The 20th Century Limited was the top train of New York Central’s (NYC) Great Steel Fleet. The train made its 16-hour trip between Chicago and New York City overnight, with trains arriving in the opposite city at 8 a.m., ready for the new day’s business. Inaugurated in 1902, the Century became a streamliner in 1938. […]
It’s a good time to be an Amtrak modeler. Rapido’s new Horizon passenger cars are here to fill out your contemporary medium-distance trains. Amtrak started its existence with a hand-me-down fleet of passenger cars and locomotives. In 1988, Amtrak ordered its first new short-haul cars, initially referred to as Amfleet III (Amfleet II came in […]
From a “back-in-the-day” perspective, I think the most exotic locomotive Lionel fielded during the postwar era was the GG1 electric. Before you counter with the scale Hudson, F3, or even the GP7, I would suggest that for many years in the late 1940s and ’50s any kid could go down to the local depot and […]
Rapido Trains is bringing the comfort, Canadian style. We recently received a sample of the company’s new Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) M420 locomotive, and it’s a beauty, eh? The prototype When Alco locomotive production ceased in Schenectady, N.Y., in 1969, locomotives continued to be built in Canada by former subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works until […]
The LionChief 2.0 GG1 gives kids of all ages a distinctive icon of American railroading for their layout, be it a 4 x 8 or something filling a basement or attic. With modern electronics, this classic is ready to please a new generation! Watch the video to see more. […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Piko’s G scale 0-6-0 now comes with sound. In this video, MR’s Dana Kawala test-runs the model in the workshop so you can see it and hear it in action. […]
A ubiquitous freight car that rode America’s rails from one World War to another, the 40-foot double-sheathed wood boxcar developed by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), is the latest HO scale offering from WalthersMainline. A war baby. The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was formed in 1917 to nationalize the nation’s railroads, which were […]
Sprecher Brewing Co., a Milwaukee fixture famous for craft beers and many flavors of fire-brewed sodas, is coming to HO and O scale model railroads nationwide thanks to another Wisconsin com- pany, Menards. The model. Menards’ structure is meant to resemble a generic brewery of the steam-to-diesel transition era. The era I listed in the […]
The Siemens SC-44 Charger is built in California. The first units are in Amtrak- supported state and regional service. Chargers have been pulling trains in California (CalTrans, North County Transit District, and San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission), Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin (IDOT), Maryland (MARC), and Washington state (WSDOT) since 2017. Amtrak has ordered 75 similar […]
A Pullman-Standard (PS) high-side 4,427-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay covered hopper is now available from Athearn Trains. The N scale model features an injection-molded plastic body, wire and etched-metal details, and screw-mounted roller-bearing trucks with 36″ metal wheelsets. The prototype. Pullman-Standard introduced the 4,427-cubic-foot-capacity covered hopper in 1964. For the first two years of the production run, the […]
See and hear the SoundTraxx Tsunami2-equipped Electro-Motive Division SD90MAC-H in action as it hauls a freight up the 3 percent grade at Skyridge on the Model Railroader staff’s HO scale layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. This Genesis 2.0 series locomotive model from Athearn Trains marks the first time an SD90MAC-H phase II has been offered as […]
Steam-era operation typically requires additional infrastructure items, such as coaling towers and water cranes, but perhaps the most interesting of these is the turntable, used for turning locomotives and sending them back out in the opposite direction. Kitwood Hill Models offers several laser-cut wood kits for gallows-style narrow-gauge turntables in an assortment of lengths, all […]
