Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In this MRVP Exclusive Layout Visit, subscribers will get to view Ken Thompson’s HO Burlington Northern layout in action! On Ken’s 22 x 36-foot single deck layout, you’ll see realistically modeled Midwestern scenes and BN operations between Galesburg and Peoria, Ill. […]
An E unit leads a train through Berwyn, Ill., on a lazy day in August 1963. Such scenes were part of daily life along the Burlington’s triple-track main west of Chicago. Larry Kostka It didn’t matter how often you rode the trains, or even if you did at all. Growing up in the postwar era […]
CHICAGO — Metra’s policy of allowing passengers to bring small pets aboard trains on weekends and holidays has proven so successful and problem-free that the commuter rail agency is expanding the practice to weekdays. During a six-month test beginning May 1, Metra riders will be allowed to take pets in carriers aboard trains during off-peak […]
Chicago-America’s Railroad Capital Kalmbach Publishing, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Approx. 60 minutes kalmbachhobbystore.com Generations of railfans have been impressed at the magnitude of railroad operations in and around the Windy City. Currently, the Chicago area sees 25 percent of US rail traffic and almost half of the nation’s intermodal shipments. Chicagoland, of course, […]
Canadian Pacific’s Bensenville Yard as seen from the window of a commercial flight that just took off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in September 2015. Chris Guss CHICAGO — Canadian Pacific is embroiled in a high-stakes battle with Illinois officials over use of the railroad’s vitally important yard next to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to […]
Join Trains Magazine Assistant Editor Brian Schmidt for a day trackside at West Chicago, Ill., in July 2016. We’ll see Canadian National and Union Pacific freight action, along with ubiquitous Metra commuter trains. We’ll also look at JB Tower, which guards the junction of the two freight carriers. […]
Join Trains Magazine Assistant Editor Brian Schmidt for a day trackside at West Chicago, Ill., in July 2016. We’ll see Canadian National and Union Pacific freight action, along with ubiquitous Metra commuter trains. We’ll also look at JB Tower, which guards the junction of the two freight carriers. […]
“White Road Forest” is a small shelf layout in HO scale, inspired by a Class 3 branch line somewhere in the Upper Michigan area. Designed with portability in mind, it has nine modules with all the scenery detachable to improve easiness of storage. It features a two-track main line (loop) with one siding each, and […]
“White Road Forest” is a small shelf layout in HO scale, inspired by a Class 3 branch line somewhere in the Upper Michigan area. Designed with portability in mind, it has nine modules with all the scenery detachable to improve easiness of storage. It features a two-track main line (loop) with one siding each, and […]
A hot-metal “bottle car,” one of three in an Erie train that included eight hopper cars as spacers, passes DeForest Junction, between Youngstown and Warren, Ohio, in 1966. Clifford A. Redanz One of the more interesting aspects of steel-mill railroading were the “hot-metal runs” that moved molten iron from the blast furnaces to the open […]
Name: Milwaukee, Racine & Troy (MR&T) Layout designer: Andy Sperandeo Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 28’-3” x 54’-9” Theme: freelanced Locale: southeastern Wisconsin Style: walkaround Mainline run: about 200 feet Minimum radius: 36” (main line) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 3 percent Click on the link to download the PDF of this track plan. […]
1920s-era map of the Springfield Terminal Railway, a coal-hauling short line northeast of Springfield, Ill., covered in Spring 2017 Classic Trains. […]
