Big Saturday night

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Frisco 4501, one of the road’s three 4500-series 4-8-4s assigned to passenger service, rolls the Meteor into St. Louis. Ben F. Cutler About midnight on a Saturday in 1944 on the station platform in Neosho, Mo., are 500 guys with suntans, each carrying a one-day pass and probably a railway ticket tucked in his wallet. […]

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Calculated drawbar horsepower curves for 4-8-4s

1-Early 4-8-4 DBHP

This graph shows the calculated drawbar horsepower curves for five classes in the first wave of 4-8-4s: Lackawanna Q-1, Canadian National U-2-a, Northern Pacific A, Santa Fe 3751, and Canadian Pacific K-1. Neil Carlson In the days of steam it was a normal practice to estimate the horsepower potential of a locomotive. Baldwin Locomotive Works […]

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Glossary of steam locomotive terms

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Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 4-8-4 No. 602, named Governor Thomas Jefferson, rushes an 18-car passenger train toward Washington, D.C., near Four Mile Run, Va., in June 1940. C. W. Whitbeck Back pressure Back pressure is caused by the resistance of the exhaust steam exiting the cylinders. Overcoming this resistance represents negative work done by the […]

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Streetcar Sundays

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Philadelphia Transportation Co. PCC car 2115 cruises east on a Route 56 run along Erie Avenue in 1955. Mert Leet My dad worked as a trolley operator for the Philadelphia Transportation Company. Stationed at the 10th and Luzerne carbarn, he was one of a legion of veterans who found work on the PTC after World […]

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Nuckolls Packing structure drawings in N, HO, S, and O scales

Nuckolls Packing

Nuckolls Packing is one of many structures depicted in period photos of Telluride shot from the mountain south of town and published in The RGS Story, Volume II by Russ Collman (Sundance Publications, out of print). The industry was on a siding, so it was an ideal subject for my model, which would serve as […]

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Postwar commuter surprises

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“Deluxe” cars like these on New Haven train 365 at Darien, Conn., in July 1947 were not what author Paradis experienced on his commuter-train rides. NH The distant rumble warned that the mighty New York Central steam locomotive with its 12 steel coaches would soon round the curve on the Harlem Division and bear down […]

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How to make tinted tail lights and turn signals on HO scale automobiles

Tinting a model automobile tail light

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Model Railroader associate editor Cody Grivno shows how to use MicroScale Kristal Klear and food coloring to make tinted tail lights and turn signals for your vehicle. […]

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