Editing Model Railroader (section)

{{Short description|American rail transport magazine}}
{{primary sources|date=April 2012}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = Model Railroader
| editor = Eric While (as of 5/11/22)
| image_file = Model Railroader June 2024 cover.webp
| image_alt = Cover of Model Railroader magazine showing a freight steam model train
| image_caption = Cover of the June 2024 issue
| category = [[Rail transport modeling]]
| frequency = Monthly
| website = {{URL|http://mrr.trains.com/}}
| publisher = Firecrown Media
| country = [[United States|USA]]
|total_circulation = 138,034<ref>{{cite web |url= http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/magtitlesearch.asp |title= eCirc for Consumer Magazines |date= June 30, 2011 |publisher= [[Audit Bureau of Circulations (North America)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]] |accessdate= November 30, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120724165959/http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/magtitlesearch.asp |archive-date= July 24, 2012 |url-status= dead }}</ref>	
|circulation_year = 2011
| firstdate = 1934
| issn = 0026-7341
}}

'''''Model Railroader''''' ('''''MR''''') is an American [[magazine]] about the hobby of [[model railroading]]. Founded in 1934 by [[Al C. Kalmbach]], it is published monthly by Firecrown Media of [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]]. Commonly found on newsstands and in libraries, it promotes itself as the oldest magazine of its type in the United States, although it is the long-standing competitor to ''[[Railroad Model Craftsman]],'' which - originally named ''The Model Craftsman'' - predates MR by one year.

''MR'' is considered to be a general-interest hobby magazine, appealing to a wide range of hobbyists, rather than specializing in a particular scale, or facet of the hobby (such as prototype operations or [[scratch building]] and [[kitbashing]]). ''Model Railroader'' covers a variety of scales and modeling techniques for engines, rolling stock, right-of-way, structures, and scenery. It reviews products including ready-to-run models as well as kits, tools and supplies. The magazine presents blueprints and photographs of prototype equipment, as well as photographs of models and layouts.

A longstanding philosophy of modeling is manifest in its editorial features of layout design and operation, in which the model is viewed as a three-dimensional and temporal compression of the real world, so that, for example, the motive power, freight, trackage and scenery of a real-world railroad are formed into a layout which captures the spirit of not only the equipment and region of the railroad but also its purpose and how it operates.

The magazine is published under {{ISSN|0026-7341}}. Individual issues use the [[Universal Product Code|UPC]] 074820085486.