Meet the modeler: Bob Treat

A model town on a rocky outcropping

How did you get started in the hobby? Like so many of us, I was around five years old and woke up on Christmas morning to see a brand-new Lionel train running around the Christmas tree. I’ve been hooked ever since. What was your first large scale locomotive? It was a secondhand LGB European 0-4-0. […]

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Pullman cars return to their birthplace for weekend open house

Chairs and sofas inside railroad car

CHICAGO — A heavyweight business car and two lightweight sleepers will return to their birthplace as part of this weekend’s grand opening of the Pullman National Monument Visitor Center on Chicago’s South Side. The cars, built by Pullman or Pullman-Standard between 1928 and 1955, will be available for tours Saturday and Sunday at Metra’s 111th […]

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Use fabric to cover your large-scale buildings

Model pool hall structure

I’ve discovered a way to build inexpensive and custom designed buildings for indoor use or temporary displays at train shows or open houses. The primary material for this project is fabric. These fabrics are called “landscape designs,” and include patterns such as brick, wood, and stone, as well as signs. Several manufacturers make these designs, […]

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Chasing Big Boy 4014 to Las Vegas

Crowds for Big Boy 4014’s 2019 and 2021 tours have been immense. I haven’t taken part in any concerted effort to chase for these tours, but I got a taste of the madness back in 2014 when Big Boy moved from Southern California to Cheyenne, Wyo., for restoration. I covered it for two days with […]

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BNSF calls Chicago intermodal operations ‘extremely challenged’

Containers stacked under cranes

CHICAGO — BNSF is informing customers that conditions at its four Chicago-area intermodal facilities — Corwith, Cicero, Willow Springs, and Logistics Park Chicago in Elwood, Ill. — are “extremely challenged” because of “a substantial number of staged inbound trains and elevated inventory levels.” It is asking customers to prioritize pick-up of trailers and containers at […]

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Icing at the citrus grove, waiting for the local freight, documenting the end of steam, and other model railroad photos

A set of Santa Fe F3 locomotives pull a freight train past an icing platform where reefer cars are being re-iced

Trackside Photos is a showcase for the work of Model Railroader readers. Send your photos (digital images 5 megapixels or larger) to: Model Railroader, Trackside Photos, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612; or upload them to http://fileupload.kalmbach.com/contribute. For our photo submission guidelines, contact associate editor Steven Otte at sotte@mrmag.com. […]

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UP, KCS restore service to New Orleans

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

NEW ORLEANS — Union Pacific has reopened its line between St. James, La., and New Orleans, after Kansas City Southern restored service on Thursday. In a Friday notification to customers, UP said it has generators in place to operate signals and crossing gates until power is restored. The railroad’s Avondale, La., intermodal terminal remains closed […]

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