Lionel’s The Thunderbird toy train set features a Lackawanna locomotive and a Pennsylvania caboose. It’s obviously a toy train — with colorful cars that help it contribute to the pinnacle of Lionel’s post-World War II production. Lionel’s 1954 catalog that rosters The Thunderbird also features steam and diesel locomotives, freight and passenger cars, and operating […]
Milwaukee Road Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 shows the high (cab-roof-level) hood needed to clear FM’s tall opposed-piston engine. The roof overhang on the back of the cab was a feature on H10-44s and early H12-44s. Milwaukee Road photo […]
American Flyer No. 636 depressed-center flatcar with reel Even before World War II, the A.C. Gilbert Co. had experimented with loads for its flatcars. Of importance were the models with a small civilian or military vehicle, which could be unloaded via remote control. These models returned after the war. Lionel decided against competing with Gilbert […]
Thousands of different O and S gauge sets – cataloged and promotional – were developed between 1945 and 1969. Think of the one you received for your birthday or a holiday. Maybe you can say with pride it was Lionel’s No. 2211WS. An awesome responsibility From the time Lionel offered just one outfit for the […]
The near-scale single-dome tank cars were cataloged in 1946 and ’47. The No. 2855 Sunoco tankers offered no animation or action, except what kids might imagine. Then the great-looking and highly realistic models might be part of a fleet of oil cars hard at work in refineries located along the East Coast. The variations of […]
Oahu Railway 2-8-2 No. 70, a 1927 Alco, leads a train for Kahaku beside the Pacific Ocean east of Kaena Point in the 1940s. The railroad’s C-shaped main line extended from Honolulu on the south side of the island clockwise to Kahuku on the north side. Kent W. Cochrane photo […]
The Athearn HO scale EMD SW1500 pays a visit to the Jones Island section of our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy staff layout. Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno discusses the features on the end-cab switcher, which is being offered with light-emitting-diode lighting and a SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound decoder for the first time. In addition, he […]
E units belonging to Louisville & Nashville, Chesapeake & Ohio, New York Central, and Pennsylvania idle on the ready tracks near the Cincinnati Union Terminal roundhouse in September 1952. Baltimore & Ohio, CUT, Norfolk & Western, and C&O steam engines populate the whisker tracks in the background. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Atlas O Premier streamlined passenger cars were the subject of a surprise product announcement in late December. The manufacturer will be offering the 70-foot cars in two- and four-car sets as well as single cars, all in multiple paint schemes. Four-car sets Atlas O will be offering six four-car sets. Paint schemes include Delaware & […]
Tangent Scale Models kicked off 2024 with a splash by releasing a new HO scale four-bay hopper. The model, based on an Illinois Central (IC) Centralia Shops 3,834-cubic-foot capacity prototype, features injection-molded plastic construction, wire grab irons and uncoupling levers, and road-specific details. Paint schemes Paint schemes on the initial release of the Centralia Shops […]
Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 No 295 stands at Winchester, Ky., with local train 3 for Hazard on May 3, 1952. Built in 1925 with three cylinders, the Pacific lost its middle cylinder and gained a big tender and some decorative sheet metal in 1940 to pull the Louisville–Montgomery, Ala., leg of the Chicago–Miami South Wind streamliner. Ed […]
Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3601 exits Deen Tunnel east of Pando, Colo., with an eastbound freight extra in March 1946. On the valley floor beyond is the Army’s 10th Mountain Division’s Camp Hale. R. H. Kindig photo […]
