Railroads for Michigan by Graydon M. Meints Michigan State University Press, Suite 25, Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245; 640 pages, 180 black-and-white photos; hardcover, 8.5 x 11 in.; $49.95. Michigan’s railroad history is well served by “Railroads for Michigan,” a sprawling new survey by historian Graydon M. Meints. From […]
NORFOLK, Va. – The Surface Transportation Board has approved Norfolk Southern’s petition to discontinue service over 53.2 miles of the former Norfolk, Franklin & Danville trackage in southern Virginia. The discontinuance is in effect between milepost 37.0, near Franklin, and the end of the line at milepost 90.2 near Lawrenceville. In its filing, NS told […]
John Pryke working on the Union Freight RR that appeared as a four-part series in Model Railroader in the year 2000. Long-time Model Railroader author and staff friend John Pryke died on Dec. 22, 2013, in Chatham, Mass. John was introduced to readers in 1965 when photos of his prize-winning New Haven RR 0-8-0 locomotive […]
Marc Horovitz Micro planer Proxxon Prox-Tech, Inc. PO Box 1909 Hickory NC 28603 US Price: $890 Website: http://shop.prox-tech.com Miniature planer; plastic housing over heavy aluminum castings; two cutters; 6,000 rpm; 1/4-horse motor; constant automatic feed rate; infinitely adjustable feed depth in .05mm (around .002″) increments; wrenches supplied; instruction manual supplied; replacement blades available; feed rate, […]
Marc Horovitz 1:24 scale plans and construction guide for three-story mill Stoneworks PO Box 190 Shell Knob MO 65747 Price: $17 Website: www.RRStoneworks.com Full-size plans and construction guide for building a three-story grist-mill structure in cement (#7116); three 24″ x 36″ sheets of drawings, photos, and instructions; one four page 81/2″ x 11″ pamphlet of […]
Nancy Norris Gauge 1, 7/8″ scale, Welsh slate-wagon kit The Train Department 26 Coral Dr. Hazlet NJ 07730 Price: $75 Website: www.thetraindepartment.com Welsh slate-wagon kit in 7⁄8″ scale (#TD5105); major parts, laser-cut steel; white-metal detail castings; curly-spoke wheels from Sierra Valley; instructions supplied Pros: Good instructions; helpful drawings; industrial strength, all-metal construction; plenty of detail […]
Ed Gerlits Jim Wrinn POMONA, Calif. — Ed Gerlits, a well-known Denver-area railroad enthusiast, former Colorado tourist railroad owner, and the man who just last month welcomed scores of visitors to witness Union Pacific move Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, has died. He was 79. Gerlits, the long-time mentor […]
The Blackstone Models HOn3 (HO scale 3-foot gauge) 2-8-0 Consolidation features a SoundTraxx Tsunami Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. We ran the superdetailed steam locomotive on Blackstone’s new ProTraxx HOn3 click track. […]
TAKE YOUR PASSENGERS TO THE SHED: Bridge Boss offers a line of train shed kits designed to service a variety of train scales. One version measures 48 x 24 x 24 inches for Large scale, Standard gauge, or O gauge trains. The other shed version is 24 x 16 x 16 inches for O, S, […]
The holidays are past, the tree is down, and the radio station is done with Christmas music for another 11 months. Yet you haven’t quite stored the train set you bought for (a) the kids, (b) the grandkids, or (c) yourself. Maybe it will be a good idea to set up a little railroad. Maybe […]
Throughout the year people call our magazine to ask which transformer they should use for a new (usually small or first-time) layout. I’ve been asked if an MTH Z-4000 or a Lionel ZW was needed for a 4 x 8-foot layout. The answer: Unless you know for a fact that in the near future your […]
This compact diesel locomotive has an eye-catching paint scheme and plenty of technology under the hood. […]
