WELL, THE MAURY KLEIN era of K-Line Electric Trains is toast. In a quarter century he took his company, MDK Inc., from re-issues of Marx trains to some of the hottest new trains in several price ranges on the market. Alas, K-Line went out in a blaze of litigation, debt, and innovative model railroad products. […]
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 & […]
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 […]
THE FREIGHT TRAINS that I run on my layout are probably typical of most three-railers: a mix of road names and freight car types. Add to that list of runners Weaver’s 57-foot mechanical refrigerator car with sound.What? Sound in a big box? Yep. Weaver’s reefer is as nice as they come. Weaver has delivered plenty […]
One of the complaints heard from hobby curmudgeons is that O gauge railroading is too expensive. And if you mention to them some of the lower priced Lionel products, MTH’s RailKing line, and K-Line’s high-value semi-scale steamers, you often hear the retort: “Well, I mean scale-sized trains.” Atlas O has stepped up to fill this […]
IF YOU RECALL the 1970s TV comedy Welcome Back Kotter, one of the more eccentric characters, Arnold Horshack, had a unique way of signaling his excitement. He would get nervous and shout something that sounded like “Uho uho, uho uho.” Well, that happens to me when I see an SD40 or SD40-2s. Forget your 21st-century […]
THE PENNSYLVANIA Railroad GG1-class locomotive would almost certainly win the title of best all-around North American electric-profile locomotive, both in terms of performance and popularity. But who would have thought that a rather Plain Jane New Haven Railroad boxcab was the progenitor of the Pennsy classic? The New Haven Railroad wasn’t a fan of motor-generator […]
MORE THAN a decade ago, I bought a postwar Lionel no. 2056 Hudson. I paid close to $300 for the steam locomotive – on installments – at a local hobby shop. The rush of buying a “real, vintage Lionel train” lasted a few years before it faded as newer and better trains entered the marketplace. […]
OUR CANADIAN COUSINS need to stand up and take a bow. The EMD F59 was commissioned by and developed with Toronto’s GO (for Government of Ontario) Transit railroad. The commuter authority needed a 3,000-horsepower locomotive with a separate head-end power generation system packaged in a full-cowl body with safety-cab front. The F59 was the winning […]
Photos by Michael Raynor Once I finished building my Grand Central Station from two MTH bank structures (see the May 2006 issue of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS), I kept thinking about those great-looking leftover wall sections. After pondering the parts, I decided to shape the three unused bank walls, plus the roof section, to form a […]
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 […]
