Quick Look: WalthersProto HO scale EMD F7A and F7B diesels

WalthersProto HO scale EMD F7A and F7B diesels

WalthersProto HO scale EMD F7A and F7B diesels Price: $529.98 (A-B set, DCC sound), $269.98 (A unit, DCC sound), $329.98 (A-B set, DC, no sound), $169.98 (A unit, DC, no sound) Manufacturer Wm. K. Walthers Inc. 5601 W. Florist Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53218 www.walthers.com Era: 1952 to 1970s Comments: A pair of prototypically detailed F7s […]

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New model trains for the week of July 9, 2015

HO scale General Electric P42 diesel locomotive

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70, SD70M, and SD75M diesel locomotives. SD70: Conrail (Quality scheme) and Illinois Central. SD70M: New York, Susquehanna & Western (three road numbers); Southern Pacific; and Union Pacific (with flared radiators). SD75M: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Four numbers per scheme unless noted. Road-number-specific details, operating ditch lights, and wire grab […]

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Last ride north from Xenia

CTRTW0908_41

PRR passenger service from Xenia north to Springfield, Ohio, — protected by an old gas-electric motor car — ended on July 21, 1953.  Harry V. Noble Xenia, my hometown in southwestern Ohio, was on the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis main line 16 miles east of Dayton. Xenia was also the base of a branch line north […]

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Using succulents on your garden railway

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1. Hardy African iceplant makes a great groundcover, here blooming in late May. On the right is Angelina stonecrop, with yellow-green leaves, rising to 4-5″ tall. (All photos were taken on the author’s Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad unless noted.) Photos by the author Don Parker 2. This small, yellow-flowering stonecrop (probably Sedum acer ‘Aureum’) is […]

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Using thyme in the railway garden

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1. White moss thyme (Thymus praecox ‘Albiflorus’), 1-2″ in height, with tiny white blooms in June, trails over the water’s edge. No need to trim this thyme, with the possible exception of shearing old growth in early spring. Two months beyond blooming thyme, Dan Saporito left a few gray twigs in place to give it […]

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A Passion for Steam book, second edition

steambook

A Passion for Steam (2nd edition) by Marc Horovitz Cal-Pac Trading Company 33268 Central Ave. Union City CA 94587 8¾” x 11″, 240 pages, color, hardbound with dust jacket Price: $45 Website: www.accucraft.com If ever there was an appropriately titled book, it has to be this one. The first time I met Marc Horovitz, in […]

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Corrugated metal sheets

corrugatedmetal

Marc Horovitz Corrugated metal G-Scale Corrugated Metal http://gscalecorrugatedmetal.com Price: 45¢ per  ¼” x 5″ panel + s&h Corrugated tinplate panels; 11/4″ wide x 5″ long x .006″ thick Pros: Good corrugated profile; prototypical material; easy to work; can be prototypically weathered Cons: Actual scale not quoted Corrugated steel sheet was (and is) an inexpensive, durable, […]

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