Athearn HO scale 50-foot insulated boxcar This Athearn 50-foot insulated boxcar is based on a prototype built by Pacific Car & Foundry in the mid-1960s. The Genesis series car features a high level of detail, including trucks with rotating bearing caps, separately applied door hardware and uncoupling levers, and etched-metal crossover platforms. The Western Fruit […]
Dennis Brennan’s article on taking great photos of your layout (May 2011 issue) gives you the information you need to take the best pictures possible of your home railroad. […]
Looking out the window of Canadian National SD70M-2 No. 8016, a Canadian Pacific transfer train on X-Track (left) waits for light power at Symington Yard in Winnipeg, Man., on Oct. 23, 2007. A. Ross Harrison photo […]
With the empty SP track to the right, SP&S RS3 78 trundles past with a short freight at Albany, Ore., on March 18, 1967. David Lustig Where were you on March 18, 1967? I was in Albany, Ore., a teenager waiting patiently for a southbound Southern Pacific freight train that I knew in my bones […]
Let’s say you’ve got a ton of old Lionel track in your basement, or maybe someone is willing to give you a bunch for nothing. You want to build a layout, so you figure you can use this track to do it economically. However, when you get a closer look at the O or O-27 […]
Providence & Worcester, led by B40-8 No. 4002, exercises overhead trackage rights exiting Hell Gate Bridge in New York in January 2010. Photo by Thomas Mik […]
Bachmann HO scale USRA 0-6-0 steam locomotive This product is worth the little money you spend! That’s probably the reason why Bachmann put this product in their train sets. This model has handrails and plastic whistles and bells and e-z mate couplers. It costs around 50 to 30 dollars depending on where you buy it. […]
Walthers Gold Line series HO scale Trinity RD-4 coal hopper six-pack I recently purchased a pack of Walthers Goldline RD4 Coal Hoppers in BNSF (Power Bar) livery. The pack contains six highly detailed Trinity coal Hoppers. The model is well made with good weight to the hopper car. Each car in the pack has a […]
Q In a Southern Pacific cab-forward steam locomotive, is the engineer on the right side of the cab? If so, does he have to reach back to man the throttle, reverse gear, air brakes, etc.?— Ralph Podas, Columbus, Ohio A Builders of these locomotives redesigned the cabs entirely so that crews would face the correct […]
Q What is the purpose of having draft-gear slack in the era of diesel locomotives? We all know the steam engines needed slack to start the train, and slack is used to “cushion” coupling, but I’ve always wondered why the modern freight cars don’t “lock” the draft gear when the brakeline is charged up eliminating […]
Q For many years now, fans have been calling Alco PA locomotives “honorary steam locomotives” because of the thick, dense smoke they generate during acceleration. I’ve heard some people mention that TRAINS Editor David P. Morgan wrote an editorial on this citing a statement or caption penned by rail historian Professor George W. Hilton. Can […]
Although the quarters were likely close in this passenger rail car’s public bathroom, the extra sink could only have helped. Q While visiting The Durham Museum in Omaha, I saw a passenger car with two sinks in the public bathroom, one large and one small. What was the small sink used for?– Sam Irvin, Summerfield, Fla. […]
