Electro-Motive Division SD40 from Broadway Limited

A navy blue locomotive with yellow detailing

Electro-Motive Division SD40 Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $399.99 Era: 1966+ (depending on scheme) Manufacturer: Broadway Limited Imports LLC, 9 East Tower Circle, Ormond Beach, FL 32174; 386-673-8900; broadway-limited.com   Electro-Motive Division SD40 features: Paragon4 sound & control System Integral dual-mode decoder with back-EMF ABS plastic body with die cast chassis Separately-applied details including handrails, grab irons, […]

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Whitcomb 65-tonner diesel locomotive from PIKO America

Navy blue locomotive with orange stripe; Piko whitcomb 65-tonner

Whitcomb 65-tonner Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct current, $279.99; with PIKO SmartSound 5.1 sound decoder, $389.99 Era: 1940s+ (depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: PIKO America LLC, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego, CA 92120; piko-america.com Whitcomb 65-tonner features: Diecast chassis and hood Metal handrails Factory-applied details Maryland Midland locomotives feature American-style end beams, fully enclosed around the […]

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EMD E7 from American Z Line

A black locomotive with white stripe

EMD E7 from American Z Line Scale: Z (1:220) Price: Contact manufacturer Era: 1945+ Manufacturer: American Z Line, 6142 Northcliff Blvd., Dublin, OH 43016; 614-764-1703; americanzline.com EMD E7 features: 7mm motor dual flywheels prototype specific details directional controlled light-emitting diode lighting optional front truck with mounted coupler blackened metal wheels AutoLatch couplers DCC ready Release date: […]

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Menards Santa Fe diesel A-A set beta 4.0 test

Menards Santa Fe diesel A-A nose and top view

Menards Santa Fe diesel program launched a little more than a year ago with its first beta test. The company has released several more iterations of its F units, which it markets as “Santa Fe Diesel Locomotive,” soliciting customer feedback. The latest iteration, beta 4.0, is an A-A set in Santa Fe’s “bluebonnet” paint scheme […]

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American Z Line ALCO PA1

Model of dark green and gold streamlined diesel locomotive

American Z Line ALCO PA1 Scale: Z (1:220) Price: Contact manufacturer Era: Late 1940s+ Manufacturer: American Z Line, 6142 Northcliff Blvd., Dublin, OH 43016; 614-764-1703; americanzline.com ALCO PA1 features: prototype specific details 7mm can motor dual flywheels directional controlled light-emitting diode lighting six-axle trucks with blind middle axle blackened metal wheels traction tires optional snowplow, optional […]

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Illinois Railway Museum acquires SD50

Yellow and green diesel locomotive

UNION, Ill. — Former Chicago & North Western Railway SD50 No. 7009 is headed to the Illinois Railway Museum after two benefactors provided the funds to purchase the locomotive from the dead line at National Railway Equipment in Silvis, Ill. IRM says the locomotive is the first SD50 to be preserved by a museum. The […]

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B&O F7 helpers

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A four-unit set of EMD F7 diesels leans against a coal drag climbing Baltimore & Ohio’s Cranberry Grade west of Terra Alta, W.Va., in the early 1950s. H. W. Pontin photo […]

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The Lionel Legacy SD45 is a beast of an engine

Lionel Legacy SD45 front view

About halfway through the Lionel 2021 Volume II catalog we found this post-transition-era workhorse: the EMD SD45. A model previously released by Lionel in 2016, the return of the SD45 is a welcome sight for those who model the early high-horsepower diesel years. A solid seller The prototype was built by the Electro-Motive Division of […]

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Mainline railroading in the 1950s

yellow model diesel locomotive on garden railway

Mainline railroading in the 1950s Railway at a glance Name: Spring Creek Railroad Size of railroad: Roughly 24′ x 62′ Scale: 1:29, 1:20.3, and 1:32 Gauge: 45mm Era: Circa 1950s Theme: Mainline railroading, mostly passenger and freight; some narrow gauge and branch/trolley line on the inner loop Age: 14 years Motive power: Live steam, track […]

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News photo: First remanufactured CN units now in operation

Shiny new read and black locomotives on freight train

LONDON, Ontario — The first two Canadian National locomotives in an order for 50 remanufactured AC44C6M units are now in service. Nos. 3300 and 3301 were photographed Sunday, Oct. 30, in London, Ont., on CN’s Dundas Subdivision. No. 3300 was part of a ceremony involving CN and Wabtec officials at Wabtec’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant […]

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Wabtec marks 10th anniversary of Fort Worth plant

Line of locomotives in primer paint

FORT WORTH, Texas — Wabtec has celebrated the 10th anniversary of its manufacturing operations in Fort Worth, having opened a 1-million-square-foot locomotive plant and 250,000-square-foot mining-equipment facility in October 2012. The mining facility opened first, delivering its first product in 2012, with the first locomotive being delivered to BNSF in 2013. Since then, it has […]

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