It’s a good time to be an Amtrak modeler. Rapido’s new Horizon passenger cars are here to fill out your contemporary medium-distance trains. Amtrak started its existence with a hand-me-down fleet of passenger cars and locomotives. In 1988, Amtrak ordered its first new short-haul cars, initially referred to as Amfleet III (Amfleet II came in […]
Rapido Trains is bringing the comfort, Canadian style. We recently received a sample of the company’s new Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) M420 locomotive, and it’s a beauty, eh? The prototype When Alco locomotive production ceased in Schenectady, N.Y., in 1969, locomotives continued to be built in Canada by former subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works until […]
A ubiquitous freight car that rode America’s rails from one World War to another, the 40-foot double-sheathed wood boxcar developed by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), is the latest HO scale offering from WalthersMainline. A war baby. The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was formed in 1917 to nationalize the nation’s railroads, which were […]
Sprecher Brewing Co., a Milwaukee fixture famous for craft beers and many flavors of fire-brewed sodas, is coming to HO and O scale model railroads nationwide thanks to another Wisconsin com- pany, Menards. The model. Menards’ structure is meant to resemble a generic brewery of the steam-to-diesel transition era. The era I listed in the […]
The Siemens SC-44 Charger is built in California. The first units are in Amtrak- supported state and regional service. Chargers have been pulling trains in California (CalTrans, North County Transit District, and San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission), Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin (IDOT), Maryland (MARC), and Washington state (WSDOT) since 2017. Amtrak has ordered 75 similar […]
A Pullman-Standard (PS) high-side 4,427-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay covered hopper is now available from Athearn Trains. The N scale model features an injection-molded plastic body, wire and etched-metal details, and screw-mounted roller-bearing trucks with 36″ metal wheelsets. The prototype. Pullman-Standard introduced the 4,427-cubic-foot-capacity covered hopper in 1964. For the first two years of the production run, the […]
Steam-era operation typically requires additional infrastructure items, such as coaling towers and water cranes, but perhaps the most interesting of these is the turntable, used for turning locomotives and sending them back out in the opposite direction. Kitwood Hill Models offers several laser-cut wood kits for gallows-style narrow-gauge turntables in an assortment of lengths, all […]
Atlas Model Railroad Co. has released a new run of HO scale Alco RSD-5 diesel locomotives in its Classic line. The six-axle road switcher features a dual-mode ESU LokSound decoder, improved tooling on the turbo exhaust stack (air- and water-cooled versions), and factory-installed and painted wire grab irons. The prototype. Alco produced the RSD-5 from March […]
Jacksonville Terminal Co., a relatively new manufacturer that’s been making a name for itself with a line of N scale intermodal containers, is now offering its first freight car, a modern, 100-ton, double-stack well car. The die-cast-metal N scale car features etched-metal end platforms, separately applied brake gear, and body-mounted knuckle couplers. Prototype and model. […]
A General Electric (GE) Dash 8-40CM has joined the growing lineup of N scale diesel locomotives from Rapido Trains. The six-axle road unit features a plastic body; separate, factory-applied wire grab irons; and body-mounted couplers. The prototype. In the late 1980s, Canadian National enlisted General Electric to produce a variant of the Dash 8-40C better […]
Whether you’re a Rivet Counter or an Operator, ScaleTrains.com has an SD45 for you. These HO scale models are available now with every last detail installed, or just the highlights, and with dual-mode sound decoders, or as direct- current models with a provision to add your favorite Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. General Motors’ Electro-Motive […]
A new run of N scale Electro-Motive Division GP38 diesel locomotives is now available from Atlas Model Railroad Co. The Master Line models are offered in two versions. Silver series models have a factory-installed speaker, while Gold series locomotives have a dual-mode ESU LokSound Select sound decoder. The prototype. Electro-Motive Division produced the GP38 from […]
