Questions and answers about large-scale locomotives and rolling stock

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What grade can an engine climb? Different engines will climb different grades. If you are trying to stay within full-size railroad practice, your grades should be no more than about 3 percent for mainline traffic (3″ of rise in 100″ of travel) or 5 percent to 6 percent for logging, mining, or industrial lines.  I […]

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Winter running on the CPR Joy Division

trains running in winter on a garden railroad

Name: Kent Johnson Railroad Name: Canadian Pacific Joy Division Location: Milwaukee, Wisc. Scale: 1:29 Theme: Modern-era branch line in Western Canada Description: The sun was making a weak effort to shine over the CPR Joy Division garden railroad on a cold January afternoon. Even so, I still wanted to capture the inaugural run of my […]

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Rock Island Passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”

Scene on model train layout

Rock Island passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”, passes through Trenton, MO., Des Moines, Nevada, Clear Lake Jct., IA., and Albert Lea, MN., on its journey from Kansas City to St. Paul / Minneapolis. This train is operating on my Rock Island-based HO scale model railroad. Video by Michael Armstrong. […]

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Trains Presents: Southern Railway steam doubleheader

Ride with us on the tender tank of Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 630 while we watch Southern 2-8-2 No. 4501 at work on a Chattanooga, Tenn.-Summerville, Ga., trip in October 2018. You’ll see and hear the engines at work on famous Missionary Ridge. It’s a classic Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum excursion with lots of stack […]

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