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A northbound Kansas City Southern coal train rolls through Neosha, Ark. George R. Cockle Kansas City Southern operates 3,100 track miles in 10 central and southeastern states. The railroad stretches from its namesake city south through its hub of Shreveport, La., to Port Arthur, Texas, which it reached in 1897, and from New Orleans through […]
Wearing Union Pacific’s revived wing shield emblem, a trio of SD70M locomotives leads a trailer train eastbound through Creston, Ill. Howard Ande The largest U.S. railroad, Union Pacific Railroad operates a 32,000-mile network (27,000 route miles owned, 5,000 route miles on trackage rights) serving 23 states. The railroad links every major city in the west […]
A cranky, old toy train locomotive with a terrible growl, a hot-running motor, and anemic power may be trying to tell you something. Before deciding to retire it, though, check the clearance in the armature brushplate bushing. A worn or defective bushing often results in one or more of these locomotive maladies. The solution is […]
Restoring an old toy train can be great fun, and once the project’s done, it can give you a great feeling of accomplishment. Restoring your own items also can save money when compared with buying an original or a completed restoration in equivalent condition. One of the keys to a successful restoration, though, it picking […]
Finding older Lionel and American Flyer cars in good shape at a bargain price can be a challenge, because over the years, collectors have scooped up many of the really clean pieces. That’s no reason to despair, though – many of those grimy $5 and $10 cars you find at shows and shops are actually […]
For better or worse, the wheels of O and large scale trains seem to attract more grease and grime than those of HO and N scale pieces. Perhaps it’s the size of the trains, perhaps the shape of the wheels, or perhaps it’s carbon that gets deposited during operation, but either way they get filthy […]
When it comes to replacing a broken traction tire on a steam locomotive, it helps to have a sense of humor. That and a third hand. I don’t have a third hand to lend you, but I can offer you the tips below to get a leg up on this friction-fraught task. Traction tires have […]
Fig. 1: Pry off the original smoke unit cover with a screwdriver to gain access to the inside. Fig. 2: Remove the heater coil and smoke unit lining, both of which will be replaced in the conversion. Fig. 3: After scrapping and cleaning out all the pellet residue, make sure the air hole is not […]
It was December 2005 when I wrote the rough draft of my story on using GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) to help when chasing trains in unfamiliar lands. Between that time and the time the article appeared in the July 2006 issue of Trains, I kept an eye on the advertisements from national electronic retailers (Best […]
Pennsylvania HO K4 Pacific This powerful HO scale model of the Pennsylvania RR’s classic K4 Pacific is MTH Electric Trains’ first HO scale locomotive. It has a long list of features, including properly timed smoke and sound effects and an automatic electronic system that operates on layouts using DC, Digital Command Control (DCC), or the […]
NO ONE LIKES it, but we all must do it: clean our track. We can clean our track by hand with an abrasive pad or a cloth soaked with appropriate cleaning fluid (careful in the tunnels), or we take the easy way out and let our locomotives do the work, pulling or pushing a track-cleaning […]
THE CTT WHIMSEY Department is always looking for new products, and this cute little American-made “Duchess” 2-4-0 fits the bill. Indiana-based Hartland Locomotive Works has been quietly laboring to build a good reputation in the large scale market. Its goal seems to be to produce well made, fun to operate trains made in the United […]
