading
MORE WEATHERING IDEAS
New sound for an old brass steamer • Modern decoders and speakers add realism
Re-letter and weather a steam locomotive • Capture the appearance of an engine in its final years
Adding sound to an N scale steam locomotive • Limited space for components can present challenges