Lionel & American Flyer Classic Resources DVD

Your old and new trains are in good hands. Right here, you can get the original instructions to bring your trains to life!

Here it is:

The best set of resources for old style model railroading ever! Prepared by experts and standing the test of time and technology. Even in this digital age, the basics have not changed.  This DVD puts them all at your fingertips.
    You get the best of classic O and O27 Gauge, S Gauge and HO scale information. These resources cover everything you need to get started and build your own model railroad empire.  Here is a partial list of what is on board.

How to choose a track layout that is best for you.
How to assemble track
Wiring your layout, from simple power to automated train operations.
How to set up and run your trains
The way to set up and use the most common accessories
Cars that do something: Automated cars and how they work.
How to repair your trains and accessories
Games you can play on your railway
Tips on better scenery for your railroad
Courses that teach you about real railroading
All about O, O27, Super O, S and HO track
Genuine resources from real classic railroads.

Get started today!  See that old train set come roaring to life. You can do it with the original instructions written specifically for those trains in the attic.

Here is what is on board:

Original O and O27 manuals by Lionel covering from 1945 through the 1980s
Original S Gauge manuals from American Flyer
Original sets of instructions for HO from Lionel, American Flyer and Tyco
Lionel and American Flyer manuals on track plans and layout building
 Instructions for K-Line O and O27 trains
Tips on everything from trackwork to scenery to wiring your layout
Extra instruction sheets for operating Lionel accessories
Track plans from Lionel catalogs for O, O27, Super O and HO
Track plans for HO and American Flyer S gauge
A book on making common repairs to electric trains

The Lionel and American Flyer manuals themselves are massive resources that give specific instruction of using track, wiring, setting up accessories, maintaining and running trains, troubleshooting, track plans and layout building. These aren't the little, cheaply-printed booklets packed in to modern train sets. These are crammed with up to 64 pages of good, reliable information on all aspects of model railroading.

And we have added to this DVD.  Here is a list of the classic hard-to-find Lionel booklets you also get:

Train Layout Planning Book for Pop
Romance of Model Railroading with Lionel Trains
Scenic Effects for Model Railroads: Lionel Trains
Official Book of Model Railroading by Lionel
Fun with Lionel Model Railroading
Lionel Track Layouts

And there is more: For those who want to know more about real railroading, we located a set of Army School of Transportation correspondence courses on railroading that covers everything from planning operations to loading cars. We also found resources from classic railroads, including blueprints of classic locomotives and photographs of cars and motive power.

Many of the manuals and instruction books are considered "collectible" and bring high prices. If you bought these manuals individually, you could spend several hundred dollars easily. On our DVD, you get them all for a low price of $9.99 (Plus $2.00 postage and handling). For a total of $11.99, you get all of this in one convenient place. Order now and start building your railroad empire.

Click here to get your DVD now: http://thortrains.net/ads-sales/index.html

Navy Train Layouts: Track Plans for O27

Navy Train Layouts for O27

I was thinking of military trains and small layouts. Many train makers have produced Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force trains. Lionel and Marx made them in O and O27. American Flyer had a few military type cars in S gauge, and Model Power made an HO Army Train.

As an Army veteran, my first thoughts naturally go to the Army type trains made by Lionel, Marx and Model Power. Marx made olive-drab military trains in both tin-litho and plastic. Many of these are expensive thanks to the collectors.

When looking for inspiration for a military layout, inspiration was almost in the neighborhood. Earle Naval Ammunition Depot is a few miles from here in Colt’s Neck, NJ.  Ar least, that is the main base. Earle also has a smaller installation with a large pier near Leonardo, NJ, on the Bayshore. The pier is used to load military ordnance to ships. It is connected to the main base by a private rail line and a private road called Normandy Road.  The base and the pier are about 15 miles apart.

Making a full scale layout would require 900 feet for 1/87 HO, 1650 for 1/48 O and 1237.5 for 1/64 O27 and S.

I like to design layouts for small spaces. The Earle Ammunition Depot gave me an idea of how to make an interesting O27 layout. It revolves around the concept of a facility at each end.  The loop-to-loop design allows for continuous running and a point-to-point operation.

Our first railway is a simple 3 by 8 foot dogbone type with a pier on one side. Each loop also has its own siding. The area between the loops is where I diverge most from the prototype. Earle’s railway runs through woods and open spaces and past small towns. Our model has two bridges over a small inlet. Bridges over water help contribute to the nautical theme.

The next two are a 6 by 6 by 3 and a n 8 by 6 by 3. They are meant to fit in a corner. Two have the bridges.

Finally there is a 6 by 6 by 3.  It has neither bridges nor pier, but they could easily be added.

These simple track plans allow plenty of action in a limited space. They are ideal for smaller locomotives and rolling stock. Marx train enthusiasts have a choice. on one hand, each layout would do well with tinplate and the 6 and 7 inch tin litho cars. Scale fans could use most of the plastic and tin scale cars. Most of the tin steamers would be fine, as would the 400 and 490. and the diecast 999. For diesel, the 70 tonner and S1 are Ideal.

Those using Lionel type trains might consider the old O27 trains, the smaller K-Line O27 (recasts of Marx) and Industrial Rail cars. K-Line and RMT’s version of the Marx S3 switcher would be ideal. Both the k-Line and Lionel O27 Alcos and the O27 Boxcab would also be good choices.

*****

Making a Navy train ought not be too difficult. One can find cheap cars at shows. The cars will need some work, such as removing rust and general repair and repainting. The Navy paints a lot of its vehicles Battleship Gray. Some of their switchers were painted Engineer Yellow. You can find photos of Navy trains online

Lionel made several Navy and Coast Guard trains.

Review: Color Guides to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Morning Sun Books

Morning Sun is a publisher of high-quality, color railroad photography books. I first came across them when I got back into the O gauge hobby in the mid-1990s. They were pricey even then. I bought one on the Lackawanna railroad and a couple for the Erie Lackawanna. The quality of materials and photography and printing were first-rate.

Back in the 1990s, there were not many railroad pictorial resources on the Internet. Pictures from the Net opened at excruciating slow speeds. For the railroad fan, books were the way to go. Several publishers served the hobby. Railroad Avenue Enterprises produced mainly black-and-white photo books of Northeastern railroads. Carsten’s and Quadrant offered both black-and-white and color books. Morning Sun published hardcover books with excellent color photography. Other publishers added to the field.

 One series of Morning Sun books is its Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. Each guide is devoted to a specific railroad or railroads. Each has color photographs of passenger cars, freight rolling stock, cabooses, non-revenue and maintenance-of-way cars. The color pictures cover cars in use in the 20th century. Some of the cars still running in the 1960s and 1970s had been built decades earlier. (The books I have cover railroads which were absorbed into Conrail in 1976, hence no 21st Century rolling stock.)

The Color Guides I have cover the Erie-Lackawanna (1960 - 1976), New York Central (up to 1968), Lackawanna and Erie (up to 1960), and Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley (up to 1976). The pictures are clear and crisp. They cover most, if not all, types of rolling stock and the various paint schemes used when these cars were photographed. They are a handy reference for the railfan and model railroader. I am impressed how the publisher tried to get as many variations of paint schemes and rolling stock as possible. Considering that the books were published years after the actual railroads disappeared, it is a noteworthy achievement.

The New York Central Color Guide is my most recent acquisition. It was published in 1994. The book covers the common variety of New York Central rolling stock prior to the Penn Central Merger. Most of it is post-1940. Some of the cabooses that were still in use were built in the late 1800s. They are included. This is a good, basic book of the Central’s rolling stock. I understand that other volumes had been added. (For my purposes, this one is enough.)

I have been told that some of the Color Guides may be missing a few elements, such as the steel-sided Reading streamliner cars. Be that as it may, the Color Guides are still an excellent resource. Be aware that like all of Morning Sun’s books, they are expensive. Current book prices for all of Morning Sun’s inventory ranges from $44 to $59. They average about 100 to 135 pages

*********

For my kind of railroad interests, the color guides of my favorite roads are a useful asset.  They contain enough information and imagery to satisfy my interests. Scale modelers might use them to supplement the more detailed car books with blueprints. O / O27 operators like myself will find the color guides more than adequate, at least for those who are interested in the prototypes as well as the models.

******

Morning Sun aims mainly at the aficionado of railroad photography. Its books each contain hundreds of color images, each devoted to a specific railroad or theme. They average about 128 - 130 pages. Of course, these books cover railroads in operation since color photography was available. A railfan interested in roads from the 1940s to the present can usually find his favorites. Some roads get more coverage than others. For instance, there is a LOT of material on the Erie-Lackawanna. One series on that railroad is up to at least Volume 9. Books like these are for the serious rail photography buff.

Here is a link to Morning Sun

http://morningsunbooks.com/