Perform rolling stock checkups

Homemade coupler test fixture with various tools, gauges, and parts.

Good rolling stock plays a major role in the operating quality of any layout. On most model railroads, the car fleet represents more potential problems than any other single element, so here’s how I check every car before it goes on my Ohio Southern Railroad, using just a few handy tools, 1. Trucks and wheels […]

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Model railroad locomotive, freight car, vehicle, and decal announcements for April 1, 2021

Double door boxcar

Product news Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of April 1, 2021. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP38-2 diesel locomotive. New […]

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Improve short locomotive wiring in 7 steps

A short O gauge 0-6-0t steam switcher approaches a pair of track turnouts

Some of today’s short-wheelbase locomotives have issues with the prototypical switches and narrow-angle crossings that make an O gauge railroad look realistic. Here’s a quick fix that will allow any locomotive­ ­- even this economical Bethlehem Steel saddle tanker from Lionel – to perform reliably over the troublesome trackwork. THIS IS A PHOTO FEATURE. CLICK […]

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Cresting Tennessee Pass

Steam locomotive with freight train

Rio Grande’s California Fast Freight departs Tennessee Pass station, crest of the Continental Divide, in April 1938. Big 2-8-8-2 3606 will keep the train in check on the 3 percent grade down to Minturn, Colo. H. Kindig […]

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Colebrookdale Railroad acquires a second steam locomotive

Colebrookdale Railroad Logo

BOYERTOWN, Pa. — In cooperation with the Maguire Family Foundation, tourist line Colebrookdale Railroad announced on March 27 that it has acquired former Rio Grande Scenic Railroad 2-8-0 No. 18. The engine was built for the Lake Superior & Ishpeming in Upper Michigan by Alco (Pittsburgh) in 1910. The acquisition comes after the railroad said […]

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Digest: CSX train derails in Nashville

No injuries reported as CSX train derails in Nashville Sixteen cars of a CSX Transportation train derailed early this morning in Nashville, Tenn., leading to a brief shelter-in-place order from authorities until it was determined there was no hazardous-material threat. A statement from CSX reports the derailment occurred about 3:07 a.m. CDT near West Due […]

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Streamlined steam locomotives

A steel gray streamlined steam locomotive in a rail yard.

  A new aesthetic — “streamlining” — took hold in the 1930s. Objects from telephones to ocean liners were designed to be unified in appearance instead of collections of parts. Curves replaced square corners, and horizontal lines replaced verticals. Streamlining burst upon the railroad scene with the 1934 introduction of two sleek internal-combustion-powered passenger trains. Steam […]

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Remembering Seaboard Air Line locomotives

Diesel locomotive in a yard at the head of a train.

  All through March 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the stylish passenger trains, gritty freights, history, and now, hard-working locomotives of the Seaboard Air Line. Please enjoy this photo gallery of SAL images selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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