The Santa Fe Railway – officially known as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway or ATSF – is undoubtably one of the most well recognized railroads in American history. Somewhat surprisingly, the ATSF mainline didn’t actually serve the city of Santa Fe, which was only reachable via a branch line. However thanks to the …
The New Atlas Gunderson “Multi Max” Autorack
The Prototype As mass production of automobiles increased during the 1950s and 60s, specially designed railcars became a crucial component in their construction and delivery. Early auto carriers were built with open sides, and looked similar in appearance to car-carrying road trailers. This presented several problems, the most prominent being exposure to weather, and more …
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A History of Railroad Graffiti – And How to Add Graffiti to your Model Train Layout
Graffiti is an emotive topic. S imply mention the word and you’ll elicit responses that range from “vandalism” to “artistic genius” and several degrees in-between. Regardless, it’s undeniable that graffiti is a noticeable part of modern life, and is particularly prevalent on our railroad system. When Did the Graffiti Movement Begin? While some point to …
5 Easy Steps for Building Trees in Minutes
While there are many pre-built trees available, few can match Scenic Express SuperTrees in either realism or value for money. Here are 5 easy steps for building trees in minutes!
Incorporating Water in Your Layout
The first day of Spring is here – this means that nature will soon start to come to life from it’s winter slumber. Trees are beginning to bud, flowers are emerging, and lakes and rivers are thawing out. What better time than now to take a look at one of the most challenging and important …
Making the Most of Corners
One common aspect almost every layout shares is corners. In this article, we’re going to look at how we can utilize these awkward spaces on our railroads to either add to our operations, or increase the realism and dramatic impact of our scenery. The Problem with Corners When planning a layout you’ll likely know the …
Choosing Elements for Your Layout
One of the first things we model railroaders learn when we go from a train set to a layout is that our work is never done. Perhaps one of the biggest attractions of our hobby is the ability to continually evolve our layouts, from swapping out a handful of accessories to completely taking apart a …
Starting Your Model Railroad
Starting your model railroad is exciting, whether you’re simply putting together your first “train set” or already thinking about a more detailed layout. When you look up pictures of impressive layouts and see the time and work that has obviously gone into them, it can be very intimidating! However, the sense of satisfaction when your …
Chutes and Cubes: Intermountain’s Latest Rolling Stock Releases
Hoppers and boxcars make up the bulk of most manifest freights across North America, with the PS2 and Gunderson High Cube being some of the most frequently seen types. In this article, we’re taking a look at the new Intermountain release of these cars in HO (and N scale for the High Cubes!). The 4785 …
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History of the Union Pacific Railroad (Part Two)
Here at ModelTrainStuff we have all that you need to bring the mighty Union Pacific to your railroad!