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The layout at a glance Name: Royal Gorge Route Layout owner: Florida Scale Rails club Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 8 x 12 feet Prototype: Denver & Rio Grande Western (standard and HOn3 narrow gauge); Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; and Union Pacific Locale: Colorado Era: 1930s to ’60s Mainline run: 75 feet Minimum radius: 22″ […]
The layout at a glance Name: Midwest Lines Layout owner: Rolf Plachter Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 33 x 52 feet Prototype: freelanced, inspired by Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Rock Island; and Union Pacific Locale: Denver to Milwaukee Era: mid-1960s Style: around-the-walls Mainline run: 400 feet Minimum radius: 36″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 2 […]
In the mid-1950s, Chicago & North Western and Pullman-Standard collaborated on the first fleet of push-pull commuter cars in North America. First used on C&NW’s Chicago suburban lines, the concept has spread throughout the U.S. and Canada. Photo by Pullman-Standard […]
Even relatively pro-passenger roads like the Burlington could get ugly about train-offs. Immediately upon receiving permission to drop Omaha–Billings train 41 (pictured near Osage, Wyo., on May 28, 1969), the road halted it mid-run and bused its riders onward. Photo by Bob Johnston […]
In 1960, a Pacific Electric car approaches Dominguez Junction where the Southern California interurban’s Long Beach line crossed parent Southern Pacific’s Harbor Branch. Today, Blue Line light rail crosses SP successor Union Pacific overhead. Photo by Richard Francaviglia […]
Erie doodlebug 5014, an Electro-Motive product of 1931, and a Stillwell coach are about 5 minutes into their Midvale–Jersey City run as train 530 as they pass Pompton Junction, N.J., on August 11, 1946. The Stillwell coaches were a trademark of the railroad. Photo by D. R. Connor […]
New York Central train 315 stands at Bellefontaine, Ohio, on July 16, 1960. The E7s still wear lightning stripes, but the train is already all mail and express cars with a single coach. On the eve of Amtrak in 1971, potentials passengers petitioned Penn Central to carry privately owned passenger cars on this run, which […]
The engineer of Canadian National 2-8-2 3503 enjoys the breeze as he hurries a freight eastward at Lorne Park, Ont., in August 1955. […]
Union Pacific had the largest fleet of rebuilt boxcars with built-in grain doors, visible in the upper part of the right plug door. No. 520003 was rebuilt from an older 40-foot car in 1967. Photo by Union Pacific […]
Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf gas-electric M-23, assembled by GE in 1939 using parts from other cars, stands at Denison, Texas, on July 8, 1954. M-23 was scrapped a few months later, after its Denison–Muskogee, Okla., run, the last Muskogee Group varnish, was discontinued. Photo by Harold K. Vollrath […]
Name: Todd Hein Location: Crystal, Minnesota Scale: O Description: This is the last run on my layout before I dismantled it for a basement remodel. This video shows a Marx set from the 1947 Sears Catalog and a Marx set from the 1957 Sears catalog. […]
In April 1965, the Mississippi River rose enough at Savanna, Ill., to endanger diesel traction motors, but the tracks were still passable. So, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy fired up fantrip 2-8-2 Mikado No. 4960, which ferried freight and passenger trains (like the North Coast Limited, pictured) through the high water. Photo by Chicago, Burlington & […]
