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THE SANTA FE WAS ONE RAILROAD THAT DID PASSENGER SERVICE RIGHT, all the way to the end of private passenger train operations. An interesting side angle to the story is that the Santa Fe developed a group of railroaders that knew a thing or two about running fast trains between Chicago and the Pacific Coast. […]
LIKE THE PEACEFUL ELOI BEING DRAWN TO THE UNDERGROUND TEMPLE OF THE MORLOCKS in the H.G. Wells’ classic novel, The Time Machine, so do hundreds of thousands of people descend into the dim, man-made caverns of New York City. They are fired through the dark, rolling along in chariots of steel through narrow passages only […]
MTH Electric Trains HO scale SD70ACe diesel locomotive Remotely opening couplers set this HO scale SD70ACe from MTH Electric Trains apart from other recent locomotive models. This is a feature that hasn’t before been seen on a ready-to-run HO locomotive. The MTH SD70ACe also has many realistic sound effects and operates on DC, Digital Command […]
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF POWER COMPANY COAL TRAINS, there are only two firms that pop to my mind as having business-specific unit trains – fast freighters operated for United Parcel Service and Tropicana. And while a UPS train contains trailers with thousands of individual packages, the Tropicana Juice Train carries just one commodity: orange juice. […]
SWITCHERS HAVE AN ESSENTIAL PLACE IN PROTOTYPE RAILROADING and a venerable spot in model railroading. Switchers are used to move cars, build freight trains, and even make short freight hops and deliveries. The Electro-Motive Division’s MP15 series of 1,500-horsepower switchers (built 1974-87) is a mainstay of modern yard power. More than 400 units were built […]
M.T.H. HO scale 4-12-2 steam locomotive An HO model of the world’s largest rigid-wheelbase locomotive is available from M.T.H. Electric Trains. The HO 4-12-2 has realistic sounds and smoke that make it a lot of fun to operate, especially on a Digital Command Control (DCC) or M.T.H. Digital Command System layout. And the engine can […]
ON THE CUSP OF ALCO’S DECLINING YEARS, the Schenectady, N.Y. locomotive builder fielded the 1,800 horsepower RS-11 as a replacement in the catalog for its popular RS-3 (and its cousins). The new Alco locomotive could be purchased in low- or high-hood versions and was suitable for both freight and passenger operations. Its natural target was […]
I received my first of two MTH Challengers a few days ago. I’m amazed at the features and quality of this locomotive! It far surpasses my other Challenger (Genesis). The unit runs perfectly and the sound is outstanding. I especially like the two engines going in and out of synch with one another, and the […]
Available in accurate early or late versions, the HO scale Norfolk & Western class J from M.T.H. Electric Trains is a great-looking model of one of the most recognizable locomotives to run on North American rails. The model includes the M.T.H. Digital Control System (DCS) for realistic lights, sounds, and smoke on DC, DCS, or […]
BEING A PROUD AMERICAN MODEL RAILROADER, I love our great heritage of O gauge 4-8-4 Northerns, and 4-8-2 Mountains, and the endless line of 4-6-4 Hudsons rolling along North American main lines. So let me note that it is really, really conflicting for me to say that the most intricately detailed die-cast metal locomotive that […]
M.T.H. Electric Trains HO scale 60-foot flatcar A nicely detailed reproduction of a 60-foot flatcar is M.T.H. Electric Trains’ first entry into the HO scale freight car market. The MTH car is based on a prototype Pullman-Standard built in the 1960s and ’70s for Trailer Train, and accurately matches photos and dimensions printed in the […]
AMONG THE FIRST SIX-AXLE LOCOMOTIVES that caught my eye were the big General Electric U-boats, notably the U30C and its kin. The U30C was, of course, a six-axle 3,000-horsepower titan fielded by GE, and it has been credited with helping to push GE into the number two slot in “dieseldom.” More than 590 were built, […]
