Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. In February 2020, we celebrate the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Please enjoy a collection of locomotive images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include the Nickel Plate Road’s iconic locomotives and […]
A few years ago I addressed this topic with a two-pronged approach: a little philosophy that might help you shape your fleet and some practical physical elements to ponder before you plunk down your credit card. Let’s take a quick refresher. Bob’s Rules for Locomotive Buying are pretty simple: One: A toy train is not […]
Trake Liz Miller Seafood fork Liz Miller Two for the (rail) road Liz Miller: Cape May, New Jersey Zone 7 I have two tools I find quite useful in the railway. The first is called a Trake—a combination of trowel and rake. It’s great for new plantings and for working around established ones. It’s made […]
Rio Grande Scenic 2-6-0 No. 1744 at Laveta Pass, Colorado, in 2002. Jim Wrinn 2-6-0 •YEARS BUILT: 1852-1929 •MANUFACTURERS: Lima, Southern Pacific, Baldwin, Pennsylvania Railroad, others •OPERATED ON: Chicago & Western Indiana, Baltimore & Ohio, Green Bay & Western, Boston & Maine, Southern Pacific, Canadian National, short lines •NAMES: Mogul, Valley Mallet •QUANTITY: 8,000; Canadian […]
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Athearn HO EMD SD45T-2 tunnel motor The body shell can be lifted off after removing the draft gear boxes and two screws. Dual speakers situated above the intake grills make for powerful sound. Athearn Trains is launching an HO scale model of Electro-Motive Division’s SD45T-2 Tunnel Motor. Though it’s part of the manufacturer’s Ready-to-Roll line, […]
WalthersMainline HO National Steel Car 5150 covered hopper A National Steel Car 5,150-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay covered hopper has been added to the WalthersMainline HO scale product range. The newly tooled injection-molded plastic model features a one-piece body, a trough-style hatch cover, and 100-ton trucks. Our sample is decorated as Union Pacific no. 90687, a class CH-100-121 […]
Fleischmann/Roco Z21 Booster and Light Booster In addition to B Bus and track outputs, the fully featured Z21 booster also includes CAN and CDE outputs. The Z-Link socket is for future system expansion. As a layout gets larger, setting up short-circuit protected power districts becomes more important. These Digital Command Control (DCC) boosters from Fleischmann/Roco […]
A train dispatcher supervises the movement of trains over a designated portion of a railroad and also supervises the other employees involved in that movement. The dispatcher’s first responsibility is safety, to see that each train gets over the road without trying to occupy the same piece of track at the same time as any […]
Like it or not, graffiti is part of the modern railroad scene. Matt Snell shares his techniques for adding different styles of graffiti to rolling stock using paint markers and an airbrush. All photos by Matt Snell. Matt Snell Fig. 1 Basic graffiti. Drawn or spray-painted lettering can be easily re-created on smooth-side cars and […]
HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division FP7, F7A, F7B, and F9B diesel locomotives. Chicago & North Western (two single FP7s and two FP7/F7B sets in yellow-and-green scheme), Rock Island (FP7 in silver-and- maroon scheme and two FP7 sets [one each in silver-and-maroon and gray-and-maroon schemes]), Southern Pacific (FP7, F7B, FP7/F7B set, and FP7/F7A set in “black […]
In February 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Enjoy this photo gallery, originally published online in September 2016, as the perfect salute to the Nickel Plate Road. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we […]
