Peter's Model Railroading | My Library | Magazine Articles by Scale
Large Scale Articles

A Tale of Two 1:20.3 Scale Tank Cars

An accurate model of the West Side Lumber Co. #2 tank car. Includes prototype, model, and construction photos.

Don Phillips' Large Scale Diesels

A small business, Backyard Rails, builds large-scale locomotives. Photos of their operation and their workmanship are shown in the article.

Dunckley Northern Railway #4 and #5

Several before and after painted photos accompany this article on the author's scratchbuilt, 1:24, 45mm gauge "Colonial Engines". These are engines designed for the British Colonies. He built them over modified commercial mechanisms by LGB, Bachmann, and Hartland.

Imagineering Column

The author describes how he scratchbuilt his freelance depot using Sintra PVC board and styrene, but not a step-by-step process, but rather as a means of showing how to start building something from scratch, and continue to learn. Many different examples are shown, such as engines, vehicles, detailing parts, etc.

Labor of Love

The author describes what he went through to try to build a static one-inch scale model of a Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0.

Large Scale in a Small Space

The Sebago Lake & Franklin Railroad is a 1:20.3 layout on a 4x8 sheet, which the author built to be portable. The trackplan is a simple oval with some switching inside the oval. All rolling stock is four-wheeled because of the tight curves and are all scratchbuilt, as are the structures. There is a tremendous amount of detail.

Large Scale Shed

Building a structure in a different scale is a good experience, especially one that is destined to go outdoors.

Model of the Month

The last page of the issue has a photo of the author's scratchbuilt model of a Pacific Electric single-sheathed 40-foot box car in No. 1 scale (1:32 proportion), realistically weathered.

Old Trolley Bodies Need Not Die

The author converted an On30 Bachmann street car to model a converted roadside diner. He also used a trolley body to model a shed.

Quarter-size Traction

Gordon Hatch's backyard has a traction layout with 450 feet of steel rail, measuring 75' by 79'. Article includes model photos and prototype traction photos.

Something Big

For something different, the author scratchbuilds a 1:12 scale caboose.

Soviet Spirit

This article describes how to simulate heavy mud on a SU-100 model set in WWII.

Steam in Your Backyard?

Combining gardening and garden railroading, but with a twist - using small scale live steam. Gauge 1 refers more to the track width rather than a particular scale. Photos of the author's backyard layout are included.

Sutton Wharf

A 5' by 1' imaginary English 18-inch gauge industrial railway diorama in 1:25 scale. Includes trackplan and close-up photos.

The Comanche & Indian Gap RR

Garden railroading to the extreme! This large-scale layout has 7,892 feet of single mainline that is set in 35 acres in the central Texas Hill Country. With locomotives weighing in at 1,800 lbs and hopper cars filled with ballast tipping the scales at 600 lbs, this is just about as close to real railroading as one can get.

The PRR S2, in Gauge 1, Up and Running

The author describes his model of this engine.