FERGUS FALLS, Minn. – The Otter Tail Valley Railroad will lose its largest customer when the Otter Tail Power Co. shuts down its two coal fired generators at its Fergus Falls plant in 2020. However, the later date is a victory for the railroad and power company since environmental groups had urged the Minnesota Public Utilities […]
Section: News & Reviews
New products for the week of January 31, 2013

Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division GP50 diesel locomotives HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP50 diesel locomotive. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Chicago & North Western; and Southern Ry. Four road numbers each. Factory-installed wire grab irons, prototype-specific details, and McHenry knuckle couplers. Direct-current model, $189.98; with SoundTraxx Digital Command Control sound decoder, $289.98. September […]
New products for March 2013

HERITAGE GOES RAILKING: The wildly popular Norfolk Southern (NS) Heritage series of retro paint schemes joining the RailKing line. The Electro-Motive Diesel SD70ACe is an Imperial line locomotive featuring road names NS applied to this prototype body. The fallen flags include Erie, Illinois Terminal, Jersey Central, Lackawanna (shown above), Penn Central, Reading, Savannah & Atlanta, […]
O Gauge Baldwin Centipede Diesel by Lionel

I don’t recall if I’ve ever proclaimed my all-time favorite diesel (real or model). If I haven’t, well, the winner is the Baldwin Centipede. It was long, imposing, and about as far away from the more delicate appearance of an Electro-Motive Division FT or F3 as you could get. The Centipede had a massive line […]
Sunset Models HO scale P-1a and P-2b electric locomotives

Sunset Models HO scale P1a electric locomotive Whether detailed for duty at Cleveland Union Terminal or New York’s Grand Central Terminal, these brass P-1a and P-2b electric locomotives from Sunset Models come fully equipped to haul varnish on HO rails. The accurately detailed brass models include a dual-mode QSI Titan Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder […]
MTH Electric Trains HO scale Empire State Express set

MTH Electric Trains HO scale Empire State Express An elegant streamlined train whose much-hyped relaunch was eclipsed by infamy lives again in an accurately modeled, meticulously detailed HO scale set from MTH Electric Trains. The five cars feature gleaming silver paint, flexible rubber diaphragms, and interior lighting circuits that work under direct current or Digital […]
BLMA Models N scale 5-platform intermodal car

BLMA Models N scale BLMA TTX intermodal spine car This 5-platform intermodal car, made by BLMA Models, captures the simple lines and Spartan appearance of the prototype. Known in the industry as a spine car, 250 sets of these cars were built in late 1997 by TrinityRail for TTX Corp. The ready-to-run model represents an […]
Bachman N scale United States Railroad Association 0-8-0 steam locomotive
This is my most modern locomotive and it is a great performer. Some have said it doesn’t have much pulling power, but on my layout it pulled eight 55-foot hoppers and a caboose up a 3% grade around a 15-inch turn back curve, which is adequate for my operations. It’s smoother than my Bachman spectrum […]
New foundation offering grants for railroad preservation NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO – The newly formed Tom E. Dailey Foundation Inc. is making available railroad heritage grants of up to $15,000 for projects promoting railroad heritage, history, or preservation. Dailey, a senior executive in the payment processing industry for nearly 30 years, said the foundation was created in December 2012 through a $1 million endowment. Dailey […]
Schnabel car malfunction delays cargo delivery NEWSWIRE

A Schnabel car had an accident while delivering its cargo in Georgia. SAVANNAH, Ga. – A 300-ton nuclear reactor vessel was stranded briefly in south Georgia this week after a malfunction occurred with the specially designed Schnabel car carrying the shipment. “The platform that contained the RV (reactor vessel) during transport became misaligned with the Schnabel […]
Video: Kato N scale Silver Streak Zephyr
This new Kato USA passenger model train marks the first time that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s Silver Streak Zephyr has been available as a ready-to-run N scale model. The passenger cars and the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) E5 diesel-electric locomotive feature all-new prototypically accurate tooling. Watch the video to see the train in action on […]
New York Turboliners being scrapped NEWSWIRE

A Rohr Turboliner emerges from Oscawana Tunnel along the Hudson River heading from Albany to New York in June 1993. Steve Glischinski GLENVILLE, N.Y. – Four Turboliner train sets owned by the state of New York are being scrapped this week in Glenville. Seven train sets were purchased by the state from Amtrak in late […]