I became a railfan at age three, near the end of World War II. Awaiting the return of my naval officer father, I sat in our West Philadelphia kitchen window facing one of the busiest divisions of the Pennsylvania Railroad — the four-track electrified main line to Harrisburg. The parade of wartime tonnage, plus express […]
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Built by Others is an article series showcasing layouts constructed by modelers using plans and projects from the pages of Model Railroader and its associated products. The Georgia Southern layout originally appeared in the pages of Model Railroader in 2001. Mike Tuminella converted the layout to N scale to better fit the space he had available and made […]
Engine 1126, one of Western Maryland’s colossal class I-2 Decapods, assists a train upgrade at Helmstetter’s Curve west of Cumberland, Md., in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Three locomotives – a 2-8-2, 2-8-8-2, and 4-8-4 – start the Rio Grande’s eastbound Royal Gorge out of Minturn, Colo., on Aug. 30, 1947. Ahead for the 18-car train: Tennessee Pass. C. L. Carson photo […]
Last month, I wrote about metal wheelsets offered in HO scale. In this guide to N scale metal wheelsets, I’ll cover the options available for those who model in 1:160 proportion. The case for metal wheelsets N scale wheelsets have come a long way since the 1960s and 1970s. For many years, Micro-Trains N scale […]
In the past, railroad dining car meals were something to write home about, positively. A notable summary of this can be found in the lyrics of the popular song Chattanooga Choo-Choo, with its assertion that “dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer.” As private-railroad passenger service declined in the 1960s, however, this […]
The Illinois Central’s EMD SD40A diesel locomotive resulted from the railroad’s desire to increase fuel capacity. “Customer modifications to production units aren’t all that unusual, don’t usually result in more than minor engineering and construction revisions, and seldom are dignified by a separate builder’s class,” wrote former Trains Managing Editor Wally Abbey in the January […]
Classic Trains Film Archive | Midwestern and Eastern U.S. cities, J. David Ingles Reel UNK2 – Ride along with J. David Ingles in this first installment of Classic Trains Film Archive! Through his vintage color footage, you’ll see Amtrak action in southeast Wisconsin and central Illinois, then ride along eastbound on the Amtrak National Limited […]
Glancing at the catalogs put out by the A.C. Gilbert Co. and the Lionel Corp. from 1952 or ’55 or ’58, you notice how similar the product lines were. Both Gilbert, which developed the American Flyer line of S gauge trains, and its rival marketed train sets at various price points to entice households with […]
The Rapido Trains HO scale Ten-Wheeler recently paid a visit to our Wisconsin & Southern staff layout. The model, part of the company’s Icons of Canadian Steam line, is based on a Canadian Pacific class D10 prototype. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he talks about the features on the 4-6-0 and demonstrates […]
The Rapido Trains HO scale Ten-Wheeler recently paid a visit to our Wisconsin & Southern staff layout. The model, part of the company’s Icons of Canadian Steam line, is based on a Canadian Pacific class D10 prototype. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he talks about the features on the 4-6-0 and demonstrates […]
