How We Did It

Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Model Railroad is not sponsored by Soundtraxx, but we use Tsunami2 DCC sound decoders on all of our steam and diesel locomotives. We recently installed a Tsunami2 sound decoder into our Broadway Limited 4-8-4 #3751! In this video you will hear most of the sounds produced by this great sound decoder from SoundTraxx. We operate the 3751 at various speeds and directions as well as starting and stopping the locomotive.

Even though the engine crew is standing right behind a massive firebox, nothing is colder than the cab of a steam locomotive on a winter day. The only way to stop the cold wind, rain and snow from entering the cab is a good set of cab curtains. Cab curtains were made of heavy weight canvas and were arranged to shut off the sides of the cab between the engine and tender. Then a separate roll-down curtain totally enclosed the crew compartment of the cab. The cab curtains are in important and impressive detail to add to the Santa Fe steam locomotive fleet on Santa Fe's Raton Pass Model Railroad. In this video Sam D. Teague shows you his method of making HO scale cab curtains for Santa Fe steam locomotives. Sam says he wasn't sure how to go about making convincing cab curtains in HO scale, so he consulted his wife Kathy and asked for her help. Kathy is a quilter and paper crafting specialist that is very talented with fabric and paper crafting. Kathy came up with a way to replicate the side curtains, which is the most difficult part to model convincingly. She showed Sam some tools of her trade that would be very helpful in fabricating the HO cab curtains. Kathy also recommended a fabric that is highly realistic to represent canvas in HO scale. Follow along as Sam uses his wife's technique and tools to make HO scale canvas cab curtains for the model railroads fleet of brass and plastic steam locomotives. Kathy's technique could be used for other scales like S, O and G as well.

Watch Sam and Aaron working on the construction of Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision and see how they built their beautiful model railroad modeled after Raton Pass. Sam and Aaron lay roadbed, track and even install a wye turnout. Then they show you how to do plaster work and color plaster rock formations. Finally, they show you what happened when they ran the first 18 car freight train completely around the new layout. Raton Pass takes a lot of power, even in HO scale!

Our newest steam locomotive is a brass 825 Class, 2-8-0, AT&SF Steam Locomotive. Sam has owned this locomotive about 10-years but didn't have it running until recently when he installed the Tsunami2 sound decoder. Follow along and Sam D. Teague takes your through the installation process step by step from beginning too operational condition.

Do you have brass locomotives or rolling stock that has tarnished? In this video Sam D. Teague shows you a low -tech and low-cost way to get rid of it. Sam takes a brass AT&SF 4-8-4 steam locomotive model with moderately high tarnish accumulation and removes all of the tarnish with his simple technique. After the tarnish is removed, Sam shows you how the locomotive looks and runs after being painted. At the end of the video is a link to the big 4-8-4 running over Raton Pass and pulling the California Ltd.

Be sure to check out our store at this link! Thanks for shopping with us! Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Store link: https://santa-fes-raton-subdivision-m.myspreadshop.com We needed a way to change out rolling stock on our layout with-out having to dig into storage boxes. We also needed an attractive display. We made this simple display and installed it on a shelf above our layout. It holds 120-140 cars.

Be sure to check out our store at this link! Thanks for shopping with us! Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Store link: https://santa-fes-raton-subdivision-m.myspreadshop.com I was contacted by a customer that wanted us to build the Bachmann Spectrum Ambassador. Follow along as Sam builds this large complex HO scale structure, complete with LED interior lighting.

Be sure to check out our store at this link! Thanks for shopping with us! Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Store link: https://santa-fes-raton-subdivision-m.myspreadshop.com The Importance of First Things First! This video describes in Ten Sequential Steps how to build your model railroad so that you don't get the construction process out of order. Starting with the design and CAD drawing of Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Model Railroad, Sam and Aaron Teague take you step by step in sequential order through the proper path to completion of your model railroad. There are many how-to-build a model railroad videos available, but this one covers the importance of doing everything from start to finish in order. A huge amount of time and money can be wasted if you don't follow the proper order when designing and constructing your model railroad. Follow along as Sam and Aaron Teague show you the process, they followed building Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Model Railroad.