Ask Trains: What is the function of the spikes in this picture?

Spike Pic

Golden spikes are popular, and have long been used as symbols of completing an important railroad construction project. In October 2018, officials drove multiple gold-colored track spikes into a new industrial park track in Kalispell, Mont. Important as they are as symbols, the spikes in this ceremony were not intended to function as standard railroad […]

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Atlas O American Car & Foundry (ACF) 50-foot, 6-inch boxcar

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William Zuback O GAUGE AMERICAN CAR & FOUNDRY BOXCAR FROM ATLAS O Price: $59.95 Min Curve: O-31 Features: Sprung, die-cast metal trucks with rotating bearing caps; sliding doors; factory-applied brake wheel; crossover platforms; and end ladders. Road names: New paint schemes – Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (Railbox patchout); Berlin Mills; Green Bay & Western; […]

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MTH Premier Line GP9 road diesel

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Eric Siegel photo MTH PREMIER LINE GP9 ROAD DIESEL Price: $499.95 (20-20864-1) Min curve: O-31 Cmd low: 3.1 smph Cmd high: 78.2 smph Drawbar pull: 2 lb., 2 oz. Features: ProtoSound 3.0 sound and Digital Command System, ABS plastic body, metal chassis, detachable snowplow, two hand-painted crew figures, remote-controlled couplers, illuminated numberboards and classification lights, […]

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New model trains for the week of April 4, 2019

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Alco S-2 diesel locomotive

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Alco S-2 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Alco S-2 diesel locomotive. New paint schemes: Canadian National (red and black with “wet noodle” herald), Chicago Great Western (maroon and black), Erie (black), Maine Central (black, red, and white), Southern Pacific (gray and scarlet), and St. Louis-San Francisco (Northeast Oklahoma RR […]

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Drovers’ caboose

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Missouri-Kansas-Texas drovers’ caboose No. 350 shows off the car’s extra length. The cars could accommodate extra riders overseeing livestock shipments. Harold Schupp Q Where, in the train’s consist, were drovers’ cabooses placed? Were they at the rear with the regular caboose, or somewhere in the train’s consist near the stock cars? Were they used only […]

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