This upgraded Reading T-1 4-8-4 steam locomotive from Broadway Limited Imports includes the firm’s new Paragon2 Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. The HO scale model also includes puffing smoke. Watch us run the locomotive on the Model Railroader club layout. […]
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Snowsheds in the sky
Click the image to download this interactive PDF. Dick Steinheimer knew an era was coming to an end in the Sierra Nevada. It was 1983, and the wooden snowsheds that had long protected Southern Pacific Railroad’s mountain crossing over Donner Pass were disappearing, most of them torn down or replaced by concrete sheds. That spring […]
iHobby Expo 2010 preliminary show report
Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD70ACe and SD70M-2 diesel locomotives HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70ACe and SD70M-2 diesel locomotives. SD70ACe: Union Pacific (Western Pacific heritage scheme, one road number). SD70M-2: Canadian National, Florida East Coast, and Norfolk Southern. Four road numbers each unless noted. Direct-current models, $189.98. With Digital Command Control and SoundTraxx […]
MTH Premier Line O gauge SD35 diesel
The evolution of modern diesel locomotives has been continual, and it is always a surprise to realize that something you might have that was modern is now so old-school that it is mostly out of service. The SD35 built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) falls into that category. The “I shot one […]
O gauge bridge by American Made Steel Bridge
Bridges. If you don’t need one now, as just about every model railroader knows, you will eventually. And there’s no shortage of options for the S or O gauge modeler, whether you want a steel, a plastic, or a wooden bridge. I recently had a chance to check out a pre-production sample of a good, […]
SMR Trains O gauge 4-4-0
Okay, let’s give a big shout-out to the Union Army for giving Johnny Reb what for! And one of the things that helped make Atlanta “Hotlanta,” was the United States Military Railroad (USMRR). The USMRR provided strategic direction and operational management to the North’s transport efforts. Col. Daniel C. McCallum, former superintendent of the Erie […]
BCH International HOn2-1/2 MiniTrains set
BCH International HOn2-1/2 MiniTrains set On one hand, the MiniTrains set is a nostalgic novelty. On the other hand, the narrow gauge Plymouth switcher and short freight cars may be the right train for an industrial line on your layout. This HO scale set was originally sold by Associated Hobby Manufacturers (AHM) in the 1960s […]
Walthers HO scale American Car & Foundry 85-foot baggage car
Walthers HO scale American Car & Foundry 85-foot baggage car An 85-foot baggage car has been added to the Union Pacific “City train” series of HO scale passenger cars from Walthers. It represents one of the 33 cars (series 5631-5663) built by American Car & Foundry in 1954. It’s a ready-to-run model with factory-installed handrails. […]
Birth of an NC&StL nickname
Bruceton was a busy junction in west Tennessee on the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway. One engineer who worked out of there was known for his pompous, stuffed-shirt manner and lordly bearing which often grated upon others. Drawing a hotshot run out of Bruceton, this engineer put his 2-8-2 to serious work and was […]
Get the old man
Way back in 1940, I took a fling at railroading. After ditching art school, I went to work for the Alton Railroad at its roundhouse at Glenn Yard in southwest Chicago. My job was mechanic’s helper. One of my duties was to tighten the bolts on locomotive cylinder heads. I attacked the task with vim […]
Terry Johnson’s O gauge layout action
After watching this video, be sure to check out his other clips, especially the one titled “Special Effects” that highlights the computerized special effects on his layout which include sunset, stars, cricket sounds, a storm with wind, rain, lightening and thunder, fog, sunrise, and chirping birds […]
Michigan model railroad club runs the world’s longest model train
The 1,112.06-foot O scale model train runs threeabreast on the Chi-Town Union Station layout. More of the train is seen in the background. The white cards in the model railroad cars mark every tenth car. With state, county, and local government officials in attendance, Chi-Town Union Station, a model railroad club in Commerce Township, Mich., […]
