Classic Toy Trains February 2003

12 layout design tips
Steve Seidel of Houghton, Mich., offers 12 practical tips to produce a better track plan for your O, S, or Standard gauge trains. His suggestions range from mixing track radii, to proper location of track switches, to bi-directional reversing loops.


Visit a traditional O gauge layout
Jack Hornor of Galt, Calif., is a retired nuclear engineer, so it's no surprise that his living room layout practically glows with a bright mix of Lionel and Marx trains - and a Lionel nuclear plant accessory.


Visit a hi-rail S gauge layout
Richard Arsenault of Atlanta, Ga., uses American Flyer and hi-rail S gauge trains on a pair of joined layouts to capture operation on a small Cascade Mountains branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad.


How to repair postwar locomotive smoke units
CTT's resident repair expert Ray L. Plummer shows you how to revive a non-working pellet smoke unit by converting it to a liquid smoke unit.


Boxed postwar Lionel sets
Collector David Kalmbaugh of Oxnard, Calif., shows you how to focus as a collector, progressing from a buy-everything mentality to - in David's case - specializing in boxed Lionel postwar sets.


Build an O gauge or a standard gauge track-cleaning car
Peter Corrigan of Ballston Spa, N.Y. shows you how to attach a track-cleaning pad to an existing O gauge freight car. Egon DeZubay of Pittsburgh, Pa., shows you how to build a Standard gauge track-cleaning car with a free-floating cleaning pad.


Lionel’s “biggest” accessory
Roland E. LaVoie profiles Lionel's no. 1045 Operating Watchman.


Reader Showcase
How can you get a photo of your layout into Classic Toy Trains? Easy, submit it to Reader Showcase, our new regular feature.


How to wire Lionel accessories
The latest in a series of wiring diagrams by Louis Koumoundouros of Chicago, Ill., shows you how to wire Lionel's crossing gate three different ways.


Also in this issue of CTT: Reviews of Lionel's Standard gauge Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson set, an MTH Premier line O-gauge 2-8-8-2 steamer, Marx's "Thor" military locomotive, and an MTH RailKing 0-4-0 Docksider locomotive; toy train industry news; Q&A operator tips with Ray L. Plummer; beginner tips from Kent and Carl Johnson; and our popular Collectible Classics column this month profiling Lionel's prewar Commodore Vanderbilt steamer.