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Thursday, April 09, 2020

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Welcome to Z Central Station

Welcome to the Z Central Station!  A model railroad site dedicated to 1:220 scale model trains. Z Central Station was created to provide Z Scalers a full featured online community.  Members can share their Z Scale experiences via our discussion forum, photo gallery, classifieds, videos, chat room and more!  Membership to Z Central Station is free!  Have an idea, comment, or concern? Z Central Station has a Contact us link under "My ZCS" menu option.  24 x 7 Active Chat for up to 20 members. Regular scheduled times are Sundays 1PM EST and Wednesdays 9:00PM EST.  Chat is open to any member. Stop in and say Hi!  10,000+ Z scaled image gallery open for all to enjoy.   Home Page Shout Box.13,000+ Forums Postings.  More than 200 free downloads in our Library containing Instructionals, decals, paper/cardstock models, paintchip charts, modeler pad, and more!  Ever wanted to create your own Blog?  Here is your chance to create a Blog on your Z scale layout, modeling project, or even contest entry!  You can add photos, videos, and links to show in your blog.  This is one of the latest modules, I wanted to be sure to re-introduce this powerful  tool for our members use.  It is simple to join Z Central Station with a Free membership!

Free Community Banners Free Z scale community banners are provided for individuals or groups looking to expand their current Z scale modeling group, starting a Z scale modeling group, or just to create a Z scale awareness in their area.  Community banners are displayed on every Z Central Station page.  For more information use the 'Contact us' form.  Z Central Station Private Messaging  ZCS always had the ability to allow private messaging between members but now it is functional for you to use.  When you log in you will notice a PM Notifier just under the search box on every ZCS web page.  When you go to your profile page you will notice several new PM modules.  Here is where you can have ZCS email you when you receive a new PM, compose a PM to another ZCS member by using their screen name.  You can also review sent, received, and deleted private messages.

Free Online Magazines  Here are some online sources for free magazines from various railroad related historical societies.  If you information of other sources let us know and we would be glad to create a link to help other model railroaders.     Keystone Modeler     AC&Y Modeler          Nickel Plate Road Modeler

Privacy Policy  Z Central Station has now adopted a Privacy Policy, effective as of July 30th, 2011.  Z Central Station has a Forum/Chat Disclaimer, effective as of July 31th, 2011.  Z Central Station  Mission Statment.

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Wanted!  Z Central Station is looking to add more photos, articles, and kit instructions.  Z Central Station has 270+ documents in our library with 45+ kit instruction documents.  We want to add more for future references.  We would also like to add any articles from a simple kit build, train car repaint, anything to do with Z scale modeling.  For more information or if you need help uploading images and files to ZCS, click on the 'Contact Us' Page.

Latest Member Z Scale Photos

John Deere Harvester
  • John Deere Harvester
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Madill 009 Yard<br />tower logger
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Shorty Amtrak Train
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supply dock
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Switch tower
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Jimbo Tie Crane
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Jimbo Tie Crane
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California Zephyr<br />detouring through<br />Donner Pass
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    Donner Pass
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Combined Modules
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Yet another layout<br />24
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Casy Jr Train
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245G LC Excavators<br />with removable boom<br />fittings
  • 245G LC Excavators
    with removable boom
    fittings
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Easy Blog Showcase

Avoiding the Slinky Effect

Avoiding the Slinky Effect

ZRailFan EasyBlog 08 April 2016
I love Kadee couplers. They are the only couplers you can (generally) reliably uncouple without sticking your fingers on the cars. They appear more realistic to my eye as well. But I’ve read where Z f...
Read more
Roadbed Begins!

Roadbed Begins!

ZRailFan EasyBlog 15 April 2016
  With my basic table completed, it was time to start laying out some roadbed in preparation for track. Since the table is 24” across, and I wanted my mainline curve radius to be as large as possible,...
Read more
Hand-Crafting a Curved Turnout

Hand-Crafting a Curved Turnout

ZRailFan EasyBlog 24 April 2016
  After having completed this, I’m not entirely sure if I was brave to try it or foolhardy. But I’ve always been amazed by hand-laid turnouts (and hand-laid track in general), so for this small Z layo...
Read more
Kitbashing a Micron Arts 1083 Pratt Truss Dual Mainline Bridge

Kitbashing a Micron Arts 1083 Pratt Truss Dual Mainline Bridge

ZRailFan EasyBlog 23 May 2016
It’s not that I’m so old. It’s just that there are traditions that are important. And one tradition, at least to me, is to fabricate as much as possible. I don’t like buying ready-to-run models. I pre...
Read more
It's Started!

It's Started!

ZRailFan EasyBlog 05 April 2016
    I hate to start out by apologizing, but I feel I must. This blog isn't about me but about things I come across while modeling. However, this first entry is actually a little about m...
Read more
Hand-Laid Turnouts the Easy Way

Hand-Laid Turnouts the Easy Way

ZRailFan EasyBlog 29 April 2016
  I’m not afraid of hard work. Never have been. But if I can work smarter, I’d rather do that. In this case, it’s long been a…dream, I suppose, to learn to build hand-laid turnouts. It always seemed l...
Read more

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ZCS Shoutbox

southernnscale - Mon 6 Apr - 01:53

Hope all is keeping safe! Take care!

Jarnett13 - Thu 30 Jan - 21:17

The link to the Nickel Plate Historical site is not good

ZFRANK - Wed 1 Jan - 07:18

Happy 2020!

rvn2001 - Wed 1 Jan - 01:10

HAPPY NEW YEAR Everybody !!!

stonysmith - Tue 31 Dec - 22:15

Happy New Year!

rvn2001 - Wed 25 Dec - 11:01

MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone !!

southernnscale - Fri 20 Dec - 23:38

hope Everyone has a Merry Christmas and happy New Year! in Z land!

soccrdad30 - Thu 28 Nov - 11:48

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

southernnscale - Mon 29 Jul - 16:21

WOW! WOW! :O is all I can say It good to be back! Outstanding Job!!!!!!!!!!!

ZFRANK - Sun 14 Jul - 06:52

Looking foward to the AZL RS3, SW1000 and SW1500 :D

soccrdad30 - Thu 4 Jul - 20:11

Happy 4th of July!

soccrdad30 - Sun 30 Jun - 09:51

Welcome back all! It feels good to have ZCS back online. I have added 500+ images and several new categories in the Z Spotlight module.

GNFan - Wed 26 Jun - 22:03

Great to have ZCS back. Thanks for the great work, John.

JoomJunk - Mon 16 Jan - 15:00

Welcome to the Shoutbox

rvn2001 - Sun 17 Mar - 15:40

Happy St. Patrick's Day

ZFRANK - Thu 3 Jan - 18:39

Happy New Year!

rvn2001 - Tue 1 Jan - 06:45

Yappy Hew Near ..... er ...... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

soccrdad30 - Thu 27 Dec - 03:13

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone

rvn2001 - Tue 25 Dec - 11:59

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

stonysmith - Mon 8 Oct - 00:20

@ZOPTIONS - welcome!There's a good number of folks here who can help.One of the best resources it to come to chat at 9:00pm EDT almost any day

ZOPTIONS - Sun 7 Oct - 16:50

Greetings to all! Coming from Lionel O scale - "sizing down" if you will. Have a lot of trouble trying to determine the "best" products for constructing sidewalks AND structure bases? GM

rvn2001 - Thu 27 Sep - 16:16

You just need to sand the bottom of the plow a little.

jdo - Thu 27 Sep - 13:02

Is anyone having problems with the new MTL SD-40S plow hanging up on switches ETC.?

stonysmith - Wed 19 Sep - 14:56

Make sure you click on the image first so that you get the full size image. The image is properly 11105x450 and if printed at 300dpi will be the correct size.

mohican - Mon 17 Sep - 21:45

who creates the container freight pics? It would be nice if they were created using an adobe file instead of a jpg rendering. The details are too far blurred to make a decent model

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Random Modeling Tip

Enhance Locomotive details
30 Jun 2019 14:27 - John Kellett

An easy way to enhance the look of any diesel locomotive is to blacken the grills and vents to provide more depth.  You can use a black wash to bring out the grill or vent details.  Weathering powders are extremely effective bringing out locomotive vent and grill details.

Weathering

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