My HO scale Agawa Yard layout is set in a fictional suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, in the spring of 1969. It’s part of a single-track main line that zig-zags through the suburbs and provides rail access to the area’s dwindling towns and industries. My layout is based on 1960s photos of the Canadian Pacific, […]
Type of Train: Diesel Locomotives
Nickel Plate SD9 shines on Indiana Rail Experience cigar train
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. — The Indiana Rail Experience operated its second cigar train using Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society passenger cars on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, on host railroad Indiana Northeastern. The “Rocky Patel Rolling Smoke Cigar Train” train operated behind Nickel Plate Road SD9 No. 358 in pull-pull fashion from Pleasant Lake to Hillsdale, […]
Lehigh legacy
Three Lehigh Valley Alco C420s fly the company flag at Treichler, Pa., in May 1974. The units were delivered in the mid-1960s in gray and yellow. Mike Bednar photo […]
Amtrak RS3 diesel locomotives
Amtrak RS3 diesel locomotives supported operations on the Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. The RS3 was Alco’s best-selling road switcher model with 1,265 units sold to more than 50 railroads between 1948 and 1962. Marketed as a multi-purpose unit, some roads, including but not limited to Pennsylvania, Rock Island, and Western […]
Rapido Trains HO GE Dash 8-40CM
The General Electric Dash 8-40CM diesel locomotive is back in the Rapido Trains product lineup. The redesigned six-axle road locomotive features a newly tooled fuel tank, cab interior, and trucks; railroad-specific details; and full underbody details. Prototype history General Electric (GE) produced the Dash 8-40CM from February 1990 through March 1994. During the course of […]
Knoxville Locomotive Works delivers Tier 4 switcher for ADM facility in Texas
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Knoxville Locomotive Works has delivered a Tier 4 switcher to agricultural firm ADM for use at the company’s Corpus Christi facility, a locomotive funded by a state grant to address emissions reduction. “KLW is pleased to deliver the first successfully integrated a Cummins Tier 4 QST 30 Module to power a […]
G&W’s Ohio Central donates diesel to Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum
SUGARCREEK, Ohio — Genesee & Wyoming’s Ohio Central Railroad has donated a diesel locomotive, GE B23-7R No. 4092, to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum, the museum has announced. Museum funder Jerry Joe Jacobson had a particular fondness for this locomotive model, which played a key part on his railroad, the Ohio Central System. A […]
Recalling a Vermont railfan event
Vermont railfan event About 80 “train catchers” boarded coaches behind Rutland No. 405 that Saturday. Some carried cameras, some notebooks, some with a buddy, some came alone. What did all of us have in common? Trains. I call us “train catchers” because like dream catchers, we anticipate a safe journey provided by our engine. We […]
News & Products for the week of October 7th 2024
News & Products for the week of October 7th 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 October 7th […]
MTH RailKing EMD FP45 diesel locomotive (2024 version)
The FP45 diesel was a passenger locomotive first produced in 1967 at the request of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Only 14 units were made, nine for AT&SF and five for the Milwaukee Road. By the early 1980s, all but one were out of service or scrapped. Six survive in museums today. The first […]
Fantasy locomotives
The model railroad industry has featured fantasy-painted locomotives for years. These are locomotive models painted for railroads that never actually owned them. Think Canadian National GP60Ms, Burlington Northern ES44ACs or Monon SD70ACes — designs the railroad either never purchased (Canadiana National), or for which the railroad wasn’t in existence at the time the locomotives were […]
Double diesel
Union Pacific U50C No. 5000 lays over at the railroad’s North Platte, Neb., shop on Jan. 21, 1975. It was one of 40 such units on the railroad in operation from 1969 to 1978. Bruce Barrett photo […]
