Travel: Exploring London by rail

Three modern green-painted electric locomotives side by side in a station

Exploring London by rail Exploring London by rail unlocks the best the metropolis has to offer. As one of the world’s great cities, London is a popular destination for American travelers and one of the planet’s most railroad-intensive places. It is populated by amazing Victorian stations that blend the finest examples of 19th-century railroad architecture […]

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Railfan Road: Virginia’s 460

A pair of black and white painted locomotives, under a blue sky, passing a newly plowed field.

Railfan Road: Virginia’s 460 has all the elements: tracks generally within sight, a legendary grade, interesting endpoints, rail attractions along the way, and reasonable train density (including two Amtrak routes). Some unique cuisine and non-rail history along the way even make it palatable for the non-railfans in the car. The 225-mile trip between Roanoke and […]

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T-TRAK Project Part 8: Ballast, backdrops, and a riverbed

Black, gray, and silver model railroad track showing examples of track with finished surrounding scenery including grass, bushes, and gravel ballast next to plain track by itself on tan painted wood.

Modelers David Popp, Brian Schmidt, and Bryson Sleppy continue the scenery process on their T-TRAK modules in an attempt to make them look more like the prairies of Colorado. T-TRAK is a modular N scale railroading system that uses foot-wide boxes plugged together to build tabletop layouts. In this eighth installment of the T-TRAK series, […]

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CPKC Final Spike Steam Tour | Canada into U.S.

Welcome to Canada! It’s April 26th, 2024, and Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2816 is on its way to Mexico. The preserved vintage steam locomotive is on a public relations tour to celebrate the one year anniversary of the merger between the Canadian Pacific and the Kansas City Southern to create the CPKC railroad, operating a […]

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MR&T HO buffer car

Color photo of HO scale covered hopper painted gray with black and yellow graphics.

Price: $27.99 Manufacturer Produced by Accurail, available from Kalmbach Hobby Store KalmbachHobbyStore.com Era: 2015+ Comments: A Milwaukee, Racine & Troy (MR&T) HO buffer car is the latest addition to the Kalmbach Hobby Store. The injection-molded plastic kit, produced in the United States of America by Accurail Inc., uses the manufacturer’s 6500-series Pullman-Standard 4,750-cubic-foot capacity three-bay […]

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In Memoriam: Dennis E. Storzek

Color photo of man with beard and glasses wearing a sport coat and tie

Dennis E. Storzek, co-founder of Accurail Inc., died on April 21, 2024. Dennis was born in 1951 and became a model railroader in 1959 when he received a Lionel train set. His first freight car scratchbuild was a flatcar, which was better work than most adults of the time produced. Dennis joined the Illinois Railway […]

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Amtrak Indianapolis services through time

Streamlined diesel locomotives with passenger train outside of station train shed

Amtrak Indianapolis services exhibit more than their share of tumult through Amtrak’s five decades. No single train has served the city during this time, and, in fact, the Hoosier State’s capital city had no Amtrak service from October 1979 to October 1980.   Amtrak’s Indianapolis station is, and has been, located at 350 S. Illinois […]

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Amtrak Pacific Surfliner along the California Coast

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Join Trains.com staffers Kent Johnson and Ben Lake, for a narrated ride aboard Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner! From Downtown San Diego (SAN) to Burbank-Downtown Station (BBK), you’ll follow Ben on his early morning roll-out in Unreserved Coach Class. And then, tag along with Kent as he continues from the L.A. metro area, amidst […]

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6 things I learned at the TCA Eastern Division York Show

group of people near a booth

I’ve attended numerous shows during my tenure at Kalmbach, from the local Trainfest show to garden railway conventions, but had never made it to the TCA Eastern Division York show. Finally, I attended my first one April 17-20. It was a whirlwind of activities, meeting contributors and vendors, and getting ideas for stories and layout […]

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Athearn HO General Electric P40DC

Color photo of HO scale locomotive on scenic base.

The HO scale General Electric (GE) P40DC diesel locomotive has returned to the Athearn product lineup. The Genesis-series model features a newly tooled body with cab-mounted strobe lights, a red emergency light, and other prototype-specific details. The prototype Our review sample is decorated as Amtrak P40DC No. 813, part of the passenger carrier’s 800 through […]

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Last chance to ride VIA’s Budd RDCs

Under overcast skies a silver and blue two car passenger train reverses past a red brick depot

The days of the five serviceable Budd RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars) remaining on VIA Rail Canada’s roster may be numbered. As Siemens Venture equipment displaces the stainless and LRC coaches (and F40s and P42 locomotives) on the Windsor-Quebec City corridor, the aging RDC fleet assigned to train Nos. 185 and 186 between Sudbury and White […]

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Freight locomotives can’t always pull modern passenger trains

A black model diesel locomotive pulls a modern passenger train down a grade

If you’re new to the hobby, you might be wondering if you can operate any locomotive on an everyday commuter, intercity, or high-speed passenger train. If you’re looking for prototypical operations on your layout set in the modern era, the short answer is usually no. However, there are many factors which go into this simple […]

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