Earlier in the year I watched Matt at Sommerfeld’s Trains in Butler, Wis., control MTH locomotives on the store’s test track using his cell phone and an MTH no. 50-1034 Wi-Fi Interface Unit, or WIU. It was pretty nifty, but my warning lights came on. Would this be another DIVX? Still, I was intrigued when […]
Three Built-&-Ready Structures from Woodland Scenics Price: varies by product, see review text. Features: Fully assembled, painted, and weathered. Built-in illumination, additional add-on detailing, wired for transformer power but fully compatible with the Just Plug lighting system. My preferred method for building a city on my layout is opening a box and putting a structure […]
These cattle on Jim Kelly’s N scale Tehachapi layout are content to loaf among the trees, and that’s a good thing, as there’s no fence to keep them off the railroad. Bet you didn’t notice. Jim Kelly photo The more I look at photos, the more I realize the images of place I’ve stored in […]
Real railroading marches onward to find more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly locomotion to cut pollution and add Benjamins to the bottom line. As these new locomotives have a toehold in the marketplace, O gauge manufacturers like MTH Electric Trains have responded quickly to the changing face of the industry. The General Electric (GE) Hybrid Evolution […]
Okay, I’m scratching my head with this one. Years back, when I first read the story of the Santa Fe 3000-series 2-10-10-2s, I thought something like, “Why’d they do something crazy like that?” When I took this Lionel model out of the box, as Yogi Berra said, “It was deja vu all over again.” The […]
GP38-2 No. 3818 leads Central Oregon & Pacific job No. 503 near Riddle, Ore., on Feb. 8, 2010. From the poles to the jointed rails and wooden ties, to the 3818, to the route itself, everything could vanish soon, due to modernization or abandonment. Scott Lothes Conveyor belts fed by dump trucks load a CSX […]
With a normal lens, the photographer takes a photo of the westward California Zephyr running through the Feather River Canyon in east-central California on the Western Pacific Railroad in summer 1968. Thomas Taylor With a normal lens, the photographer takes a shot of Operator Art Simmons putting his feet up at Canadian Pacific Railway’s West […]
Passengers enter Los Angeles Union Station during the 2009 winter holidays. Railroads continue to play an important – and growing – role in California’s well-patronized public transportation. Scott Lothes Shadowed by the Vincent Thomas Bridge, doublestacked containers rest in the hold yard outside of APL’s Global Gateway South Terminal located within the Port of Los […]
What have the mergers that built today’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe system accomplished? It’s important to ask this question, because it predicts where BNSF might be headed in the future. In basic terms, mergers have four outcomes. Strategic mergers create seamless service in new or existing traffic lanes and open new markets. Tactical mergers reduce […]
What’s that? This is the summer when you visit every NASCAR track and Elvis memorial in Dixie? Forget it. Your passports are ready so you can take the kids to Six Flags over Cambodia? Put ’em away. There’s a family reunion in Wisconsin and you promised to bring the cheese curds and bratwurst? Let the […]
I had little interest in trains until I went to college and decided to take Amtrak home for a change. My eight hour trek on the Vermonter lead me to instantly love passenger rail as a means of travel. It was relaxing, very comfortable, and provided me with a power outlet so I could work […]
BATMAN AND ROBIN, Minneapolis and St. Paul, peanut butter and jelly take notice. There’s a new inseparable pair now available from Lionel. Not since the release of Lionel’s culvert loader and unloader has there been two separate-sale accessories as well suited for each other as the Lionel no. 29832 command-controlled crane car and the no. […]
