This page is designed as a resource library from our membership meeting presentations or clinics. We will post PDFs of slide shows or handouts about railroad or modeling topics from Susquehanna Division meets to this page.

Please note that the authors have given permission to post their presentations, but they are under their original individual copyright protection with all rights reserved.

David Ellis’s presentation on earning the Golden Spike. The Golden Spike Award is often seen as a entry into the NMRA’s Achievement Program or as a guide to improving one’s model railroad skiil set. Please note that the second part of this clinic discusses a finished model railroad that goes way beyond the basic requirements.

He also suggests this “hidden” NMRA page and this NMRA Edutrain clinic: Earning the Golden Spike. (You will need to be signed in to the NMRA website as a registered member to access the Edutrain clinic.)

David Ellis’s presentation on Tips and Tricks To Improve Backdrops. He focuses on ways to approach adding realism based on the AP Scenery requirements for “background” such as realistically depicting sky and creating the illusion of depth or distance. Another focus consists of ways to transition from the backdrop to the three dimensional portion of your model railroad. In this presentation. David shares photos that he took (with permission) of other modelers’ railroads and their use of backdrops to add realism.

Dan Horting’s presentation on building a Pennsylvania Railroad K4s in 1/8 Scale. Dan shares numerous photos of building his incredible Pennsylvania Railroad K4s #3855 4-6-2 Pacific live steam locomotive. Along with documenting the building of the locomotive, his slides include links to short videos of the 1/8 scale locomotive in action.

Rich Wurst’s presentation on The Other Lesser Known Livestock Railroad Transport Car. His clinic includes the development and history of poultry cars. He presents examples of poultry cars and details of their use before exploring modeling options for poultry cars.

Rich Wurst’s presentation: The Frugal Model Railroader. Rich shares a list of free or low-cost materials and then shows photos of each example on the list, exploring the process and end result of reusing what would otherwise be throwaways.