A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter Today, sports teams routinely travel by bus or plane to and from games in other cities. In the 1940’s and ’50’s, they often rode trains, and so did the sportscasters who covered the games. Bob Brooks, veteran broadcaster for the University of Iowa in […]
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Video: Broadway Limited Imports Paragon2 HO I1sa Decapod
This new HO scale Pennsylvania RR class I1sa steam locomotive includes Broadway Limited Imports’ new Paragon2 Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. We ran the smoke and sound equipped Decapod on our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy club layout. […]
Video: Broadway Limited Imports Paragon2 HO I1sa Decapod
This new HO scale Pennsylvania RR class I1sa steam locomotive includes Broadway Limited Imports’ new Paragon2 Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. We ran the smoke and sound equipped Decapod on our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy club layout. […]
Worcester waiting

A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority train stares down a red signal at Worcester, Mass., the end of the run for Framingham Line trains, at dusk on Oct. 18, 2008. Soon the train will reverse direction and head back to Boston, with the engine pushing. Matt Van Hattem photo […]
Atlas HO scale GP40-2 diesel locomotive

Atlas HO scale GP40-2 diesel locomotive The third run of Atlas GP40-2s has arrived and these are the phase 2 versions, which were purchased by roads such as Southern Pacific/ St. Louis Southwestern, Burlington Northern, and others. My review centers on the model of the SP/SSW version. Atlas once again has made a smooth running […]
Emerging from Hagans Tunnel

Louisville & Nashville Cumberland Valley fast freight No. 66 leaves the north portal of Hagans Tunnel in May 1966. Three fairly new General Electric U25Cs are on the point of this train, which has just passed through L&N’s longest tunnel at 6,244-feet. Ron Flanary photo […]
Bessemer & Lake Erie 2-10-4’s
View the article “Tough Texans of the Bessemer,” by Bert Pennypacker, from the Winter 2000 issue of Classic Trains. The Fall 2010 issue of CT features a study of the 2-10-4 wheel arrangement on all the railroads that operated it.– […]
Portage Flyer timetable and photos

Portage Flyer timetable This 9×17-inch document shows the 1942 summer schedule for the Huntsville & Lake of Bays Transportation Co. steamboat services east from Huntsville, Ont. Note that, although connections with Canadian National mainline trains at Huntsville are shown, there’s no mention of the “Portage Flyer” railway — just arrival and departure times for the […]
Setting up locomotives for distributed power operations

Powder River coal loads bound for Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone City, S.D., plant pass Bristol, S.D., with a 2-by-1 front-rear distributed power setup in April 2003. Andy Cummings Trains magazine told you about distributed power in “Freight Train, Unbounded” by David Lustig in our September 2010 issue. But, what’s the step-by-step process? Find out […]
Taking railroad photos before change occurs

GP38-2 No. 3818 leads Central Oregon & Pacific job No. 503 near Riddle, Ore., on Feb. 8, 2010. From the poles to the jointed rails and wooden ties, to the 3818, to the route itself, everything could vanish soon, due to modernization or abandonment. Scott Lothes Conveyor belts fed by dump trucks load a CSX […]
O gauge SD45 by MTH

IN THE 1960s, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL A LOCOMOTIVE THAT SOLD MORE THAN 1,200 COPIES TO 21 RAILROADS? A SUCCESS! In 1965 the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors fielded the first SD45, a monster with a 20-cylinder, 3,600-horsepower 645E3 diesel engine, and it proved to be a popular choice. The model also spawned variants, including […]
Princess Coronation-Class 4-6-2 by MTH Electric Trains

THE PRINCESS CORONATION CLASS OF 4-6-2 PACIFICS that was fielded by the London, Midland & Scottish (LMS) Railway is one of the most admired types of British steam power. Built at the LMS works in Crewe, the locomotives were designed for high-speed express passenger trains. The locomotives actually had four cylinders, and they featured 81-inch […]