Athearn N scale Bombardier bi-level cars Price: Coach or cab car, $28.98; three-coach set, $84.98 ManufacturerAthearn Trains1600 Forbes Way, Suite 120Long Beach, CA 90810www.athearn.com Era: 1976 to present Road names: Northstar Commuter, Metrolink, New Mexico DOT (RailRunner), North County Transit District (Coaster), Trinity Rail Express, Utah Front RunnerN scale modelers have more options to model […]
Bachmann Trains HO scale Electro-Motive GP9 diesel locomotive A smooth dual-flywheel mechanism and a dual-mode Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder highlight this new HO scale GP9 diesel from Bachmann. The four-axle locomotive model performed well during direct-current (DC) and DCC tests, and pulled a respectable number of freight cars on our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy […]
ExactRail LLC HO scale 64-foot refrigerator car A contemporary 64-foot mechanical refrigerator car is now available as a well-detailed injection-molded plastic model. This latest HO scale freight car from ExactRail is based on a prototype built by TrinityRail. The full-size “TRINCool” reefers are commonly seen in 55-car unit trains on Union Pacific (UP) and CSX. […]
Walthers HO scale 64-foot plastic pellet hopper Price: $27.98 ManufacturerWm. K. Walthers Inc.P.O. Box 3039Milwaukee, WI 53201www.walthers.com Era: 1997 to present Comments: After a nine year hiatus, the Walthers HO scale National Steel Car (NSC) 6,245-cubic-foot-capacity covered hopper is back, now part of the firm’s Platinum line. The ready-to-run car features factory-installed wire grab irons, […]
Athearn N scale Electro-Motive Division F59PHI passenger locomotive An N scale EMD F59PHI passenger locomotive was introduced by Athearn eight years ago. (We reviewed it in our April 2003 issue.) Athearn makes a number of improvements in its new release of this sharp-looking streamlined engine, the most notable of which is a SoundTraxx Digital Command […]
San Juan Car Co. On3/On21⁄2 UTLX tank car Price: $89.95 ManufacturerSan Juan Car Co.P.O. Box 1028Durango, CO 81301www.sanjuancarco.com Era: 1924 to 1950s Comments: A fully assembled narrow-frame tank car is now available in On3 from San Juan Car Co. The car includes user-installed On2½ wheelsets. Between 1924 and 1930, the Denver & Rio Grande Western […]
Looking east through the side of the 24th Street bridge in downtown Birmingham, Ala., CSX offers up a variety of EMD power. This train is waiting for clearance into the railroad’s Boyles Yard. Drew Halverson photo […]
Railway at a glance Name: Bondesbjerg Mountain Railway Size: 8m x 4m (26’2″ x 13’1″) Scale: 1:10 Gauge: 45mm Era: Today Theme: Former industrial railroad, now a tourist attraction Age: 5 years Motive power: Scratchbuilt industrial diesel locomotive Length of mainline: 30m (98′) Maximum gradient: 2% Type of track: LGB rail spiked to wooden ties […]
Southern Railway 2-8-2 No. 4501 pulls a National Railway Historical Society convention train on Sept. 5, 1966 from Keysville, Va., to Richmond, Va. This was among the first excursions that led to the development of Southern Railway’s famous series of annual excursions that ran between 1966 and 1994. Today, the 1911 Baldwin is under restoration […]
Q I saw an ad for Chinese steam locomotives by Multipower International Inc., in Towaco, N.J. The company offers used and rebuilt steam locomotives for sale or can provide a custom built one. Can you tell us more about this company?— Robert Holland, Palmdale, Calif. A Multipower International is owned by Ge Qiang, who is […]
The hood on this Norfolk Southern signal better directs the light’s beam. Doug Koontz Q CSX lineside signals all have “blinders,” a cone about a foot long that surrounds all three signal lights, so the lights only show straight down the track. Why are they used?— Richard Hoffman, Bowling Green, Ky. A The use of […]
Q Does anyone know the origin of the term “shoo-fly track?”— Gordon Osmundson, Oakland, Calif. A According to the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, this is an American expression, first noted in 1903 and denoting a temporary track. The word “shoo” means go away, and presumably to do so “on the fly” is […]
