MTH Standard gauge no. 384 steam passenger set

TINPLATE REPRODUCTIONS may be the last tension-free zone in model railroading. Nobody is yelling about competing command-control systems. Nobody takes prewar-style tinplate to task for looking toy-like. Nobody gripes about the wrong road name being applied to a locomotive. You can get your trains in the old-line colors or brand-new paint schemes. You can get […]

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News & Products for the week of November 2, 2006

Pennsylvania RR 28-foot stockcar

HO scale locomotivesUnion Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger steam locomotive. Union Pacific no. 3985 (fan trip locomotive) with oil tender, no. 3958 with coal tender, and no. 3983 (two-tone gray) with oil tender. Ready-to-run locomotive with dual-mode Digital Command Control and Vibranta sound system. $399.98. Ready-to-run. Genesis series. Athearn Trains General Electric AC4400 diesel locomotive. Canadian Pacific, […]

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How to Design and Build Your Garden Railroad

I read a lot of pleas for help from beginning garden railroaders, both in the form of letters to Garden Railways and queries on Internet discussion groups. Building a railroad can seem a daunting task, especially if you compare your patch of dirt with the finished showpieces featured in the magazine. Whenever I’m asked this […]

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Athearn and PCM HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotives

Black and silver HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive.

Athearn’s model has a highly detailed plastic superstructure that’s nearly filled with a two-piece weight that supports and encloses the mechanism. Precision Craft’s locomotive is made of die-cast metal with excellent detail throughout. This model includes a smoke unit and engine crew. Two impressive new HO scale models of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 […]

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N scale MRC and Aztec sound and DCC system

N MRC and Aztec sound and DCC system

N MRC and Aztec sound and DCC system The wait is over for N scale modelers who’ve been dreaming of miniature sound decoders for Digital Command Control (DCC) operation. Model Rectifier Corp. (MRC) has teamed up with Aztec Manufacturing to offer a one-two punch for easy installation of a DCC sound decoder in most Atlas […]

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Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy video

Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy

Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy We reviewed Athearn’s 4-8-8-4 locomotive in the December 2006 issue of Model Railroader. Click the icons below to see a video clip of the 4-8-8-4 in action. All videos may take several minutes or more to download depending on your connection speed. […]

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Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy video

Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4

Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4 We reviewed Precision Craft’s Big Boy steam locomotive in the December 2006 issue of Model Railroader. Click the icons below to see a video clip of the locomotive in action. All videos may take several minutes or more to download depending on your connection speed […]

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iHobby Expo 2006 preliminary show report

Electro-Motive Division SD38 and SD38AC diesel locomotives

Electro-Motive Division SD38 and SD38AC diesel locomotives HO scale locomotivesElectro-Motive Division SD38 and SD38AC diesel locomotives. SD38 decorated for Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and McCloud River; and Grand Trunk Western. SD38AC painted for Bessemer & Lake Erie and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range. Ex-Rail Power Products shell with Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder Quick Plug, […]

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MTH Premier line O gauge R-1 subway train

MTH HAS STEPPED BACK in time in an exciting way with an O gauge model of New York City’s rumbling R-1 subway cars. Until now, MTH has offered more contemporary models of mass transit equipment, in both its Premier and RailKing lines. The R-1 changes all of that. Between 1930 and 1931, American Car & […]

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Weaver O gauge VO-1000 diesel

THE VO-1000 IS one of my favorites of the early diesel years. Baldwin Locomotive Works built more than 500 of these 1,000-horsepower locomotives between 1939 and 1946. The VO-1000 was replaced in 1946 by the outwardly similar DS-4-4-10, which came equipped with a different diesel engine. The VO-series switchers were exemplary at their job. As […]

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