Kato USA HO Amtrak passenger car An Amtrak Superliner coach and a material handling car are the initial releases in a new line of contemporary HO passenger cars from Kato. Both models are well-detailed and finished in Amtrak’s phase 3 paint scheme of the 1980s with equal-width red, white, and blue stripes. The coach includes […]
THIS PRODUCT, part of American Model Builders’ Laserkit line, offers an early 20th-century grain elevator kit in O scale. This is appropriate for the steam and early diesel eras, but driving around the countryside, you could probably find similar structures still in operation today. The kit, modeled on a “Northwestern Line Elevator” plan from a […]
I’M ON RECORD for both lauding the concept of the Atlas O Trainman line and enjoying its basic, no-frills diesels. Why? Since the Trainman line’s O scale products are very affordable, I think that post-starter set newbies with an interest in scale-sized trains might be likely to plop down their hard-earned bucks for a Trainman […]
THE SUBJECT OF our attention today is a little steamer that helped us beat the Kaiser and soldiered on through the end of the steam era, providing commendable service to the railroads that operated it: the USRA 0-6-0 steam switcher. America entered World War I in April 1917. In December of that year the U.S. […]
Athearn HO GP40X An Electro-Motive Division GP40X with railroad-specific detail is offered by Athearn Trains. The Ready-to-Roll model, which features an upgraded Rail Power Products shell, is based on the short-lived EMD prototype manufactured from December 1977 through June 1978. Only 23 units were built, all for railroads in the United States. The GP40X was […]
EVEN CONSIDERING THE fact that most kids (and adults) have never gotten closer to a steam locomotive than, say, an episode of Petticoat Junction, a steam-powered starter set is tough to beat. The visual elements of moving side rods and puffing smoke, combined with the gift-giving mood around the holidays, make a steam-engine starter set […]
S-HELPER SERVICE is one of the leaders in producing modern trains that improve upon postwar standards of detail and performance while retaining the ability to operate with vintage S gauge trains. Gone are the cast-in details that may have been pleasing back in a time when guys were building freight cars from cardboard or wood […]
Atlas HO scale Alco C-420 A great looking, smooth-running model of Alco’s smallest Century-series road locomotive, the 2,000-hp C-420 road switcher, has been released by Atlas. This model represents what railfans call the Phase 1 version, and it’s decorated for all of the prototype’s original owners. Atlas offers the C-420 in a Silver-series DC version, […]
A powerful workhorse of the Pennsylvania RR, the M1a class 4-8-2, is now available in HO scale as part of Broadway Limited Import’s BlueLine series of DC sound-equipped locomotives. This new model uses the same tooling as the Digital Command Control (DCC) version released a few years ago, but has a new BLI-designed sound system. […]
American Model Builders O scale grain elevator kit Price: $149.99Manufacturer American Model Builders8229 Brentwood Industrial Dr.St. Louis, MO 63144www.laserkit.comDescription: Laser-cut wood structure kitComments: Based on a North-western Line Elevator from the 1913 Grain Dealers Journal, this Laserkit model depicts a design commonly seen along the tracks across the country. The kit includes laser-cut wood and […]
WHEN I SAW a Coors Silver Bullet commercial in 2004, I said, “Cool.” When I saw MTH’s announcement that it was making an O gauge model of the Coors Silver Bullet, I said, “Cool, but they’ll never really make that.” When I opened the shipping carton, I said, “Cool, look at all that crazy chrome!” […]
THIS “RETROVILLE” MONORAIL from MTH is a hoot. It had me recalling an old TV show where a character from the past ends up in the 21st century. He exclaims, “Where are the flying cars? We were promised flying cars!” Well, we were also promised jet backpacks, robot maids, and, of course, monorails. Seven years […]
