Coxy's N Scale and Railroad Blog

Modern western railroading and N Scale modeling

N Scale and Railroad Blog

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Links

Train Shows
- Model Railroad News
Blogs
- Chuck Geiger' SD&AE Blog
  
  Good collection of information on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern railroad
- Interacting with miniature railroading
  
  Informative Daily Blog with diverse modeling topics related to miniature railroading, such as 15" gauge live steam, HO, N, ON30 and Garden scales.
- Model Railroader
  
  Michael Denny's Niagara Escarpment System, a 2 x 4 N Scale layout. Handlaying in N Scale and testing new modeling techniques.
- Model Railroading and Railroad Photography
  
  Daryl Dankwardt's journal of hand laid HO layout construction
- Model Rail Services
  
  Byron Hendersen's layout design blog
- The Railroad
  
  HO Layout blog with hand laid track and lots of posts on building structures.
- Train Blog
  
  Dan Swearingen's blog - "Stories about building my model railroad and other things found along the tracks."
- Trainboard Blog Directory
- UP-BNSF Meet at Rosenberg
  
  Jimmy Low's developing N scale representation of Rosenberg Jct. Worth a look.
- UPRR Geneva Subdivision in N Scale
  
  Darryl Kruse's blog about his UPRR N Scale layout which includes the diamonds at Rochelle IL
Clubs
- Black Diamond Lines
  
  425 Fulton Shipyard Rd, Antioch, CA
- California Southern Model Railroad Club
  
  12140 E Firestone Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90650 (562)863-3156 (Near Disneyland!)
Digital Command Control - DCC
- Allan Gartner's Wiring for DCC
- Digitrax
- Computer control via DCC
- JMRI group
- Decoder installation guides
  
  Links at the bottom of the Chessie System page
- Train Control Systems - TCS
  
  Great N scale decoders!
- Aztec DCC ready locomotive frames
Forums
- N Scale.net
- N scale.org
- The Railwire
  
  Informative active forums on N, Z and HO scales as well as a good weathering forum.
- Trackside Modeler
- Trainorders
- Z Scale.org
  
  Modelers can always learn a thing or two from working in the smallest scale!
Handlaying
- Fast Tracks
  
  Jigs and materials for handlaying track
- Kappler Mill & Lumber Co.
  
  Ties and stripwood. Custom laser cutting.
- NMRA Track Standards
- Railway Engineering
  
  Turnout skeletons etc for HO Scales and above. Some good hand laying guides on this site.
- San Diego Society of N Scalers hand laying page
Layouts - N Scale
- Allens Model Railroad Blog
  
  Layout construction journal
- Bill Denton's Kingsbury Branch
- CSXT Shenandoah Division
- Gavin Miller's Model Railroad
  
  Freelanced "National Rail Network Authority" (N.R.N.A.) or "RailNet"
- Southern Pacific Coast Line in N scale
  
  Denny's blog covering his N scale layout representing a portion of the Southern Pacific Coast Line in Central California between Callender and Surf, including the Guadalupe yard, set in the early 1970s.
- N Scale Union Pacific Railroad
  
  Rochelle Subdivision
- Tennessee Pass in N Scale
- TraiN'ternet
  
  Collection of great N Scale layouts by modelers located in France.
Layouts - Z Scale
- James River Branch
  
  Reading RR in Z scale
Layouts - HO Scale
- Andreas Keller's Guelph Jct
- Central Indiana & Ohio Railroad
- CNJ Bronx Terminal
  
  Tim Warris's new hand laid HO layout. Amazing stuff!
- Great Northern Down Under
  
  Gerry Hopkins MMR
- Housatonic Railroad Company
- Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Line
- Pelle Soeborg's Mountain and Desert Railroad
  
  Pics from Pelle's layout. The guy's a genious!
- Port Kelsey Railway
  
  Former layout of the owner of Fast Traks, Tim Warris
- Westport Terminal Railway
  
  Wolfgang Dudler's US layout in Germany
Railroading
- Carr Tracks
  
  Historical information on SP, AT&SF, UP, Rio Grande
- Krug Tales
  
  Great essays from Engineer Al Krug
- Q Station
Rolling Stock
- NWSL N Scale wheelsets
  
  Metal replacement wheelsets in a variety of sizes and precision as drop in replacements for commercial plastic wheels.
- Hays Bros. Garage
  
  Ralistic loads for N Scale cars
- Intermountain wheelsets
- Micro-Trains Coupler Conversion Chart
  
  Table of coupler conversions for N Scale rolling stock
- Wig-Wag LLC
  
  Supplier of Fox Valley Models wheelsets
Stores
Structures
- Custom Cuts
Weathering and Painting
- Model Trains Weathered
  
  Great resource for weathering. Lots of inspiration at this site.
- Railwire Weathering ForumGr
  
  Excellent weathering forum frequented by talented weatherers including Tom Mann.
- Tom Mann Weathering
  
  Brilliant weathering examples and techniques. Highly recommended.

Map of my local area

Railroad Links

Handlaying N Scale Track Galleries > Gallery: Simple UP junction (6) > Some of the ties have been laid

This is the basic set up for a simple junction. It has a cross over, one end of a siding (on left) and a spur (on right). The subraodbed is 5-ply 1/4" furniture quality ply. Dimensions: 10 1/4" x 28". Note the #8 skeleton switches laying to the side. These were made using a Frastracks #8 code 55 jig.

Looking at the closest ends, you can see the main (center), siding (left) and secondary (right) tracks. I've glued the Fastracks quicksticks in place for the turnouts - #8 code 55 on the main and #6 code 40 on the secondary. Note that the lines of individual ties are different lengths. These were cut down from 16' turnout ties. Ths is an expensive and time consuming way to go. Far, far better to use ties of pre-cut length.

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