North Platte: The rise of a railroad town

Union Pacific depot, North Platte, Neb.

Soldiers and citizens pose in front of the Union Pacific depot in North Platte, Neb., on April 27, 1898. Union Pacific Museum Before there was a burning man festival, North Platte threw the biggest party in the West, when Union Pacific tracklayers made a winter camp with miners, traders, Mormon emigrants, and stagecoach drivers in […]

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News & Products for May 20, 2010

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale General Electric Dash 8-40B, 8-40BW and 8-32BWH diesel locomotives

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale General Electric Dash 8-40B, 8-40BW and 8-32BWH diesel locomotives HO scale locomotives General Electric Dash 8-40B, 8-40BW and 8-32BWH diesel locomotives. Dash 8-40B: New paint schemes: CSX (YN3 paint scheme) and Seminole Gulf; new road numbers: BC Rail (three road numbers) and Southern Pacific. Dash 8-40BW: New paint schemes: […]

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Summit USA HO scale Shell gas station

Summit USA HO scale Shell gas station

Summit USA HO scale Shell gas station Price: $99.95 ManufacturerSummit USA, LLC512 Ford St.Lake Charles, LA 70601www.summit-customcuts.com Era: modern Comments: This contemporary Shell gas station is the latest HO scale offering from Summit USA. The laser-milled styrene kit uses black and white styrene components and includes clear window glazing and peel-and-stick signs. The structure measures […]

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Bachmann HO scale motor car

Bachmann HO scale motor car

Bachmann HO scale motor car Do you want to run passenger trains on your HO layout, but don’t have room for even a short train of four or five heavyweight cars? This HO scale gas-electric motor car is a convenient way to add passenger service to a modest-size layout. The Bachmann Spectrum Series model is […]

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Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard, North Platte, Nebraska

Union Pacific's North Platte Terminal map thumbnail

Dan Czech clearly remembers the first time he laid eyes on Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard. “I flew out here at night. I looked out the window and said, ‘That must be the city of North Platte.’ They said, ‘No, that’s the rail yard.’” The young terminal manager, who once taught Navy SEALs how to parachute, […]

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Preserving Railroad History

Albany, Ore., station, Ciddici's Pizza

Preservation of former railroad stations takes many forms, from visitor centers and museums to offices and restaurants. Ciddici’s Pizza of Albany, Oregon, retains most of the original exterior features of the Oregon Electric structure, especially the “OER” logo. Scott Lothes The locomotive John Bull, donated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1884, was the Smithsonian Institution’s […]

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Atlas O heavyweight passenger cars

AS THE PAGES OF CLASSIC TOY TRAINS HAVE DOCUMENTED, Atlas O’s Trainman line is that company’s range of affordable trains with O scale dimensions. What this means is that you have a scale-sized model, but some of the details may be a compromise (such as cast-in grab irons instead of add-on grab irons on a […]

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Atlas O new through plate girder bridge

IN A VERY BROAD GENERALIZATION, I’d have to say that everyone has installed some sort of girder bridge on their layout. Whether it was a store-bought job or just some thin wood trimmed and modified to look like steel plate, the girder bridge is as ubiquitous on an O gauge layout, as say, a water […]

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Lionel Conventional Classics No. 2507W set

LIONEL CONTINUES TO MINE POSTWAR NOSTALGIA with another entry in the firm’s Conventional Classics series. Conventional Classics is, of course, Lionel’s product line of affordable copies of distinctive postwar train sets.Up for examination today is the no. 2507W New Haven diesel Freight set which reprises an outfit from the 1958 catalog. As with the Thunderbird […]

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