Host John Truckenbrod and Classic Toy Trains’ Roger Carp share collector insights regarding P&H construction machinery that Lionel Corp. paired with their O gauge flatcars. Plus, they’ll also examine one of the most unusal, yet prototypical, freight cars Lionel produced! […]
Era: 1946 - 1970
Truck’s Toy Trains: Episode 10 – P&H Construction Cars
Host John Truckenbrod and Classic Toy Trains’ Roger Carp share collector insights regarding P&H construction machinery that Lionel Corp. paired with their O gauge flatcars. Plus, they’ll also examine one of the most unusal, yet prototypical, freight cars Lionel produced! […]
Modeling the mighty Pennsy in a small space
A version of this article appeared in Model Railroader’s special issue from 2018: Build a Small Railroad. Pursuing my hobby concurrently with my military career meant I needed a portable model railroad that could still suggest the scale and intensity of a gigantic prototype in an impossibly small space. I found what I needed in […]
Remembering Pere Marquette passenger trains
In April 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the Pere Marquette Railway. Enjoy this photo gallery, originally published online in October 2017, as the perfect salute to the PM. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we did last week for the Pere […]
How to maintain Lionel toy train operating cars
The Lionel operating milk car’s chute is made so that the milk barrels can only be put in the correct way. However, once inside the chute, the barrels can become jammed if the car tips over. Here are some tips for keeping this car in service. Classic Toy Trains file A version of this article […]
Boston & Maine transition-era, freight train photo gallery
Our sister magazine, Classic Trains, named Boston & Maine the railroad of the month for October 2019. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M steam-powered freight trains through time. […]
Tidewater transience
Two Geeps (center left) bring a train into Chesapeake & Ohio’s sprawling coal storage yard at Newport News, Va. Cars are stored here until needed at the nearby port facilities where they are mixed with various other grades of coal while loading into oceangoing vessels. Chesapeake & Ohio, John B. Corns collection […]
West Virginia varnish
Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 207 waits with train 1 at Thomas, W.Va., on April 29, 1951. From here, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, the train will run downhill through the Black Fork Gorge to Elkins. K. F. Merlin photo […]
Southern steam
Gainesville Midland 2-10-0 No. 207 switches tank cars at Oconee Height, Ga., in April 1957, just northwest of Athens. The 1924 product of Baldwin was involved in a serious derailment in 1954, turning over in the incident. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Spying on SPUD
St. Paul Union Depot Co. Vice President and General Manager Harry P. Congdon looks out on a Chicago Great Western F unit from the top floor of the yard office. At the time, the station was busiest between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. with 22 arrivals and 21 departures. Arthur F. Hager photo […]
Steam for speed
The clouds of smoke from double-headed steam locomotives illustrate a disadvantage to riding behind them — particularly with open windows. Here a troop extra rolls east of Staple Bend, Pa., on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh–Philadelphia main line. Several distinctive troop sleepers are in the consist. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
Tehachapi cab-forward
Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 cab-forward No. 4203 works hard in pusher service on Tehachapi Grade near Woodford, Calif., in August 1948. SP commissioned the specially designed locomotives to minimize crews’ exposure to tunnels in the lengthy tunnels and snowsheds on its system, a benefit that did not always apply to locomotives further back in the train. […]
