New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Cog Railway Locomotive Roster

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Name No. Type Builder Year built Peppersass 1 Campbell, Whittier & Co. – 1866 Mt. Washington 1 0-2-2-0 Manchester Loco. Works 1883 Ammonoosuc 2 0-2-2-0 Manchester Loco. Works 1875 Agiocochook 3 0-2-2-0 Manchester Loco. Works 1883 Chocorua 4 0-2-2-0 Manchester Loco. Works 1883 Kancamagus 6 0-2-2-0 Manchester Loco. Works 1874 Moosilauke 8 0-2-2-0 Mt. Washington […]

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Lionel O gauge postwar-style set

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Timken launched an advertising campaign showing rolling stock of the day decorated in Timken colors. Rectifier! This is a Conventional Classics-series reproduction of the Lionel no. 2505W Super O Virginian Rectifier freight outfit from 1958. Without the Super O track, of course. Frankly, this isn’t a set that would have wowed me as a kid. […]

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O gauge brass Sharknose A-B diesel set from Weaver

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Shark from Eddystone In a once-in-a-lifetime steam-to-diesel transition period, the Pennsylvania RR had enough money and enough traffic to buy groups of locomotives from all the manufacturers to test their mettle. Though the locomotives of Baldwin came up short, the Eddystone, Pa., firm made some distinctive models. I’m a sucker for just about any Baldwin […]

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Digitrax Zephyr Xtra Digital Command Control (DCC) System

Digitrax Zephyr Xtra

Digitrax Zephyr Xtra Digital Command Control can seem intimidating, making some novices reluctant to make the switch from direct-current power packs. An upgraded version of the Zepyhr set introduced several years ago, the Digitrax Zephyr Xtra 3.0-amp starter set packs everything needed to add DCC to a medium-size layout into a single box. Though it’s […]

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Bachmann Trains HO scale Climax locomotive

Bachmann HO scale Climax steam locomotive

Bachmann HO scale Climax locomotive Angled connecting rods whir away and the chuffing sounds of the exhaust become louder and more rapid as the Climax slowly but steadily climbs the hill. Is this a scene from the Appalachian backwoods? No, it’s the Bachmann Spectrum three-truck Climax on our HO scale Milwaukee, Racine & Troy layout. […]

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Kato N scale SD45 diesel locomotive

Kato N scale SD45 diesel locomotive

Kato N scale SD45 diesel locomotive This well-detailed N scale General Motors Electro-Motive Division SD45 is an upgraded version of a Kato USA model first released in 1996. This model’s all-new mechanism is easy to convert to Digital Command Control (DCC). The prototype. Built by EMD beginning in 1965, the SD45 was the first locomotive […]

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ExactRail HO scale deck plate girder bridge

ExactRail HO scale deck plate girder bridge

ExactRail HO scale deck plate girder bridge Price: $44.95 (late version), $36.95 (early version and kits) ManufacturerExactRail LLC1053 South 1675 WestOrem, Utah 84058www.exactrail.com Era: 1920s to present Comments: This assembled plastic model from ExactRail makes it easy to add a highly detailed deck plate girder bridge to an HO scale layout. The bridge is 72 […]

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Walthers HO scale TrinityRail 30,145-gallon tank car

Walthers HO scale TrinityRail 30145-gallon tank car

Walthers HO scale TrinityRail 30,145-gallon tank car Price: $39.98 ManufacturerWm. K. Walthers Inc.P.O. Box 3039Milwaukee, WI 53201www.walthers.com Era: 2005 to present Comments: This new Gold Line model from Walthers is based on a popular prototype from TrinityRail. The ready-to-run tank car features a one-piece body with separate ends, factory-installed wire grab irons, and numerous separately […]

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Athearn Trains HO scale insulated boxcar

Athearn HO scale 50-foot insulated boxcar

Athearn HO scale 50-foot insulated boxcar This Athearn 50-foot insulated boxcar is based on a prototype built by Pacific Car & Foundry in the mid-1960s. The Genesis series car features a high level of detail, including trucks with rotating bearing caps, separately applied door hardware and uncoupling levers, and etched-metal crossover platforms. The Western Fruit […]

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Through the looking-glass

Looking out the window of Canadian National SD70M-2 No. 8016, a Canadian Pacific transfer train on X-Track (left) waits for light power at Symington Yard in Winnipeg, Man., on Oct. 23, 2007. A. Ross Harrison photo […]

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One day in March

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With the empty SP track to the right, SP&S RS3 78 trundles past with a short freight at Albany, Ore., on March 18, 1967. David Lustig Where were you on March 18, 1967? I was in Albany, Ore., a teenager waiting patiently for a southbound Southern Pacific freight train that I knew in my bones […]

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