Links
- Clubs
- Historical Societies
- Manufacturers
- Modeler Forums
- Modeling References
- Prototype
- Railroad Photography
Clubs
AustNtrak Model Railroad Club
Located in and around Austin, Texas, this N Scale club celebrated it's 20th anniversary on Jan 11th, 2006. Membership to AustNtrak costs $20 for a lifetime membership and they have participated in the Temple Train show for a number of years. Many of CentraMod's members are also members of AustNtrak.
Houston N'Crowd
The first NTrak group to organize in southeast Texas in 1978. They graciously donated some of their old NTrak modules to the club when they moved away the NTrak standard.
Tex-N Modular Railroad Club
Formed in 1988, this N Scale club is noted for its fully scenicked modules and uncommon layout configurations. They have participated in the Temple Train show for a number of years.
Historical Societies
Anthracite Railroads Historical Society, Inc.
Over 1,800 authors, historians, railroad employees, photographers, model railroaders, and just plain railfans share an interest in the railroads that served the anthracite coal mining region of eastern Pennsylvania. These include the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Reading Company, Lehigh and New England, Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, and Lackawanna Railroad.
The Friends of the Burlington Northern Railroad (FOBNR)
This historical society was incorporated in the state of Idaho on January 3, 1993. It was chartered to gather, preserve, and share information about the history and the current operations of the Burlington Northern Railroad.
Conrail Historical Society, Inc.
This society was established to encourage the writing, collection and preservation of historical and contemporary material associated with Conrail in particular, and the American Railroad Systems in general, and to preserve the heritage of Conrail and predecessor railroads by acquiring, restoring, and preserving materials associated with Conrail.
Penn Central Railroad Historical Society
Their mission is to preserve the history of the railroad known as the Penn Central Transportation Company, including its people and equipment, its heritage before its formation in 1968, its all-too-brief life, and its slow fade into Conrail.
The Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society
This is an independent non-profit corporation devoted to preserving, studying and sharing information about all aspects of the former Santa Fe Railway, from its rich history and fascinating operations to its distinctive equipment and facilities.
Manufacturers
Alkem Scale Models
Photoetched kits and detail parts for HO and N Scale model railroaders.
Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc.
A pioneer and leader in the model railroad industry for more than 50 years.
BLMA Models
Some of the best Z, N, and HO Scale Locomotive and Scenic detail parts available today.
CVP Products
Home of the simple and elegant EasyDCC and Texas-based DCC manufacturer. The club's N Scale layouts use EasyDCC.
DeLuxe Innovations
Since 1993, DeLuxe has been dedicated to offering good running and accurate as possible N Scale products for enthusiasts. If you model N Scale intermodal, you know about DeLuxe!
Digitrax
One of if not THE industry leader in Digital Command Control systems. The club's HO Scale layout is provisioned for wireless Digitrax Command Control.
Intermountain Railway Co.
Some of the finest and most accurate railroad models in N and HO scales.
Gold Medal Models
Gold Medal Models was established in 1985 to produce exhibition quality detail parts for builders of plastic model ship kits. In 1992, GMM added N-scale and HO-scale model railroad detail accessories to its range and their model railroad products now total more than 60.
KATO, USA
One of the leading manufacturers of precision railroad products for the modeling community. KATO's parent company, Sekisui Kinzoku Co., Ltd., is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ganbatte Hiroshi!
Mocalova Model Works
Proudly made in the USA, but sold all over the world! One of a kind items in HOn30, HOe, N, On30, HOn2-1/2, and On2-1/2 scales.
The N Scale Architect
Since 1991, they have manufactured wooden structure kits for N and HO Scale modelers.
Microscale Industries
The industry leader for screen printed decals in N, HO, and O Scales.
Micro-Trains
Manufacturer of the industry standard Magne-Matic coupler and some of the best, prototypically accurate N Scale freight cars.
Plano Model Products
Providing Photo Etched details for the Railroad Modeler since 1989. Great N and HO scale train and vehicle detail parts produced just up the road in Richardson, Texas.
Wm. K. Walthers, Inc.
Founded in 1932, Walthers has become the world's largest distributor of model railroad equipment worldwide.
Modeler Forums
This site has a number of forums:
- N Scale
- Z Scale
- HO/HOn3/O/On3
- Prototype Photography
- Modeling Tutorials and Hints
- Weathering, Detailing, and Scratchbuilding (home to monthly weathering challenges)
- DCC/Electronics
The N Scale forum is the most active followed by Weathering, Detailing, and Scratchbuilding and Prototype Photography. Lots of excellent modeling and tips are on display.
Modeling References
The Model Train Magazine Index
This site contains an index to Model Railroad magazines from 1933 to the present. These include:
- Model Railroader
- Railroad Model Craftsman
- Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette
- Railmodel Journal
- Railroad Modeler
- Mainline Modeler
- Model Railroading, Great World of Model Railroading
- Prototype Modeler
- N Scale Magazine
- N Scale Railroading
In general, all of the feature articles are indexed. There are 70,000+ articles in the database. You can use this website to find articles contained in CentraMod's periodical library.
Prototype
ATSF Resource (QStation.org)
A great link resource for all things ATSF.
BN Resource (QStation.org)
A great link resource for all things BN.
BNSF Resource (QStation.org)
A great link resource for all things BNSF.
Conrail Cyclopedia
The essential Conrail website with photos and features on locomotives, freight cars, and more for railfanning or model railroading.
Lehigh Valley Railroad Modeler
This site is envisioned as an e-magazine or an e-book that is continually updated, devoted to information about the Lehigh Valley Railroad, how it operated, and tips on how to model it.
Penn Central
Dedicated to PC on the net. Numerous reference, photos and resources.
Southern Pacific - my Espee Modeler's Archive
One of the web's most comprehensive sites for California's railroad to the U.S. from 1861-1996.
Railroad Photography
Fallen Flags and Other Railroad Photos
One of the most visited railroad related web sites run by George Elwood. The site operates on donations only, so if you find it helpful, you might donate to support the site as other club members have.
GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
The NERAIL North American Railroad Photo Archive
Created in late 1997, this archive contains 100,000+ photographs from all over North America, including New England, its original focus. Many different road names and equipment types are represented, with most photographs dating from the last few decades.
RailcarPhotos.com
Thousands of photographs of North American railroad cars covering a variety of models and paint schemes. Visitors are encouraged to contribute photos and information making the site more complete and always changing.
RailPictures.net
This site offers rail photographers a streamlined, efficient, and easy-to-use online database in which to display their photos, free of charge. They have more than 152,000 photos online.
Railroad Picture Archives
This site contains nearly 600,000 railroad pictures and increases daily because of volunteer contributors. It has easy to use search tools so you can quickly find what you are looking for.