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- Airbrush
Miniature paint sprayer. Uses
compressed air to spray thinned paint.
- Backdrop
Painted or photographic back ground
for a layout.
- Ballast
Crushed rock placed between the ties on real railroads to keep the ties from moving. Also drains water off. See trackwork.
- Balsa
A very lightweight wood that is
easily cut.
- Benchwork
Frame that makes up the foundation
of a train layout.
- Block
Electrically isolated section of track, used for multi train operation, signaling systems, or to avoid short circuits. See wiring.
- Bolster
Part of a railroad car body
underneath that connects the truck's pivot to the body. Also
refers to the cross members. On trucks, the piece between
the side frames.
- Branch
A short section of track that
diverges from the mainline to serve a town or industry.
- Bumper
At the end of a spur or branch line
to keep cars from running over the edge.
- CA (Cyanoacrylate)
"Super Glue." Bonds metal and plastic. See Structures.
- Cab control
One power pack per train, running on blocks, so each train is controlled individually. See wiring.
- Casting
Process for duplicating parts.
- Catenary
Overhead wires for electrical
locomotives.
- Code
Height of rail in thousandths of an inch. Code 83 rail is .083" tall. See Choosing and buying.
- Command control
Sends signals through the rails,
decoded by locomotives. On the same tracks, but running
independent of one another.
- Consist
List of cars that make up a train.
- Craze
When glues ruin the surface of
uncompatible plastic.
- Crossover
Two parallel turnouts that allow a
train to move from one track to the other.
- Cut
A string of cars, OR a chunk taken
out of a hillside. (see 'fill')
- Dry brushing
Very little paint of the tip of a
brush used to highlight details when weathering.
- Duckunder
Bend down under some benchwork to
get to another area of the layout.
- Epoxy
A two part glue. See Structures
- Fascia
Boards for decoration on the front
of a layout.
- Fiddle yard
Hidden tracks where you can move
cars around, often by hand.
- Fill
Add in dirt or 'fill' to bring a
grade up to level.
- Flash
Thin pieces of plastic or metal left
on a casting.
- Flextrack
Flexible, when you lay them, pieces
of track. Rigid when nailed down.
- Free-lance
Make up your own design.
- Frog
The point where the track's rails
cross the turnout's rails in a switch.
- Gauge
Distance between the rails. Prototype in America is 4' 8.5" See Introduction.
- Gondola
Long, short open topped car for
hauling steel and scrap metals.
- Grab iron (Grab)
Handles on the sides of cars or
equipment.
- Grade
Angle or rise or fall of tracks as
they follow the land.
- Grain
The direction in wood of the fibers.
- Ground Foam
Synthetic rubber ground and dyed to
resemble ground cover.
- Hardshell
Making scenery, like mountains and hills, using plaster dipped paper towels. Laid over a light frame. See scenery.
- Helix
A spiral of tracks, raising or
lowering. Used on multilevel layouts.
- Helper
Additional locomotive used to help a
train get over a difficult or steep spot.
- Hostler
Person that switches cars around.
- Homasote
Paperboard often used for roadbed.
- Hopper car
Open top car, tall sides. Coal and
gravel, emptied through chutes at the base.
- Intermodal
Shipments combining more than one
method of transportation, such as carrying tracter-trailers
on the rails, and then switching them to ships, and then
back to the trucks.
- Interurban
Self-propelled trains in cities,
such as a trolley.
- Journal
Load bearing part of an axle that
rides in the support bearing or sideframe.
- Kingpin
Pivot point of a truck that connects
it to the bolster.
- Kitbashing (Kitmingling)
Mixing parts of kits to make your
own creation.
- Main line
Portion where travel is heaviest.
- Module
A section built to dimensions and
standards, to be included with other modules in a large
layout. N-Trak is one.
- MOW Maintenance of Way
Used by railroads to maintain the
tracks.
- NMRA
National Model Railroad Association NMRA.ORG
- Narrow gauge
Rails spaced smaller than standard
gauge; often used in mines and logging areas.
- Operation
Running model trains to simulate the prototype. See operation.
- Points
Portions of a turnout or switch that
move.
- Prototype
The actual, real life, full-sized
object that is modeled.
- Rail joiner
A part of folded metal used to
connect a butt joint between two rails.
- Reefer
Refrigerator box car used to haul
foods. No air conditioner or ice.
- Resin
Material used for casting.
- Roadbed
Foundations of tracks. See trackwork.
- Rolling stock
The cars on a train.
- Scale
Proportion to the prototype a model is built. See introduction.
- Scratchbuilding
Not using kits to build models.
- Scribe
Score a cut, not all the way
through.
- Solder
Metal that melts at low
temperatures. Joins brass model pieces, and electrical
wires.
- Styrene (Polystyrene)
Versatile plastic used in modeling.
Many sizes and shapes. Metallic sound when struck.
- Superelevation
Banking tracks on a curve to allow
for higher speeds.
- Switch
A track that allows trains to swap routes. See trackwork.
- Talgo trucks
Often on toy trains, couplers
attached on the trucks. Allows for tighter curves, but prone
to derailments when backed up.
- Tender
Carries fuel and water for steam
engines.
- Throat
Point in a yard where all the tracks
converge or diverge.
- Traction
Electrically run trains in cities.
- Truck
Wheel assembly a train car rides on.
- Turnout
Allows movement from one track to
another. Modeler's term for switch, so as not to confuse it
with an electrical switch.
- Weathering
Simulating years of abuse on models by washing them in chalks, etc. See details.
- Wye
A turnout or switch track that
curves both left and right.
- Yard
A group of tracks where trains are
sorted out, staged, and then recombined.
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