Extra Board

Welcome to 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 the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette. Check back as we continue to add new articles!

Building a Turpentine Still: A Small Uncommon Industry

Building a Turpentine Still: A Small Uncommon Industry

The turpentine industry was very important in the early days of the United States, and played a key part in the American Revolution by supplying tar, pitch, and turpentine to the navy.

O Scale Trains Magazine joins the WRP Family of Publications

O Scale Trains Magazine joins the WRP Family of Publications

White River Productions is pleased to announce it has acquired O Scale Trains Magazine from publisher Jaini Giannovario, effective immediately.

L’Aubraie: Large Scale Quarry Operation in a Small Space

L’Aubraie: Large Scale Quarry Operation in a Small Space

Once I built a 45 mm gauge, LGB railway in my garden. A few years later, I became interested in 2-foot gauge railways, and wanted to run 2-foot gauge trains on my existing LGB 45 mm gauge track.

Three Days, 20 Bucks: Alamosa to Chama

Three Days, 20 Bucks: Alamosa to Chama

Here, once again, on the former Rio Grande Southern Fourth Division, the narrow gauge rails, the wooden cars and the iron men put the Rockies to rout.

Better Speed Control For Your Live Steam Locomotives

Better Speed Control For Your Live Steam Locomotives

Controlling small-scale, live steam locomotives can be tricky. They may stall on upgrades, and often run too fast on downgrades – and, slow switching is hard to achieve.

British Columbia Logging: The HO Scale Moxy Creek & Western

British Columbia Logging: The HO Scale Moxy Creek & Western

I got back into model railroading about 12 years ago, after an absence of some 28 years. When I returned to the hobby, I decided that I wanted to create a small HO gauge logging diorama.

Sausalito to Duncan’s Mills: An On30 Dead Rail Module

Sausalito to Duncan’s Mills: An On30 Dead Rail Module

My modular, “micro-layout,” is an On30 dead-rail model railroad based on the 3-foot gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad that once ran from the ferry terminal at Sausalito, to Duncan’s Mills, and Cazadero, California.

Rio Grande Southern Caboose Marker Lights Go Digital

Rio Grande Southern Caboose Marker Lights Go Digital

The digital/decoder revolution has changed our hobby. I now have six Rio Grande cabooses, and one Denver & Rio Grande Western caboose fitted with LED marker and cupola lights.

Modeling a Bell Locomotive Works 0-4-0T in On30

Modeling a Bell Locomotive Works 0-4-0T in On30

When I examined my information on Bell Locomotives, I realized that the running gear of many Bell Locomotives bore a striking resemblance to that of an On30 Bachmann Industries Davenport gas-mechanical.

Ball Signals on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad

Ball Signals on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad

Ball signals were used to protect track crossings and yard movements on many 19th Century railroads, and well into the 20th century on some. The Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes had ball signals at Farmington, Strong, and Phillips.