U.S. Military RR General Haupt 4-4-0 steam locomotive. Faulhaber-type coreless motor, operating headlight and firebox light, and electrical pickups on all tender wheels. Price to be announced. Late 2011. Ready-to-run. Eight-Wheeler Models, eightwheelermodels.com
48-foot depressed-center flatcar. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Chicago & North Western; Conrail; QTTX; Southern Ry.; and Southern Pacific. Three car numbers each. Wire grab irons, narrow-style draft box featuring shank wedges, and Kadee no. 58 magnetic knuckle couplers. $26.95. Ready-to-run. Evolution series. ExactRail LLC, 866-945-1701, www.exactrail.com
HO scale details and accessories
20- and 40-foot containers. CARU, COSCO, Cronos, Hanjin, MSL, and P&O/ Ned Lloyd. Individually numbered containers. Two 40-foot and two 20-foot containers per pack. $32.98. August 2011. Athearn Trains, 310-763-7140, www.athearn.com
45-foot intermodal container three-packs. APL, Gateway, Hyundai, K-Line, P&O/Ned Lloyd, and Seacastle. Individually numbered containers. $32.98. August 2011. Athearn Trains, 310-763-7140, www.athearn.com
Canadian National maintenance-of-way “bunktainer” bodies. One-piece body with cast side door and separate windows. $25.99. Prototype Model Industries, 519-270-2431, www.prototypemodelindustries.com
1949-53 Studebaker truck kits. Cab and chassis, grain truck, pickup, and two-ton tractor. Hollow-cast one-piece resin bodies and vinyl tires. $12.95-19.95 each. Sylvan Scale Models, 519-294-6601, www.isp.ca/Sylvan
1959-68 GMC “Crackerbox” cab-over-engine highway tractor kits. Hollow-cast one-piece resin bodies, vinyl tires, and figures. Single-axle with day or sleeper cab, $16.95 each; Tandem-axle with day or sleeper cab, $19.95 each. Sylvan Scale Models, 519-294-6601, www.isp.ca/Sylvan
Evans 5,277-cubic-foot boxcar. Atlantic & Western Ry., Delaware & Hudson; East Erie Commercial RR; Illinois Central; Meridian & Bigbee; and St. Lawrence RR. Three car numbers each. Detailed floor and McHenry N scale magnetic knuckle couplers. $22.95. Ready-to-run. ExactRail LLC, 866-945-1701, www.exactrail.com
N scale details and accessories
Canadian National maintenance-of-way “bunktainer” bodies. One-piece with cast-in side door and separate windows. $14.99. Prototype Model Industries, 519-270-2431, www.prototypemodelindustries.com
O scale passenger cars
Narrow gauge passenger cars. On2-1/2. Baggage car, combine, and observation car. All available painted olive or burgundy and black but unlettered. Lighted interior. $55. Ready-to-run. Spectrum series. Bachmann, 215-533-1600, www.bachmanntrains.com
DTTX 53-foot well car. Metal wheelsets and magnetic knuckle couplers. $46. Ready-to-run. American Z Lines, 614-764-1703, www.ztrack.com
Jiffy-Railer three pack. Injection-molded plastic rerailer. May be installed on existing track. HO scale (code 100), $7.95; N scale (code 80), $5.95. Jiffy-Railer LLC, www.jiffy-railer.com
Software
Model Railroad System version 2.1.27. Includes libraries and programs for communication with Computer/Model Railroad Interface and Lenz ZPressNet networks, a user-mode driver for the Rail Driver control console, a library to XTrkCAD layout files, and other utilities. Deepwoods Software, 978-544-6933, www.deepsoft.com
Books
Garden railway manual: The complete step-by-step guide to building and running a narrow-gauge garden railway. By Richard Blizzard. Explains 19 garden railway projects, including laying track, making trackside accessories, and constructing a 16mm-gauge live steam engine kit, various rolling stock, and structures. 184 pages, 400 color step-by-step illustrations, hardcover. £19.99. Haynes Publishing, +44 (0) 1963 440635, www.haynes.co.uk
The Ups & Downs of a Rural Line: Elmira, Cortland & Northern RR, 1867 to 1967 and On. By David Marcham. Explains the daily jobs of train and enginemen, dispatchers, and the entrepreneurs above them. 160 pages, includes 150 black and white photos timetables, rosters, and track maps, orders, and charts. $19.95 plus $4.60 shipping. New York residents add eight percent sales tax. The History Center, 607-273-5754, www.thehistorycenter.net
The Jiffy-Railer looks like it would work and does if you've watched Cody's Office on the Model Railroader website. It seems to be offered in HO code 100, and N code 80 track gages. Don't know how it would work in code 83? Have any of you tried it in a different gage other than as advertised?
The Jiffy-Railer does not rerail, it derails when used on Bachmann N scale EZ-Track system track. Track is flat, Jiffy-Railer is installed snuggly against the ties. The portion against the rails is so high that a car mumps up and over the device. A derailed car is thrown farther off track and a car running normally may be derailed.
I'm sending mine back for a refund.