A newly tooled Budd dome coach is now available in N scale from RailSmith Models. The injection-molded plastic lightweight car features tinted dome window glazing, metal wheel stubs mounted on plastic axles, and truck-mounted Accumate knuckle couplers. Prototype history The RailSmith car is based on a dome coach built by the Budd Co. in 1955 […]
News & Products for the week of March 24th 2025 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of March 24th, […]
The original Milwaukee, Racine & Troy, located on the third floor of Kalmbach Publishing Co.’s former headquarters at 1027 North 7th Street in downtown Milwaukee, started in rather unassuming fashion. No fanfare. No ribbon-cutting ceremony. Just a short memo dated November 13, 1975, with the subject line “Kalmbach Model Railroad Club.” It read: “A club […]
Q: I have some questions about streamlined observation cars with rounded ends. What was the purpose/use of the large light located at the end of the roofline of these cars? Is it a white light for reverse moves, or is it a red light similar to a modern day Flashing Rear End Device? Could the […]
Check out the all-new ScaleTrains HO EMD GP40 diesel locomotive in our latest product review video. Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno shares a brief history of the four-axle road switcher and explains why Chicago & North Western 5525 is historically significant; points out the many prototype-specific details on the Rivet Counter line model; and […]
Check out the all-new ScaleTrains HO EMD GP40 diesel locomotive in our latest product review video. Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno shares a brief history of the four-axle road switcher and explains why Chicago & North Western 5525 is historically significant; points out the many prototype-specific details on the Rivet Counter line model; and […]
News & Products for the week of March 17th 2025 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of March 17th, […]
I’ve been around long enough to have caboose memories. Am I really that old? I guess so. When I transferred to Amtrak after 10 years with Seaboard Coast Line, my former freight railroad, we still employed full crews of five persons — an engineer, fireman, and brakeman on the head, with a conductor, and flagman […]
When the long-anticipated “Hill Lines” merger finally created the Burlington Northern on March 2, 1970, it was time not to mourn the loss of a favorite, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, but to embrace and record the details of the changeover. I had been through this six years before, when the Norfolk & Western […]
Classic Trains Film Archive | C&O, Clinchfield, NYC, and other eastern railroads, J. David Ingles Reel 0045 – Follow along with former Classic Trains Senior Editor J. David Ingles’ trackside treks in the 1960s. Here, you’ll see Eastern Tennessee & Western North Carolina standard gauge steam, the famed Clinchfield Railroad, Chesapeake & Ohio in Kentucky […]
Built by Others is an article series showcasing layouts constructed by modelers using plans and projects from the pages of Model Railroader and its related products. Malcolm Furlow’s HOn3 San Juan Central layout first appeared in a multi-part series in the pages of Model Railroader between 1983 and 1984. Adam Palmer’s San Juan Central V2 […]
Rolling through Marengo, Iowa, in May 1979 was this Rock Island freight with GP38-2 No. 4305 leading. This Davenport–Des Moines section of the Omaha main was one of the road’s busiest, but this portion was still train order territory. The railroad’s precarious financial condition is reflected in the depot’s upkeep. R.B. Olson photo […]
