Roger Carp is Senior Editor of Classic Toy Trains and the author of numerous books about the toy train collecting hobby. What toy train locomotive means the most to you? My favorite toy train locomotive is the Lionel No. 2065 steam engine. This small Hudson isn’t the biggest, heaviest, or most expensive, but everything desirable […]
OK, time for a show of hands. How many of you enjoy ballasting? That’s what I expected. Ballasting isn’t an aspect of the hobby most modelers enjoy. However, I’ve ballasted parts or all of several Model Railroader project layouts over the years, and I’ve come to enjoy adding those tiny granules to layouts. When I […]
The Menards Rocket Launching Tower is out and I have to say, it’s a lot of fun. Commencing countdown, engines on.” The words from the David Bowie song Space Oddity got stuck in my head when I saw this accessory. It harkens back to late 1960s Lionel when the race was on to put satellites […]
The Menards Cripple Creek County Jail is a place where your O scale folks can do the time if they’ve committed a crime. It has a sort of dark demeanor of a place you can take your 10-year-old who filched a candy bar to and scare them straight! This building has what the movies call […]
Carey Tarkman has built a 15 x 20 foot layout that includes both Standard gauge and O gauge. It includes Lionel, MTH, and American Flyer motive power. The elements needed to give life to a display featuring prewar models differ from the norm. They demand different skills and artistry from the builder. He or she […]
Spectacular scenery on an O gauge layout: When layouts with a New York setting appear in Classic Toy Trains, they typically highlight passenger traffic moving in and out of Grand Central Terminal or freight trains delivering perishables to New York City. On those O gauge railroads, the Pennsylvania RR or the New Haven dominates, especially […]
In this episode, our host intentionally works his way between a rock and a hard place! The tough stuff starts when he discovers a flaw in his operating scheme. With a remedy in place, David starts into the scenery. As he shares here, installing the foreground rock wall scenery is an easy lift when using […]
In this episode, our host intentionally works his way between a rock and a hard place! The tough stuff starts when he discovers a flaw in his operating scheme. With a remedy in place, David starts into the scenery. As he shares here, installing the foreground rock wall scenery is an easy lift when using […]
The Lionel SD40T-2 ‘Tunnel Motor’ is now on the rails. For those of us with a few SD40s and SD40-2s in our collections, this model provides a great variation and a touch of color in a consist. It’s safe to say these are popular engines with hobbyists. Lionel offered the SD40T-2 in its 2022 Volume […]
The MTH Erie 0-8-8-0 Angus models a steam engine in the railroad’s L1 class. Three were built in 1907 and numbered 2600-2602. These were the only articulated camelback locomotives ever made. In that year, this was the largest locomotive in existence. Weighing in at 410,000 lbs., these behemoths could develop 94,000 lbs. tractive effort. This […]
Gauge: ODimensions: 20 x 32 feetTrack: GarGravesSwitches: Ross Custom SwitchesMotive power: K-Line, Lionel, MTH, 3rd Rail, Weaver, WilliamsRolling stock: K-Line, Lionel, MTH, 3rd Rail, WeaverControls: Lionel type-ZW and MTH No. Z-4000 (4) transformers, with MTH Digital Command System and Lionel LegacyStructures: Ameri-Towne, Downtown Deco, MTH, scratchbuiltVehicles: Corgi, Diecast Direct, Ertl, SolidoFigures: Arttista, Homies, Model Power, […]
The history of the “Heritage Fleet” column is an interesting one. This regular feature in Model Railroader magazine between March of 1987 and March of 1990, helped toy train enthusiasts and scale modelers discover classic miniature locomotives, cars, and more designed and sold in the first 50 or so years of the 20th century. In […]
