Rapido Trains Inc. HO scale steam generator car Featuring wisps of simulated steam escaping from under the carbody, this new HO steam generator car from Rapido Trains accurately models a prototype that kept passengers warm on Canadian railroads. Prior to the diesel era, passenger trains were heated by piping in steam from a locomotive’s boiler. […]
Section: Reviews
Tam Valley Depot Digital Command Control (DCC) Hex Frog Juicer
Tam Valley Depot Digital Command Control (DCC) Hex Frog Juicer The Hex Frog Juicer from Tam Valley Depot is an automatic reversing circuit for turnout and crossing frogs on Digital Command Control layouts. Each unit can power and reverse polarity for up to six frogs, enough for as many turnouts or three crossings. The Hex […]
SPROG 2 – JMRI Digital Command Control Programmer
SPROG 2 – JMRI Digital Command Control Programmer What’s better than Digital Command Control (DCC)? Being able to program it easily. I’ve recently ditched programming my DCC stuff via the controller on the command station and now use a SPROG 2 connected via USB directly to my computer (in my case a Mac, however Windows […]
Lionel O gauge jet snow blower
RAILROADING IS RELATIVELY UNAFFECTED by most weather systems, but snow can can be another story. Over time railroads have adapted technology to do battle with the white stuff. […]
Santa’s Flyer O gauge British 4-6-0 by Lionel video
THIS MODEL IS THE THIRD OUTING for the UK-outline tooling created for the movie-related Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter book and movie series. The second product was the Shakespeare Express (based on a British excursion train of the same name). […]
Lionel Jet-Powered O gauge Snow Blower
AS IMPERVIOUS AS RAILROADING CAN SEEM TO MOST CHANGES IN THE WEATHER, snow can really throw a wrench in the works. Over time railroads have adapted technology to do battle with the white stuff. This has included traditional plows that ram their way through heavy drifts and rotary plows that use moving blades to toss […]
Lionel O gauge British Christmas Steamer
NO, YOUR EYES DON’T DECEIVE YOU. The issue in your hands does carry a February date, and the subject of our attention is a Christmas locomotive. But how can that be? Well, I’m actually writing this before Halloween, so the holiday train spirit hasn’t yet arrived at the CTT station. I visited Sommerfeld’s Trains in […]
MRC Throttlepack Power Supply
IN KEEPING WITH OUR LEAD REVIEW, THE SANTA’S FLYER locomotive, we wanted to include a suggestion for a follow-on transformer, a step beyond the rig that comes with a starter set. The latest transformer from the Model Rectifier Corp. fills the bill between a basic starter set rig and a high-priced, high-horsepower model. Model Rectifier […]
O gauge Dash 8-40BW by Lionel
GENERAL ELECTRIC’S FOUR-AXLE VERSION OF ITS POPULAR DASH 8 LOCOMOTIVE SERIES was selected by the Santa Fe for high-speed freight operation. The locomotives proved reliable enough for the Santa Fe to acquire more than 80, and 20 years after they were produced Santa Fe successor BNSF still rosters most of them. Standing by for our […]
O gauge R-11/R-34 subway set by MTH
LIKE THE PEACEFUL ELOI BEING DRAWN TO THE UNDERGROUND TEMPLE OF THE MORLOCKS in the H.G. Wells’ classic novel, The Time Machine, so do hundreds of thousands of people descend into the dim, man-made caverns of New York City. They are fired through the dark, rolling along in chariots of steel through narrow passages only […]
Bachmann 1:20.3-proportion 2-6-6-2T steam locomotive
Bachmann 1:20.3-proportion 2-6-6-2T steam locomotive The Biles-Coleman Lumber Co. 2-6-6-2T was never built in 1:1 scale, but that didn’t stop Bachmann from making a well-detailed, smooth-performing model Mallet. The 1:20.3-proportion steam locomotive has plenty of pulling power and a versatile “plug and play” electronic interface for adding a Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder or radio-control […]
Model Rectifier Corp. Tech 6 Sound Controller
Model Rectifier Corp. Tech 6 Sound Controller Most Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoders sold these days are dual mode, meaning that they will operate on DC layouts as well as DCC layouts. However, on DC layouts, these decoders offer limited access to sound functions and programming. The Model Rectifier Corp. Tech 6 Sound Controller […]