ARE WE IN THE midst of a revival of the trolley car on tinplate layouts, or what? For years we’ve had trolleys by Lionel and Bowser, but recent months have seen new trolleys offered by MTH, K-Line, United Models, and Marx. Now Western Hobbycraft has jumped into the mix on O gauge track. I can’t […]
GETTING BACK INTO the hobby in the early 1990s, one of the engines that impressed me most was the postwar Lionel turbine. I loved the prototype and thought that this was such an amazing locomotive that I just had to add one or two to my fleet. My Lionel turbines are real workhorses; the only […]
HOW OFTEN I CAN remember the late Frank Pettit complaining about how quickly Lionel had pulled the plug on what he insisted was among his greatest inventions. Frank, who served as a one-man research and development department at Lionel during the postwar period, was talking about the no. 38 operating water tower. According to an […]
THERE ARE PLENTY of great-looking steamers on the market. Walk into any hobby shop and you’ll see row after row of these beauties. So amid a virtual sea of four-cylinder, huffing, puffing black giants, what can make another big engine stand out? Try mixing in a little color. MTH has modeled a brawny green champion […]
MTH IS OFFERING two starter sets that get away from the typical “seen-it-all-before” consists common in the field: the Alaska F40PH and US Army F40PH sets. North to Alaska This set models an Alaska Railroad rig that in reality is a red hot train for nature lovers and cruise ship passengers. In 1999, the railroad […]
MY OFFICE WAS hotter than a jail cell in on the wrong side of the border. I sat in the dark with my .45 on my desk, enjoying a lively conversation with Misters Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. Then I heard it. That rumble, those voices. It was haunting. Almost like the faded memory of […]
S GAUGE ENTHUSIASTS who have a fancy for passenger trains will want to take note of the release of Budd passenger cars by American Models. The basic set has four cars: a baggage/coach combine, coach, diner, and observation car. The car shells are made of plastic, and the tooling is terrific. The cars are smooth […]
AS FAR AS STEAM switchers go, the Pennsylvania Railroad B6-class 0-6-0 may be the most recognized locomotive in model railroading. The humble little steamer could likely have been found at any freight yard anywhere on the railroad, from New York to St. Louis. Images of it dotted the pages of the Railroad Man’s Magazine (later […]
THE POSTWAR LIONEL GG1 is one of the most widely venerated toy trains ever made. Popular in its original incantation, it spawned similar, non-scale-sized copies by Williams, MTH, and now K-Line. K-Line has made some key modifications to its GG1, which puts this new O gauge version at the front of the pack. K-Line has […]
ON MY VISITS to O gauge layouts I see more and more amusement parks and carnivals. On both railroads that fit the definition of hi-rail and on those that are toy-like, I see the rides, shows, animals, and performers associated with these wonderful attractions. Custom building a carnival or circus is great if you have […]
A POWERFUL BEAM of light piercing the nighttime sky and the mournful cry of a foghorn. These sensations are familiar to anyone who has been near a lighthouse. You never forget the sight of that blinding light emanating from the crown of a tall, sleek tower. Lighthouse-related collectibles are hot these days, and thanks to […]
THE RAILKING SD90MAC is another one of those modern behemoths that tight-curve operators would never be able to run if MTH hadn’t hit it with the old Shrink Ray Gun. The RailKing SD90MAC measures 143/4 inches coupler to coupler, or 59 feet long in O scale. That’s a full five inches short compared to an […]
