Close encounters of the 4-6-4 kind

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Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo’s two ex-NYC J-1e’s were among the Hudsons that captivated a Buffalo boy in the late 1940s. Frank Clodfelter While growing up in Cleveland and Buffalo after World War II, a close encounter with a Hudson-type locomotive was just a train ride away. My first memory was as a four-year-old. My family […]

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Olympia 2, The Log Blog: Part 1 – Olympia on the Move!

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page MRVP’s David Popp plans to keep the wintertime woes away by building an addition to the Olympia Logging Co. On30 display-style layout we started in 2014. Even better, he’ll host a video blog highlighting the planning and construction of the extension. But first, […]

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Whose cab ride is this?

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Erie RS2 904 clatters into the Lackawanna’s Hoboken Terminal with a Main Line local in 1956. Richard H. Young Youth is wasted on young people, so the saying goes. Kids don’t have the … well … maturity to know what’s special in their world. Watch the crowds at Disneyland. It’s the adults who are agog […]

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The time I got to run ‘my unit’

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On June 15, 1972 — six years before author Olson’s ride on it — Illinois Central Gulf SD40 6000 pulls into Markham Yard at Homewood, Ill., with GP40 3011. J. David Ingles I have always had a thing for “class units,” that is, the first in a series, and “my engine” is Illinois Central 6000, […]

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Compact diesel terminal online extras

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In the January 2017 Model Railroader, Thomas Klimoski describes how he built a compact HO scale diesel service terminal based on a prototype found on the shortline Georgia Northeastern RR. A signature structure on the scene is Tom’s scratchbuilt sanding tower. Download Tom’s template for the sanding tower as well as the handrail bending template […]

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Plans for a distinctive trackside shed

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Click on the image or link to download plans for this unique trackside shed. Shiplap siding and vertical trim are among the interesting details of this trackside shed. The prototype stood along the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western line in upstate New York. Click on the link below to download scale drawings of the structure for […]

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Win a few, lose a few

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Empty refrigerator cars race across the Union Pacific in Nebraska in the early ’50s. A UP conductor in Idaho talked his way out of a jam when his reefer train blocked a crossing, but got into trouble when he tried to enter the produce business himself. Linn H. Westcott Within any group, whether depicted in […]

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Beyond the training program

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N&W four- and six-motor EMDs rest at Crewe, Va., in 1981, three years after author Siik became acquainted with similar units during a strike on former Nickel Plate lines in Ohio. Curt Tillotson Jr. It happened nearly four decades ago, but still fresh are my memories of following the ghosts of 2-8-4 Berkshires and Bluebird […]

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An all-new-under-the-hood locomotive

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Jim’s N scale Atlas GP30 is all new under the hood thanks to a newer DCC-ready mechanism. A bonus was the new drivers. The nickel-silver plating had worn off the treads on the old locomotive, and they were difficult to keep clean. A few weeks back I pulled an Atlas N scale GP30 locomotive off […]

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Remembering the C&NW in Madison

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Running left-handed per C&NW practice, E-class Pacific 1634 skirts Lake Monona as she departs Madison with the evening local to Chicago. Frank Rogers Back in the days when there were enough railroad companies to make train-watching really interesting, Madison, Wis., was served by three: the Milwaukee Road, the Chicago & North Western, and the Illinois […]

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