Remembering Santa Fe Railway freight trains

A black and white photo of locomotive 2-10-2 on the tracks with black smoke coming out of its chimney as it turns

All this month — May 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include Santa Fe diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might […]

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How to find items in your chosen scale

three scale rules on a table

How to find items in your chosen scale Download the PDF here. Once you have settled on a scale that strikes the right balance for you, you can then begin to assemble the pieces to build your railroad—locomotives, rolling stock, buildings, vehicles, and people. Some manufacturers are good enough to mark the scale of their […]

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How to cast plaster rocks for model railroad scenery

Rockmolds1

David Popp Nothing says “impressive” quite like a rugged mountain range full of jagged rock faces. Though mountains appear solid to us, many are just individual layers of rocks, stacked one on top of another. If you keep this idea in mind, then adding impressive rock features to your layout isn’t a difficult task. Whether […]

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New model trains for the week of May 14, 2020

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD35 diesel locomotive

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70MAC diesel locomotive. Alaska RR (blue-and-yellow scheme), BNSF Ry. (green-and-cream warbonnet in one road number, Heritage III in three numbers), Burlington Northern (as-delivered green and cream scheme, three numbers), CSX (dark blue and yellow with “boxcar” herald), Mexican Rail Transportation (gray and red Kansas City Southern-style scheme, three numbers), and […]

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In a surprise, UP shuts down Cold Connect reefer service

Cold_Connect_Lassen

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has pulled the plug on its innovative Cold Connect reefer service, which the railroad had touted as a way to return long-lost perishables business to the rails. The service linked growers in California and the Pacific Northwest with consumers in the Northeast and New England via a mammoth refrigerated warehouse […]

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How to cast plaster rocks for model railroad scenery

Pouring Hydrocal into a rubber rock mold

Rubber rock molds and hydrocal plaster make it easy to add exposed rockfaces and other dramatic scenic elements to your model train layout   Nothing says “impressive” quite like a rugged mountain range full of jagged rock faces. Though mountains appear solid to us, many are just individual layers of rocks, stacked one on top […]

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Last load of logs for the day on the Birdhaven & Hemlock

Birdhaven & Hemlock garden railroad

Name: Bob Moffett Railroad Name: Birdhaven & Hemlock Location: West Virginia Scale: Mixed Theme: Late 1950s- early 1960s Description: This is the last load of logs being brought in at the end of the day, pulled by the railroad’s newly acquired Climax locomotive. As the sun goes down, the lights come on for a different […]

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Social distancing comes to the DD&C/M

Social distancing comes to the DD&C/M

Name: John Barrett Forum User Name: JohnniebGoode Railroad Name: DD&C/M Location: Sacramento, CA Scale: 4 yr old’s imagination Theme: Was western, but now Disney thanks to 4 yr old Granddaughter Description: Social distancing comes to the DD&C/M.   […]

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Final days of steam in western China

A steam locomotive billows smoke and steam under a twilight sky in an industrial rail yard.

Editors’ note: The author and photographers are graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s rail engineering program. This is their first Trains byline. In North America, the days of steam railroading are a distant memory, and coal traffic is slowly headed the way of steam. In Europe and Japan, steam enthusiasts eagerly attend steam […]

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Remembering Santa Fe passenger trains

A closeup shot of a passenger train sitting on the tracks

In May 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the Santa Fe Railway. Enjoy this photo gallery, originally published online in April 2015, as the perfect salute to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we did last […]

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Lionelville copes with the COVID-19 virus

Lionelville copes with the Corona virus

Name: Joe Muscanere Location: Texas Scale: O Theme: Classic 1950’s Description: Lionelville copes with the COVID-19 Virus in March 2020 with passenger and freight still delivering the goods. Soon, the national crisis will be a thing of the past. MORAL: RUN YOUR TOY TRAINS AND YOU WILL FEEL MUCH BETTER! […]

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