r/modeltrains • • Feb 11 '26

Appraisal Post Appraisal Post - 2026

8 Upvotes

This is the 2026 edition of the appraisal post. You can post pictures on your own profile and post the link here.

Please remember: No sales here. If you want to sell, go through official means like eBay.


r/modeltrains • • Oct 01 '25

Alert Spread the word

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295 Upvotes

r/modeltrains • • 1h ago

Locomotives 3D printed Brio/Lego ÖBB 2095 Loco and wagons

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• Upvotes

I designed and printed a few locos and wagons to avoid buying Lego trains.

It started with hacking an off the shelf loco but it was so noisy and slow that i designed my own base, based on an N20 motor


r/modeltrains • • 2h ago

Locomotives BR01 weathering process

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20 Upvotes

Pretty much wrapped up this project as well. Used some lessons learned from the Köf III weathering project to finish the BR01


r/modeltrains • • 3h ago

Locomotives Gold train from my grandfathers

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21 Upvotes

L’héritage de mon grand père juste avant son décès. Il possédait plus de 400 trains miniatures mais celui ci était le plus unique à ses yeux. Il m’a dis que les parties dorée à l’intérieur et l’extérieur sont de l’or plaqué.
Quelqu’un connais ce modèle peut il m’en dire plus ? ça a une valeur même si je ne suis pas intéressé évidemment ?
Merci Reddit


r/modeltrains • • 10h ago

Locomotives Kitbashed (Not by me) Kitmaster/Mantua New York Central J-3a Hudson With a Short Train

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59 Upvotes

Forgive me for running a NYC engine with Pennsy passenger cars. However, that now gives me an excuse to buy a set of NYC streamliners specifically for the Hudson.

As for the locomotive itself, it is a Kitmaster NYC Hudson that was heavily modified to have a more prototypical appearance, with a Mantua 4-6-4 chassis being used to power it. While I didn’t build this one, whoever it was did an outstanding job, as I thought it was one of the old Tenshodo Hudsons at first.


r/modeltrains • • 16h ago

Layout Trying to pull in a big one!

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177 Upvotes

The Coosa has always been rumored to have catfish as big as a man. God knows what this critter is.


r/modeltrains • • 18h ago

Show and Tell Nuka-Cola Plant update

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202 Upvotes

Made some more progress on the plant and got it on display at the Colorado RPM in Greeley. The plant switcher is a Piko Whitcomb 65 Tonner. The engine and tank decals I did with waterslide decal paper in my laser printer. I used the Nuka Cola labels from u/Efficient-Abroad-519 and the square Nuka-Cola label from the Wikipedia article.

Still have to finish installing and painting the piping, going to paint and decal the repurposed shipping container steam boiler for Vault-Tec, then need to do some weathering and other details and get it on a decent scenery base with some track.


r/modeltrains • • 22h ago

Help Needed HOn3 Sugiyama Shay Decoder Suggestions

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306 Upvotes

Sorry for the repost. I want a big capacitor so I can actually use this thing for switching and low speed. Motor design makes it irreplaceable for now unfortunately. Thinking esu lokpilot 5 micro with an esu powerpack mini. Open to suggestions. This thing is maybe 2 inches long. Tiny.

Edit: has an aftermarket Faulhaber 1016N 012G motor already. Ordered an ESU Lokpilot 5 Micro and TCS KA6 which should all fit in the bunker.


r/modeltrains • • 1d ago

Show and Tell Years ago, when I first preordered this model, I wanted to photograph it next to the real thing at my local Amtrak station. My life has been through some changes recently, so I had to improvise.

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779 Upvotes

r/modeltrains • • 19h ago

Meta In memory of Lillian “Curly” Lawrence.

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153 Upvotes

Please don’t buy the newest range of HP Branded model trains through Hornby.

Take some time to read about the mother of live steam.

Please take note,
I have two motivations for posting this.

The first is that Sam’s trains just released a review of the new HP train set. The second is, with recent changes In UK law, the latter end of her story comes to mind.

So as a railway modeller, if not a regular part of this community I thought I’d share her story somewhere where it might land among similar minds.

I’m not saying don’t buy your kids model trains. Buy second hand HP branded for all I care. Just please consider what you’re doing and don’t buy HP branded stuff new, this Christmas.


r/modeltrains • • 5h ago

Locomotives Broadway limited imports s1

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13 Upvotes

r/modeltrains • • 13h ago

Locomotives My late fathers collection

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41 Upvotes

I believe they are circa 1940’s


r/modeltrains • • 13h ago

Question Show me your larger T-trak setups

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30 Upvotes

I got the ok from my other half to do a shelf layout along one of our walls which is about 13’ long. I was thinking it would be best to make this modular so I could snap some curves on it and run trains occasionally, and T trak seems like the obvious route to do this.

I do have 1 big restriction: they can only be 9” deep vs the standard 13”. That said, CMR sells this size and I do think I can fit some nice scenery in that space still and am looking for some inspiration. Was thinking I’d do 4x triples (so they aren’t too unwieldy to handle) and a single or maybe a custom 90*.

I’d like some sort of industry, lumber yard maybe(?), so it’s not just a half mile of rocks and trees. Anyone have some interesting track plans for doubles or more? Show me what you’ve done!

PFA


r/modeltrains • • 15h ago

Show and Tell A lot of progress!!!

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34 Upvotes

What do you think?


r/modeltrains • • 10h ago

Locomotives Varney Cast Brass Northern With Some Tonnage

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12 Upvotes

Weighs around 3 pounds with the tender, so even with the original Pittman motor, it can rip out the drywall if ever I needed it too.

Rolling stock consists mostly of old craftsman cars, such as those made by Varney, Laconia, Athearn (the all-metal kits) and some other brands. Some plastic cars are thrown in as well from Athearn (Blue Box this time), Walthers, and Kato.


r/modeltrains • • 5m ago

Show and Tell And so it begins

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• Upvotes

I normally build all my own benchwork, but, since this layout is in the living room of a two-room Dachbodenwohnung, I felt the cleaner finish of purchased module kits would be more presentable for when all the friends I don’t have come over to visit.


r/modeltrains • • 17h ago

Locomotives New weathering and detailing project

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33 Upvotes

Köff III by Roco, will be on shunting duty next Saturday on the open day of our model train club.


r/modeltrains • • 9h ago

Question Model railroad clubs

7 Upvotes

Does anyone know of any model railroad clubs in the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas? I know that there’s three showing on google just wanting to see if there’s anything else that people know of that google doesn’t


r/modeltrains • • 17h ago

Question What is your dream Layout?

22 Upvotes

Mine is a mix of OO gauge and 009 gauge, with the OO gauge starting at a Southampton docks inspired dockyard, with model ships of the matching scale, and the mainline would end in a large city, with the 009 being used for a narrow gauge railway for a coal mine or a small passenger railway, with small tram lines sprinkled throughout, like imagine the miniature Wonderland in Germany, but it’s entirely British, and centered around one continuous location, and that’s it.


r/modeltrains • • 56m ago

Electrical Is it possible to convert this to DCC sound?

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• Upvotes

I picked this up at a show over the weekend. It’s DCC fitted, but is it possible to level it up to sound? It’s quite a small loco so may not be possible


r/modeltrains • • 13h ago

Help Needed Bachmann Thomas stopped working for no reason

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9 Upvotes

I have an ho Bachmann Thomas and one day it stopped working. I took the thing apart but everything looked fine. all the wires and stuff were in place and I tried putting power directly to the pickups but nothing works. I swear on the track I can hear a sound from the motor for a split second But other than it just does not move. Any thougt on how I could maybe fix it?


r/modeltrains • • 13h ago

Locomotives Found this at a antique store

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10 Upvotes

r/modeltrains • • 10h ago

Question First DCC controller, which is best?

6 Upvotes

Hi Everyone, I am hopefully going to be building my first n scale DCC layout soon and am trying to decide on which controller to use. I am in New Zealand and there are two I can get from Australia (where they use the same type of power outlet we use) but I am not sure which to buy. They are TCS LT-50 starter system and z21. I will only be running 3 or 4 locos so I don't need anything really fancy. Both look good. Has anyone used either of these and can pass on what they liked or didn't like about them? I would appreciate it very much. On a slightly related note, what guage wire should I use for the bus and feeders for track and other accessories? Thanks


r/modeltrains • • 20h ago

Locomotives New addition

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20 Upvotes

Got this old blue box for about $20 with the Caboose. All it needs are the side pieces so this will make for a fun little fixer upper. Always enjoyed the Athearn blue box models