In late July Affa Technology Ltd., a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of model trains, radio-controlled toys, scale cars, and other items, announced it had closed. Some of the model railroad manufacturers impacted by this news include American Z Line, Atlas Model Railroad Co., Bowser, ExactRail, Fox Valley Models, InterMountain Railway Co., Trainworx, and Wheels of Time. […]
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New model trains for the week of August 2, 2018
Accurail HO scale assorted freight cars HO scale freight cars Assorted freight cars. Northern Pacific Pullman-Standard 4,750-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay covered hopper, $19.98. Clinchfield 36-foot double-sheathed boxcar with wood ends and fish-belly frame, $17.98. Grand Trunk 36-foot Fowler boxcar, $17.98. New York Central subsidiary (Cincinnati Northern; Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Youghiogheny; and Toledo & Ohio Central) United States […]
Bachmann HO Sound Value Baldwin 2-8-0
Bachmann HO Sound Value Baldwin 2-8-0 Removing the plastic tender shell reveals the Sound Value decoder and speaker. A wiring harness connects the decoder to the locomotive’s electronics. The Bachmann locomotive includes working front and rear knuckle couplers. Details include well-defined rivet seams, a coal load, and a separately applied tender ladder. A steam-era freight […]
PIKO America SmartControl WiFi DCC System
PIKO America SmartControl WiFi DCC system Touchscreen train control via a Smartphone app over a WiFi connection has been around for several years now. What I miss when using my smartphone as a throttle, though, is that my smartphone isn’t a throttle. PIKO America has taken the app-control concept to the next level with its […]
Walthers N scale EMD SW1200 diesel
Walthers N scale EMD SW1200 diesel Electro-Motive Division’s SW1200 was its last switcher powered by the 567-series diesel engine, and Walthers has re-released the model in N scale in seven paint schemes. The direct-current (DC) models are equipped with Micro-Trains couplers and are upgraded to accept Digitrax or Train Control Systems Digital Command Control (DCC) […]
Kato HO scale Amtrak Superliner II transition sleeper
Kato HO scale Amtrak Superliner II transition sleeper Price: $90 Manufacturer Kato USA Inc. 100 Remington Rd. Schaumburg, IL 60173 www.katousa.com Era: 2002 to present (as decorated) Road name: Amtrak (Phase 6 [also known as phase 4b] paint scheme). Comments: Kato has released a new run of HO scale Amtrak Superliner II passenger equipment, including […]
PHNX caboose
This bright red caboose and its sister, No. 101, escort special rail loads and are owned by PHN LLC. Timothy J. O’Malley Q Last year I saw a caboose on the tail end of a BNSF Railway train with PHNX reporting marks. Is it escorting the three hopper cars in front of it? Who owns […]
Drawings for a small-town train depot
Click on the link below to download the prototype drawings. Harold W. Russell Frequent Model Railroader contributor Harold W. Russell wrote about the Avoca, N.Y., station in the September 2018 issue. He made detailed drawings from measurements taken from the prototype Delaware, Lackawanna & Western train depot. Click on the link below to download Harold’s […]
Plans and materials list for a California tank house
Click on the link below to download the plans for this project. Alain Kap In the September 2018 Model Railroader, Alain Kap describes how he scratchbuilt one of these distinctive tank houses from styrene for his HO scale Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Surf Line layout. Featuring a windmill these structures were once common in […]
BONUS ARTICLE: N scale through the Northwoods
Steve Miazga’s updated N scale Missabe Junction is featured in the September 2018 Model Railroader. Check out This first article about Steve’s layout from the November 2013 Model Railroader. Steve Miazga grew up less than two blocks from the Soo Line main in Rhinelander, Wis. As a kid, he saw the Soo’s first Geeps and […]
HO scale Rock Island Twin Star Rocket passenger train
I took this train as a boy from Minneapolis to Mason City to visit relatives. I loved to watch this train pulling into the CNW station which where my Grandfather worked as a train dispatcher. Video by Gene Borman. […]
O scale DCC Layout Tour: Alameda County Central Railroad Society ACCRS
The Alameda County Central Railroad Society has been at the Alameda County Fairgrounds for decades. They maintain and operate two layouts — one O scale and one HO. This video documents the O scale layout, featuring both standard and narrow gauge operations. […]
