Whasup Dock Co.

Name: Whasup Dock Co. Scale: HO scale (1:87.1) Size: 4′-3″ x 6′-8″ Theme: freelanced Locale: Northeast Era: Summer 1956 Style: Shelf Mainline run: 8 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 3 percent Originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Model Railroader. Click here to download a PDF of this track […]

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White River Division

Name: White River Division Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 11′-6″ x 13′-6″ Prototype: Boston & Maine and Central Vermont Theme: New England main line Locale: White River Junction, Vt. Era: fall 1950s Style: around the walls Mainline run: 34 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: level Originally appeared in the March 2009 […]

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A look back in time: January 1959

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50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter Pullman car Ferdinand Magellan, modified to haul the President of the United States in 1942 and in POTUS ever since, is donated to the Florida Development Commission for display at the University of Miami; it later moved […]

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Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line

Name: Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 4 x 12 feet Prototype: Milwaukee Road’s Chestnut Street Line Locale: Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1947 Style: sectional Mainline run: 24 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Model Railroader. See a PDF version of […]

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A look back in time: November 1958

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Rock Island buys GM’s two Aerotrains for suburban service out of Chicago, where they join RI’s own Jet Rocket Talgo train, powered by an Aerotrain-style locomotive. . . . Illinois Central buys eight sleeping cars (four 10-5’s, four 4-4-2’s) from New York Central for City of Miami service. . . . Pullman-Standard’s first 85-foot flatcar […]

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A look back in time: October 1958

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As of October 1, 1958, Class I railroads own or lease 27,622 diesel locomotives, 1,532 steam locomotives, and 559 electrics. . . . Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line are mulling a merger. . . . New York Central unveils a system for transporting ballistic missiles in conventional 70-foot baggage cars. . . . […]

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A look back in time: September 1958

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New Jersey challenges the constitutionality of the Transportation Act of 1958, under whose provisions the Erie and New York Central seek to discontinue their Hudson River ferry service. . . . Reading Company completes a $500,000 upgrade at its Port Richmond Marine Terminal on the Delaware River in Philadelphia; new ore-unloading machinery nearly doubles the […]

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A look back in time: August 1958

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SP announces it is standardizing on silver livery for all passenger equipment; although Armour yellow will be retained for cars assigned to Overland Route trains, SP’s tow-tone gray and bright Daylight colors will fade away. . . . On August 12, the Transportation Act of 1958 is signed into law. Among its provisions are greater […]

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Oklahoma & Western RR

Name: Oklahoma & Western RR Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 6 x 12 Prototype: freelanced Locale: Western Oklahoma Era: 1950s Style: tabletop with shelf Minimum run: 29 feet Minimum radius: 19″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Model Railroader. See a PDF version of this track plan […]

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A look back in time: July 1958

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July 1958 in railroad history One of steam’s greatest chapters comes to a close July 2 when class S-2 No. 746 makes the last revenue freight trip of a Nickel Plate Road Berkshire, Bellevue-Conneaut, Ohio. . . . Fan trips: Burlington Route assigns O-5A 4-8-4 No. 5618 to a July 4th weekend Railroad Club of […]

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Slow postwar steamers

Q: I have two postwar steamers that run, but very slowly. The no. 681 Pennsy turbine has been run so much that the drivers have grooves in them. My no. 736 Berkshire has a similar malady. Since they have sentimental value from my early days, I’d still like to run them, rather than buying new […]

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