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Model railway trackwork
Free, easy, and straightforward tips and advice on model railway track planning, laying, ballasting and troubleshooting.
Improve Locomotive Running with Graphite Pencils – How and Why
Want to improve the smoothness and reliability of your trains? All it takes is a pencil. [...]
Don’t Get Derailed
New to track laying? Read these eleven beginner-friendly tips to laying track like a pro. [...]
Getting crafty with track: Ballast Collection with Polymer Clay
An unconventional but cheap and effective technique for removing rogue ballast from your track.
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How to attach wires to model train track
Moving up from track clips to attaching power wires to track? Here are 3 techniques, how to do each and the pluses and minuses of each. [...]
Is cork underlay needed for track?
This is question that comes up frequently, here are my thoughts. [...]
Signalling – Basics: Point Roding
How steam-era railway signalling was controlled. [...]
Protecting your rails while painting track
Most model railway track come with black sleepers. These look nothing like the real thing and many modellers paint them a more authentic colour.
Browns for [...]
The Best Ballasting Tool For N Gauge Model Railways
Ballasting is one of those tasks you either love or hate on a model railway. It transforms your track work but is a slow laborious messy process that's hard to [...]
Which Xuron track cutter to get (and how to use them for perfect cuts)
Struggling to get clean, straight ends, for your N, OO, and HO track when cutting it? Here's how I use the Xuron cutters to get the perfect track every time.
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Adding point motors to already laid track
Now filed in a draw marked 'why on earth didn't I think of this' is this marvellous tip from MRE community member Lee Maylon for installing point motors on [...]
An easier way to hold your track in place while gluing
Is this the quickest way to fix track down for gluing? [...]
Simple idea that saves time and makes track testing fun
The best ideas, as they say, are the simplest. And never has this been more true than with this bit of lateral thinking from an MRE group member. [...]
Best Ballast Spreader for N, OO and HO track updated for 2024
Ballast transforms your railway from a train set to a model railway but it's time-consuming, fiddly and slow to lay. No more with this brilliant little ballast [...]
Signalling – Basics: Semaphore Signals
If you want your model railway to look the part, you'll need signals and in the case of steam era railways this means semaphore signals. Here's a back to [...]
The best recipe for ballast glue
What is the best glue for model railway ballast? Find the answer here. [...]
DIY point control with Meccano – Frank Hornby’s creations meet
Take two of the UK's greatest toy inventor's best products; add a sprinkle of ingenuity and you have DIY point control that Frank Hornby himself would be proud [...]
Tips from an inspirational model railway
There are realistic model railways and then there are realistic model railways. Anyone who’s seen Ben Alder's Far North Line layout knows what I mean. [...]
Tips from an exhibition layout: Oak Road by Mike Buick
Mike Buick will be familiar to many modellers as the creator of the Oak Road layout. It's a beautiful layout exhibition with astonishingly lifelike modelling. [...]
Sunday Scribbles: Madcapped idea for track cleaning
A daft idea that may make track cleaning easier. Has anyone tried it? [...]
How I got 5 locos to run smoothly over my points with just 10 minutes work
Most of the time, our locos run smoothly over points. But occasionally there are problems. Here's how I quickly solved a problem that was causing 5 of my locos [...]