The Digitrax Zephyr Express Digital Command Control system is an all-in-one DCC starter set. Senior editor Dana Kawala shows you some of the system’s features and basic operation in this DCC demo. […]
Video: Digitrax Zephyr Express DCC system
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Plans for Union Pacific East Los Angeles Station
In the October 2019 Model Railroader, Bruce Briggs writes about the Union Pacific’s East Los Angeles Station that served as the railroad’s gateway to Southern California for more than 40 years. After extensive research, Bruce made detailed plans of this mission revival station based on official railroad blueprints. Cl […]
Computer desktop wallpaper from the October 2019 Model Railroader
Click on the links at left to download this image sized appropriately for your computer screen Locomotive Whiton blasts out of Clozet Tunnel on Bernard Kempinksi’s O scale United States Military RR Aquia Line. The Civil War-era layout is the cover story of the October 2019 issue. Click on the links below to download this […]
Visit the Serenity Valley Railway
Name: Bryan Hanson Railroad Name: Serenity Valley Railway Description: Drone footage of my garden railroad […]
First Look: Broadway Limited Imports HO scale Pennsylvania P5a electric
Broadway Limited Imports Paragon3 HO scale Pennsylvania RR P5a electric left side Broadway Limited Imports Paragon3 HO scale Pennsylvania RR P5a electric (right side) Broadway Limited Imports Paragon3 HO scale Pennsylvania RR P5a electric (front view) Broadway Limited Imports Paragon3 HO scale Pennsylvania RR P5a electric truck detail Broadway Limited Imports Paragon3 HO scale Pennsylvania […]
New models trains for the week of August 22, 2019
Accurail HO scale 40-foot plug-door refrigerator car HO scale freight cars Assorted freight cars. Black Hills Packing Co. 40-foot plug-door steel refrigerator car, $19.98. Canadian National 50-foot boxcar with exterior posts (Illinois Central reporting marks), $18.98. Canadian Pacific 40-foot insulated boxcar, $18.98. Illinois Terminal Pullman-Standard 40-foot PS-1 boxcar, $18.98. Quebec Central 36-foot Fowler boxcar, $18.98. […]
Toy Train Basics: All about track
To continue this informative series of videos from Classic Toy Trains magazine, David Popp shares info and insights on the wide array of O gauge track systems, sizes, and styles you can use to build a toy train layout! […]
Ask Trains: Why and when did rails get their shape?
Rail profiles through time from file: TRN-TC0513 Illustration: Rick Johnson Q: Why and when did rails get their profile? — Rozier Smith A: The basic shape, or profile, of rails that we see today: chucky head, thin web, and wide base, has its roots railroading as early as 1789, according to an illustration Trains printed […]
Ask Trains: Does Norfolk Southern own the yards along its CNO&TP route?
Cincinnati Southern Railway website Q: The city of Cincinnati owns the CNO&TP line running from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn., which Norfolk Southern leases from the city. Does the city of Cincinnati also own and lease yards along the line to NS, or does NS own these yards outright? — Doug Lathrem, Bowling Green, Ky. A: […]
Ask Trains: How do railroads determine a grade on track charts?
Conrail C36-7 No. 6628 works an eastbound train in New York’s Southern Tier east of Lanesboro, Pa., near the Pennsylvania-New York border in 1985. This section of track has a grade, what percentage that shows up on a track chart is determined by how precise the charts are. TEH-11062-18 Michael S. Murray Q: Some […]
Ask Train: Why did railroads use rotary beacons on locomotives?
Various Santa Fe SF30C units are seen in storage at Argentine Yard, in Argentine, Kan., in 1983. Several of these locomotives have rotary or flashing beacons on their cab roofs for safety. TEH-14212-34 Ivan Abrams Q: Why did some railroads use flashing or rotary beacons atop their diesels? And do any railroads use them anymore? […]
Ask Trains: Why did a railroad remove a connection with another, nearby railroad?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Trains readers aren’t the only ones to wonder about happenings in the railroad world. Trains editors and friends recently shared an email discussion about why two Class I railroads near Trains’ headquarters removed a connection at a diamond crossover. Here’s a condensed, edited version of the best explanation we’ve seen: A: I would […]
