RMC Extra Board

Welcome to Craftsman Extra Board! This section is updated periodically with short features contributed by our readers, as well as some recent favorites straight from the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman. Check back as we continue to add new articles!

New Baltimore & Fair Haven

April 15, 2025

New Baltimore & Fair Haven

We visit a beautiful freelanced HO scale layout set in the Michigan Great Lakes region in the late 1920s.

Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto 17: Build an Electric Loco in Brass

April 15, 2025

Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto 17: Build an Electric Loco in Brass

Using “old school” methods like resistance soldering to assemble a unique brass model in S scale.

Pete Hall’s Southern Pacific Coast Line in HO Scale

March 15, 2025

Pete Hall’s Southern Pacific Coast Line in HO Scale

Modeling 1950s California Coast Division operations between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo on a large HO layout.

Install an Animated Grade Crossing

March 15, 2025

Install an Animated Grade Crossing

Follow these simple steps to add a realistic animated grade crossing to the HO scale Conrail Onondaga Cutoff.

Design, Print, and Build a New York Central Tower

February 15, 2025

Design, Print, and Build a New York Central Tower

Using updated 3D-printing techniques to model a New York Central interlocking tower in HO scale.

Allagash Railway, Part 2: Oxford County Short Line

February 15, 2025

Allagash Railway, Part 2: Oxford County Short Line

The HO scale proto-freelanced Oxford County Railroad is modeled after New England short lines of the 1980s, and connects with the Allagash Railway.

Gateway to the Yukon: The White Pass & Yukon Route in HOn3

January 20, 2025

Gateway to the Yukon: The White Pass & Yukon Route in HOn3

Modeling an alternate history where the venerable narrow gauge railway is still going strong in 1983.

Car Routing for Smaller Layouts

January 20, 2025

Car Routing for Smaller Layouts

Brooks Stover has employed a system of car routing for short trains on a small railroad, just like the prototype Buffalo Creek & Gauley.

Mike Confalone’s Allagash Railway: Part 1

December 15, 2024

Mike Confalone’s Allagash Railway: Part 1

It’s 1982 in Western Maine on Mike Confalone’s proto-freelanced HO layout that captures scenes of northern New England in early spring.

Realistic Kansas Street Running

December 15, 2024

Realistic Kansas Street Running

How to model asphalt streets so textured you can almost smell them on a hot day.