Cody’s Workshop: Ep. 41, SW8 shell modification

Cody Grivno’s Workshop Part 41

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody continues working on his HO scale EMD SW8 diesel switcher. In this episode, he’ll continue working on the shell. Follow his techniques for patching up holes, removing parts, and adding details. […]

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Trains Photo Contest 2019 winners: Go West!

FULL SCREEN Photo by Bryan Bechtold Runner-up: To appreciate the daunting task of the transcontinental railroad builders, you need only go west to Wyoming. The modern Union Pacific Railroad remains tested by the same vast landscape that challenged the pioneers. In a scene repeated for 150 years, a manifest train climbs out of Rock River, […]

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Trains Photo Contest 2020: In the City

Sumpter Valley trains Ben Duncan Grand Prize winner Trains photo contest 2019

2019 Grand Prize: Ben Duncan This photograph captures my perceptions of American westward expansion. It creates a tension between ideas of East and West, past and future, static and dynamic, confinement and freedom. Taken on my first visit to the western United States, it depicts the Sumpter Valley Railroad, which runs close to one of […]

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Cody’s Workshop: Ep. 40, SW8 switcher truck and wheel details

Cody Grivno’s Workshop Part 40

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody Grvino starts a multi-part series on custom-decorating an HO scale EMD SW8 diesel switcher. Follow along as he shows how to add a variety of etched-metal, cast-resin, and white-metal casting detail parts before applying his favorite Minnesota Northern paint scheme. […]

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Cody’s Workshop: Ep. 40, SW8 switcher truck and wheel details

Cody Grivno’s Workshop Part 40

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody Grvino starts a multi-part series on custom-decorating an HO scale EMD SW8 diesel switcher. Follow along as he shows how to add a variety of etched-metal, cast-resin, and white-metal casting detail parts before applying his favorite Minnesota Northern paint scheme. […]

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Ask Trains: What equipment was involved in the making of ‘3:10 to Yuma’?

Q: Can you tell me what the train in the movie, “3:10 to Yuma” consisted of? — Frank Latorre, Baltimore A: Regarding the question of the origin of the railroad equipment on both versions of “3:10 to Yuma,” from the website, Obscure Train Movies, I found this information on the original 1957 3:10 to Yuma: […]

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Ask Trains: Can train crews turn off crossing gates?

Q: Do train crews have the ability to activate or deactivate crossing lights and gates? — Richard Collingwood, Milan, Ohio A: No. Here’s why: Crossing circuits have set approaches based off of warning time required and maximum speed of the trains. The modern day crossing processors — mini computers inside a crossing gate bungalow (the metal […]

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Ask Trains: Why do you see empty container trains headed away from East Coast ports?

Q: One reader recently asked why there were so many empty container trains heading away from the East Coast on railroads? Could it be the West Coast receives more loads and container trains need to be repositioned? — A Trains reader A: That East/Eest balances is one source of empty moves, but there are other […]

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Ask Trains: What are the rules on when locomotive bells should ring?

An eastbound BNSF Railway train passes a stopped BNSF freight at “Summit” in California’s Cajon Pass in 2013 — this meet is one of several conditions which might require a locomotive bell to be sounded. Trains staff Q: What are the rules concerning when a train should ring its bell at a crossing or elsewhere? […]

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HO scale Georgia Northeastern

HOscaleGeorgiaNortheasternRR

Name: Georgia Northeastern RR Layout owner: Thomas Klimoski Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 9′-2″ x 10′-6″ Prototype: Georgia Northeastern RR Locale: Georgia Era: present-day Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 36 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none Benchwork: open grid Height: 54″ Roadbed: cork Track: Micro Engineering code 70 Scenery: extruded-foam insulation […]

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MRVP Insider: Out and About with UP’s Big Boy

4-8-8-4 steam locomotive moves at speed while rail fans look on.

Union Pacific’s restored no. 4014 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive recently roared into America’s Dairyland, and MRVP (Jenny, Kent, Ben, Diane, and David) wasn’t about to miss it! Enjoy a quick look at this massive, majestic machine steaming across the Wisconsin countryside. […]

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Ask Trains: What is this freight load?

AskTrainsWindTurbine

A photo of a big boxy freight load, likely a wind turbine nacelle. Submitted by Mark Faust Q: Saw a whole CSX Transportation train of these in Sullivan, Ind. What are they? — Mark Faust, Carmel, Ind. A: The photo you submitted resembles a wind turbine gearbox nacelle, and is probably what the train was […]

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