HO Scale Model Train Stations

Used to be, on a long run in a prairie state, you could tell from far away when you were coming into a station. That bright flash in the distance signaled what might be the only green grass in dry summer heat. No matter how much watering it took, stationmasters across the US prided themselves in putting out the town's welcome mat - the lawn in front of the train station.

Once your trains are running, they need a place to stop, and that means choosing a station. Model stations are as varied as the places that had them. Many manufacturers do serious research to provide their stations with detail specific to historical stations, both rural and urban. You can choose one with a waiting room set aside for lady passengers. Add outbuildings, loading docks, warehouses and stockyards. Don't forget a water-tower (also historically accurate) if you're running steam engines or passenger trains. And, just for the memories, be sure to put out a patch of nice green lawn in front of the station!

HO Scale Model Train Bridges

As your train layout grows, you can produce greater variety by adding hills and valleys to your flat expanse. For this, of course, your trains will need bridges to navigate the landscape. Model train bridges come in many sizes, prefabricated and in building kits, in wood, plastic, and steel. From simple spans to the amazing trestles that carried trains over mountain-country gaps and canyons, bridges and bridge-building materials can solve almost any topological problem you may encounter.

The newest growth in model rail bridges reflects the increasing interest in garden (large-scale) railroading. Here, challenges come from the natural setting - getting you through the slopes and rises in your own yard (some garden railroaders even tackle natural water features). Whatever the scale or location of your railroad, adding bridges to your layout adds excitement.

HO Scale Model Train Trees

Model trees come in two forms - just like their larger cousins - full trees and lumber. One of the important tasks of early trains was transporting logs and lumber throughout the U.S. In some areas, logging trains were critical to the extension of the railroad itself, sitting patiently at the end of the line as the sawmill ground out the next mile of ties.

Model train manufacturers provide a large selection of trees and landscaping materials. Further, several companies, among them Canyon Creek and JTT Microscale, specialize in botanically accurate trees for all kinds of model setups and professional architectural presentations. Whether you need deep forest for your model sawmill and logging trains or sugar maples in fall foliage for your village, model tree manufacturers have what you want, in suitable scales for your layout. If your setup looks a little bare, you need trees!

Model Train Decals

Bird-watchers aren't the only people with life-lists. Anyone who has ever lived close to train tracks has a mental list of all the kinds of freight cars he or she has ever seen, from the frequently-run Santa Fe, Milwaukee and B & O to the ephemera of the C B & Q. Freight cars serve as natural moving billboards, and the advertising they provided helped rail companies grow.

One of the best ways to make your own freight cars and engines worth watching is to provide the kind of road-line identification they have always carried. Especially if you begin building your own cars, model manufacturers can provide you with a great variety of historically-accurate decals to customize your cars. In addition, companies specializing in the decals of single roads can be found online. If the C B & Q's already on your life-list, have a look at Yakima Valley Trolley...bet that's a new one!You'll get to know companies and individuals who love trains as much as you do through the world of decals.

HO Scale Model Train Figures

Just as the details of train locomotives and cars tell stories about other times and places, so do the figures you add to your layout. Create your own stories about where the trains are going with family, animal and other figures. These can be as simple as spectators on the siding or as complex as a series of towns, villages, and farms, complete with welcoming lighted windows.

Model manufacturers stock architectural and story figures for all train scales - and for nearly every period of train history that comes to mind. Start with the history of your favorite engines and build the atmosphere they originally ran in. Celebrate Christmas or other holidays with a church on the hill and snow-trimmed village stores. Add a skating pond or a sledding hill with children. Trains tell stories, and you can fill the ones you treasure with figures that make them come alive.

HO Scale Turntable

One of the greatest ways to add flexibility to your growing model layout is adding a turntable. This railyard necessity makes it possible to run multiple trains on even a fairly small layout and makes a large layout manageable without curves that do nothing but help turn your trains around.

Walthers, Atlas, and Diamond Scale lead the HO turntable market in variety of materials as well as configuration. (Diamond Scale produces many pit and turntable assemblies in basswood.) From branch-style arrangements to full-radius track access, turntables let you make maximum use of anywhere from two to 20 tracks.

Examine turntable control systems as part of your research. Precise controls are, after all, your best insurance against collision. Several options, from simple to complex, help you manage traffic; some systems will warn you when you're literally on the wrong track. Roundhouse optional - it's fun to get running the turntable under your belt before you enclose it.

HO Scale Tracks

"The ride is in the roadbed," as any railroader will tell you. HO scale track manufacturers take that wisdom seriously. Leading track manufacturers include Atlas, Bachmann, and Life-Like, although all model manufacturers make or stock a variety of track options. Atlas traces it origins to track manufacture and continues to work on innovations in track connections and power delivery.

Track construction and layout is where engineering meets engineering. Rails come with and without pre-formed ties, and purists debate the merits of steel vs. nickel silver. Rusting problems have led manufacturers increasingly to use nickel silver. Other maintenance problems can be addressed with special cars designed to clean model tracks.

Beginning railroaders may wish to start with designed layouts, many of which are based on historic railyards. Adding additional track has been simplified by increasingly compatible connectors. Add straightaway, curves and switching stations to enhance your layout. Look also at recent developments in electronic control systems to make your train tracks work at their full potential.