Q: I recently visited the Foster Townsend facility by the river in St. Louis and was informed that it is now part of Metro East Industries. Can you confirm? — John Foster, Gloucester, England A: Upon checking with railfans familiar with St. Louis, they confirmed that the shops you visited are leased out to Metro […]
Subscription: Metered
10 tips for beginner model railroaders
Model railroad scale comparison. These actual examples of model train locomotives show that each common scale is about half the size of the next larger scale. The locomotives shown here are in N (1:160), HO (1:87.1), and O (1:48) scales. Model railroad turnout angles. Scale turnouts diverge at an angle, rather than through a sharp […]
New model trains for the week of September 5, 2019
ScaleTrains.com HO scale General Electric Tier 4 GEVo diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives General Electric Tier 4 GEVo diesel locomotive. Canadian National (with Aboriginal Affairs logo in three road numbers, 100th anniversary scheme with Aboriginal Affairs logo in one number) and Kansas City Southern (Southern Belle scheme in six numbers). Prototype-specific details, directional light-emitting-diode headlights, […]
Florida county asks to leave SunRail, would forgo line extension
ORLANDO, Fla. — One of the counties that is a member of the commission overseeing commuter railroad SunRail is asking out of the commission, and would surrender plans for a station in return. Volusia County made this offer Thursday at a meeting of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. Volusia […]
Ross Rowland to speak at event to benefit Reading 2100
CLEVELAND, Ohio – One of the men who helped bring back big steam to main lines across the country, will be on hand for a fundraising dinner this September. Ross Rowland will be giving an exclusive video and photo presentation about his lifetime at the throttle. Rowland, a former New York Stock Exchange commodities trader, […]
‘Jump, kid, jump!’
Switching at night could be hazardous, especially when some dodgy moves were attempted. Robert Hale In the middle of 1960 or ’61, during a summer break from Texas Western College in El Paso, I was working the extra board on the New Mexico Division of the Santa Fe. One night I was the pin-puller on a […]
Locomotives of Minton Cronkhite
Click on the link below to download a PDF of “The Locomotives of Minton Cronkhite” from the June 1966 Model Railroader. In his Heritage Fleet column in the October issue entitled “Minton Cronkhite, Q gauge, and the Santa Fe,” Keith Wills profiles Minton Cronkhite (1888-1971), a model railroading pioneer known for his exceptional model locomotive […]
Materials list for Build a late-1960s E unit
This materials list is an online bonus to “Build a late-1960s E unit” by Louis Millan from the October 2019 Model Railroader. Louis Millan shows how-to detail an HO scale Life-Like Proto2000 E8 diesel locomotive to represent a late 1960s Penn Central prototype. Below is the materials list for the project. Materials list Cal Scale […]
New model trains for the week of August 29, 2019
Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale General Motors Diesel Division GP40-2W diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives General Motors Diesel Division GP40-2W diesel locomotive. New paint schemes: Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western; Georgia & Florida Railnet; Hudson Bay Ry. (two road numbers); Iowa Northern; Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; New England Central (one number); and Vermont Ry. […]
Video: Digitrax Zephyr Express DCC system
The Digitrax Zephyr Express Digital Command Control system is an all-in-one DCC starter set. Senior editor Dana Kawala shows you some of the system’s features and basic operation in this DCC demo. […]
Video: Digitrax Zephyr Express DCC system
The Digitrax Zephyr Express Digital Command Control system is an all-in-one DCC starter set. Senior editor Dana Kawala shows you some of the system’s features and basic operation in this DCC demo. […]
Plans for Union Pacific East Los Angeles Station
In the October 2019 Model Railroader, Bruce Briggs writes about the Union Pacific’s East Los Angeles Station that served as the railroad’s gateway to Southern California for more than 40 years. After extensive research, Bruce made detailed plans of this mission revival station based on official railroad blueprints. Cl […]
