AND NOW FOR something completely different. While I wouldn’t call Ace Trains’ E/1 4-4-4 tank locomotive the Monty Python of the toy train world, for us in the colonies it is very British, very different – and charming. Combine one cup American prewar tinplate, a tablespoon of modern reproduction, two cups of British Hornby trains, […]
IN 1887, a New England railroad added a trailing truck to a common American-type 4-4-0 locomotive to better distribute its weight when crossing bridges. Thus was born the Atlantic-type steamer. The Atlantic’s 4-4-2 wheel arrangement allowed for a larger firebox and improved performance. The 4-4-2s also pulled heavier trains faster than the old 4-4-0s. The […]
A HANDFUL OF locomotive designs are elegant, and the streamlined look of the New York Central Dreyfuss Hudson 4-6-4 may be the most stylish of all. MTH Electric Trains has added a scale-sized version of the Dreyfuss to its Premier line, and it’s a doozy. Before World War II the New York Central set out […]
THE NORFOLK & WESTERN was the last major U.S. carrier to forsake steam power in favor of diesel. The railroad, deep in coal country, was renown for its fast passenger engines and hefty articulated freight haulers that could seemingly move mountains. The last and most advanced of the steamers operated by the N&W was the […]
FOR MORE THAN 25 years, Weaver has produced a vast array of rolling stock, brass steam locomotives, and great diesels in plastic. The latest challenge the Northumberland, Pa., firm has tackled is a die-cast metal locomotive. And not only is this the company’s first die-cast steamer, it is also its first steamer to include Lionel’s […]
ONE OF THE HOTTEST locomotives ever made was the streamlined Pennsy K4-class Torpedo. The rocket-shaped steamer looked ready to launch even when standing still. In the 1930s, when the Pennsylvania Railroad re-designed its signature train the Broadway Limited, management wanted the train’s 4-6-2 locomotive to be just as striking as the passenger cars. Industrial designer […]
SOME OF THE slickest-looking steam locomotives were the streamlined Atlantics and Hudsons that served the Milwaukee Road’s speedy Hiawatha passenger trains. During the Great Depression, competition for diminishing passenger traffic was intense. Some roads, such as the Union Pacific, opted for cutting-edge diesel streamliners. Others, such as the Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road, […]
GETTING BACK INTO the hobby in the early 1990s, one of the engines that impressed me most was the postwar Lionel turbine. I loved the prototype and thought that this was such an amazing locomotive that I just had to add one or two to my fleet. My Lionel turbines are real workhorses; the only […]
THERE ARE PLENTY of great-looking steamers on the market. Walk into any hobby shop and you’ll see row after row of these beauties. So amid a virtual sea of four-cylinder, huffing, puffing black giants, what can make another big engine stand out? Try mixing in a little color. MTH has modeled a brawny green champion […]
AS FAR AS STEAM switchers go, the Pennsylvania Railroad B6-class 0-6-0 may be the most recognized locomotive in model railroading. The humble little steamer could likely have been found at any freight yard anywhere on the railroad, from New York to St. Louis. Images of it dotted the pages of the Railroad Man’s Magazine (later […]
WEAVER MODELS HAS produced a superb model of what must be classified as one of the finest-looking 4-8-4 Northern locomotives of the era of steam power. In the 1920s, the Rio Grande needed some new engines to supplement the line’s heavy 4-8-2 Mountain types that were handling longer and heavier passenger trains through the Rocky […]
THE DREYFUSS HUDSONS look fast standing still and they backed up their speedy image with superb performance. In the 1930s, the New York Central streamlined 10 of the line’s famed 4-6-4 Hudsons as part of an upgrade of the railroad’s premier express, the 20th Century Limited. But despite their celebrity status, in time the locomotives […]
