News & Products for the week of March 3rd 2025 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of March 3rd, […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch
It was an oddball branch line with a just-as-odd history that is still worth recounting. The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch was built in 1905 to connect Carbon Junction, Colo. (just outside of Durango to the southeast), and Farmington, N.M. It was a modest, 47.68-mile standard gauge line (later narrow gauge) that followed the […]
Classic Toy Trains new products for March 2025
Locomotives & rolling stock METCA offers an MTH custom-run 4-Bay Hopper as part of the RailKing line. The cars feature O-27 operation and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey graphics (30-75762 shown). Expected delivery in March 2025. Price: $64.95. Order from metca.org Public Delivery Track is selling a custom-run MTH RS1 locomotive as part of the RailKing […]
Olympia & Sand Creek, Episode 23 | Barn door bash and other structure enhancements
In this episode, David Popp continues working on the barn and surrounding farm scene on his Olympia & Sand Creek On30 display layout. Efforts include fabricating and installing a new, detailed barn door, extending and amending the barn’s roof, and even taking time to audit the height, shape, fit, and finish of his background trees! Be […]
Maine two-footer special
Bridgton & Harrison 2-4-4T No. 8 creeps around a rock outcropping at the head of a special train in 1940. The second-to-last Maine two-foot road to operate, the B&H closed the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
Maine Central work extra
Maine Central 2-8-0 516 is sandwiched between a Jordan spreader and caboose as it approaches the station at St. Johnsbury, Vt., in September 1947. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Fighting snow on the Rio Grande narrow gauge
Rio Grande rotary plow OY stands with 2-8-2 494 at Osier, Colo., on January 4, 1952, during one of the worst winters to hit the D&RGW narrow gauge. John Norwood photo […]
Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum to debut Bessemer & Lake Erie 2-10-4
SUGARCREEK, Ohio — The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum is preparing for the first public viewing of the newest locomotive on display in its collection, Bessemer & Lake Erie 2-10-4 No. 643. That viewing will come March 29 as part of the museum’s Member Day, to be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. A […]
Scott Kremer’s Great Northern Ry. Cascade Division in HO scale
Scott Kremer’s Great Northern Ry. Cascade Division in HO scale | Trains.com video staff captures Model Railroader Editor Eric White as he tours Scott Kremer’s 30 x 42-foot HO (1:87) scale basement layout. Catch a sneak peek months before crowds arrive to visit and operate the impressive model railroad set for display during the 2025 NMRA […]
Mike Eagleson was all about steam
The trend toward professional archival preservation of the work of major railroad photographers continues, lately with the news that the huge collection of negatives, slides, and films of the late Mike Eagleson has gone to the Industrial Archives & Library based in Bethlehem, Pa. This is a big “get” for the IAL, buttressing its mission […]
C&O Allegheny 1624
Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-6 1624 has cut off from its eastbound coal train to take sand, coal, and water at Thurmond, W.Va., in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Missouri Pacific locomotives remembered
Missouri Pacific locomotives, both steam and diesel, display a variety typical of their era. The “MoPac,” as it was called, merged several railroads during the diesel era, notably the International-Great Northern and St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico in 1956, the Texas & Pacific (which it had long controlled) and Chicago & Eastern Illinois […]
