My first railroad book has stuck with me ever since my parents gave it to me when I was 9. Lucius Beebe’s “Hear the Train Blow” was a massive scrapbook of American railroad history, full of the author’s outrageous prose and uncanny skill at digging up illustration. I still love looking through it 62 years […]
One piece of rolling stock I can bet almost every model railroader owns is a caboose. These cars are a staple in both real life and the model form, to the point where many people who don’t know much about trains at all know what a caboose is. Along with the existence of the word […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas logo underwent subtle changes throughout the railroad’s history. But its origin is more interesting than these iterative changes. In his history of the Katy, J. Parker Lamb mentions the different incarnations of Katy’s corporate herald over the years, but where did the road’s uniquely shaped emblem come from? According to Freeman Hubbard in his […]
The Lionel John Bull display set is a historical piece from the 2021 Volume I catalog. The company cataloged this in three versions: the “Display Set” which features the engine and one coach on two flatcars; a Camden & Amboy set with three coaches; and a “What-if?” Uncle Sam (John Bull’s cartoon U.S. counterpart) set […]
Fiction books about railroading and locomotive topics The Necropolis Railway (A Jim Stringer mystery) By Andrew Martin Genre: Mystery/crime novel First published: 2002 It’s November 14, 1903, and young Jim Springer is traveling to London to start a job on the London & South Western Railway. He’s put to work cleaning engines No. […]
Norfolk & Western 46-foot battleship gondola Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $47 plus shipping Era: 1914-1930 Manufacturer: Westerfield Models LLC, 1964 Lacey Ct., Gardnerville, NV 89410; 303-658-9343; westerfieldmodels.com Norfolk & Western class GKa/GKb 46-foot battleship gondola features: Unpainted one-piece cast urethane body with integral frame Cast urethane detail parts Yarmouth etched bronze eyebolts Decals covering all versions […]
40-foot steel boxcars Scale: N (1:160) Price: Two pack, $54.99; four-pack, $104.99 Era: 1922+ to 1970s (varies depending on railroad) Manufacturer: Broadway Limited Imports LLC, 9 East Tower Circle, Ormond Beach, FL 32174; 386-673-8900; broadway-limited.com 40-foot steel boxcars feature: ABS plastic body and chassis Metal wheelsets Separate, factory-applied doors, running boards, brake wheel, and brake […]
The 310-page book Narrow Gauge in the Tropics is a thorough examination of the railroads in the tropical islands of the Dutch or Netherlands East Indies, capturing the story behind the first railroad in Java where construction began in 1864. Java is the most populous and economically developed of the thousands of the Indian archipelago. […]
24-foot wood tank car Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: No trucks or couplers, $40; Tichy Train Group archbar trucks and Kadee No. 148 couplers, $45; Kadee No. 509 archbar trucks and No. 148 couplers, $50. Manufacturer: Conowingo Models; conowingomodels.com 24-foot wood tank car features: Bands with 3-D printed hose clamps Metal tie rods 3-D printed valve Tichy Train […]
I wanted to scratchbuild a rural large scale depot to replace one that was past its prime on my garden railroad. While I was working as an art director for a commercial printing company, one of my sales reps came across a 1916 combination freight/passenger-depot blueprint. He asked his client, a buyer for the Union […]
Overland passenger cars Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: Coach, $42.99; four-pack (Busines car, coach, combine, and Railway Post Office), $149.98 Era: 1890s+ Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: End handrails and ladders Clear (sides) and green-tinted (clerestory) windows RP-25 contour machined metal wheels Body mounted McHenry scale couplers Minimum radius: […]
2-8-0 steam locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model with 21-pin plug, $214.99; with dual-mode SoundTraxx Econami sound decoder, $284.99 Era: 1890s+ Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com 2-8-0 steam locomotive features: See-through cab windows Separate, factory-applied wire-form details Smokestack Boiler-mounted bell Light-emitting diode lighting Heavy die-cast metal frame RP-25 contour wheels Minimum […]
