Steamtown resumes traditional Railfest schedule

Two diesel cab units and steam locomotive on display under cloudy skies

SCRANTON, Pa. — The National Park Service’s Steamtown National Historic Site this weekend revived its traditional Labor Day Railfest event, operating steam and diesel shuttle trains, demonstrating machine-shop skills, and providing a festival venue for a wide array of rail-related activities. After cancellations and schedule disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, the event returned to […]

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Classic Toy Trains new products for September 2024

model car carrier

Locomotives & rolling stock The Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA) is selling a custom-run Lionel LCCA 2024 Omaha Convention Union Pacific Boat Loader (2401230). The car is 10 ½” long and operates on O-27 curves. Price: $95. Limit one car per member. To learn more visit lionelcollectors.org or call the business office at 815-223-0115. […]

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Rapido Trains HO scale Budd Slumbercoach

End view of HO scale passenger car.

A Budd Slumbercoach is the latest addition to the Rapido Trains HO scale passenger car fleet. The 24-single-room, 8-double-room car is based on the as-built version with steam heat equipment. The injection-molded plastic model features separate, factory-applied name boards; etched-metal end gates; and sprung diaphragms. Prototype history Budd produced the Slumbercoach from 1956 to 1959. […]

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Sharks on the Monongahela

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Two Baldwin RF16 “Sharknose” diesels of the Monongahela Railroad lug a train of empty coal hoppers along the carrier’s namesake river at Alicia, Pa., in the late 1960s. The ex-New York Central units later went to the Delaware & Hudson and for decades have been privately owned and stored at Escanaba, Mich. David H. Hamley […]

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Rebuilding the S-Line | Amtrak in North Carolina and Virginia

Rebuilding the S-Line | As detailed in the November 2024 issue of Trains magazine, the neighboring states of North Carolina and Virginia are up to something big! They are cooperating, collaborating, and even co-funding to create a 110-mph interstate passenger-train speedway dubbed, the “S-Line”. Watch this video to see some of the existing Amtrak trains […]

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Santa Fe’s celebrity PAs

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Alco and Santa Fe pulled out all the stops when the road bought the first of the builder’s 2,000 h.p. postwar passenger diesels that came to be known as “PAs” (and “PBs” for booster units). Carrying ATSF road number 51, the brand-new three-unit locomotive heads a train down California’s Cajon Pass in October 1946. Santa […]

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Ken Smith’s South Durham Ry.

Title screen showing black-and-white road diesel pulling a freight on Ken Smith's HO scale South Durham Ry. model railroad.

Ken Smith’s South Durham Ry. is an HO scale shelf layout that fills a 9′-6″ x 11′-0″ spare room. The freelanced model railroad depicts a North Carolina bridge line connecting the Southern Ry. (SOU), Seaboard Coast Line (SCL), and Durham Southern in the 1970s. Second-generation diesel power moves grain, plastic pellets, perishable fruit, and other […]

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Railfan Road: Pennsylvania’s
 U.S. 22

Black and white locomotives with an old steel mill in the distance

Pennsylvania’s
 U.S. 22 It takes less than 6 hours to drive across Pennsylvania using Interstate 80 (boring) or the Pennsylvania Turnpike (expensive and boring). Instead, drive through Pennsylvania on U.S. Route 22 for a plethora of really interesting railroad sites and plenty of trains. Even on a multi-day trip there is almost too much to […]

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News & Products for the week of August 26th 2024

A collection of model cabooses in various paint schemes

News & Products for the week of August 26th 2024   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 August 26th […]

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