This series covers the operations of Jim Providenza’s Santa Cruz Northern model railroad. In this first installment, we will take a tour of the layout and take a look at the operations of Train #271 the Westbound Drag freight. […]
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Southern Pacific AC-5 Cab Forward at Skykomish
Southern Pacific AC-5 Cab Forward at Skykomish: By accident, I have a car about 2/3rds into the train where it sounds like a prototypical flat wheel on one of the cars. The light at the back top of the engine was for the fireman to check, at night, the exhaust to see how efficient his […]
UP 8500 turbine at Tye
Check out this UP 8500 turbine at Tye. Video by Sam Parfitt. […]
A public garden line in Germany celebrates 20 years
The railway at a glance Name: Gartenbahn der Parkeisenbahn Chemnitz Size of railroad: 21m x 9.5m (69′ x 31′) Scale: Mostly 1:22.5 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Era: 1965-present Theme: Central German Mountains Age: 20 years Power: Massoth DiMAX 1210Z; Digital Central Station 20 V/12 A Length of mainline: 245m (803′) Length of storage sidings: 125m […]
An eastern line serves small mountain towns
The railway at a glance Railroad name: Capleville & Sugkat Valley Railroad Size: 90′ x 35′ x 30′ Scale: 1:22.5-1:32 Era: 1940-1960s Theme: Small mountain towns and big railroads Age: 20 years Motive power: Track and battery Length of mainline: 350′ Maximum gradient: 3% Type of track: Aristo-Craft and LGB; LGB switches Minimum radius: 10′ […]
California narrow gauge in the 1940s
The railway at a glance Name: Lake Tahoe & Truckee Size: 120′ x 15′ Scale: 1:22.5 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Era: 1940s Theme: Sierra Nevada narrow gauge Age: 21 years Motive power: LGB Moguls, cab-forward articulated, Forney Length of mainline: 300+ feet Maximum gradient: 2.5% Type of track: LGB flex and Sunset Valley switches Minimum […]
Design your railway: Pick a theme for a perfect scene
Download a PDF of the article here. […]
Garden railroading at The Colorado Railroad Museum
The railway at a glance Name of railroad: DGRS Garden Railway at the Colorado Railroad Museum Size of railroad: 97′ x 70′ Scale: Various Gauges: 0 (32mm) and 1 (45mm) Era: Late 1800s to modern Theme: Colorado mountains and plains Age: 24 years Motive power: All types, including track power, battery power, and live steam […]
New model trains for the week of February 15, 2018
Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Alco RS-11 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Alco RS-11 diesel locomotive. New paint schemes: Apache, California Western, Conrail (Penn Central patchout), Delaware & Hudson (large numbers), Nickel Plate Road (broad stripes), and Norfolk & Western (blue “half moon” scheme). New road numbers: Missouri Pacific (blue and gray) and Southern […]
T-TRAK provides a great way to get started with model railroading
Northeast T-TRAK Group members Fay Chin (left) and Julia and Chris Saari-Franks stand with Fay’s eight T-TRAK modules at the Kato USA booth at the Amherst Railway Society 2018 Railroad Hobby Show. Chris runs a Kato USA N scale Olympian Hiawatha and a coal train on the T-TRAK modules using a Kato powerpack and Sound […]
Athearn Ready To Roll HO scale SD40-2
Athearn Ready To Roll HO scale SD40-2 Although it’s part of Athearn’s value-priced Ready-To-Roll series, this SD40-2 bristles with enough roadname-specific detail to satisfy most prototype-savvy modelers. The SD40-2 also marks a big upgrade for Athearn RTR locomotives. Instead of the SoundTraxx RTR decoder with limited functionality found in previous Athearn RTR releases, this new […]
Bachmann HO flashing rear-end device
Truck shown with coupler removed Flashing rear-end devices, or FREDs, started taking the place of cabooses on trains starting in the 1970s. The small rectangular boxes are now a ubiquitous part of modern-era railroading. Bachmann Trains is offering a light-emitting-diode (LED) illuminated HO scale FRED that works on direct-current (DC) or Digital Command Control (DCC) […]