ONE OF THE BIG SURPRISES of the past holiday season was MTH’s Pennsylvania RR starter set (no. 30-4023-1). You buy a starter set with certain entry-level expectations. The kick in the pants with this set is how those expectations have been exceeded. Scoring big points on all counts, the Pennsy set packs plenty of attention […]
IN THE MODERN era few locomotives have been as successful as the EMD SD45. This 3,600-horsepower, C-C truck diesel took America’s railroads by storm, and more than 1,600 of all versions of this unit were sold between 1965 and 1975. If the unit had an undoing, it was its high-maintenance 645-series prime mover – a […]
PECOS RIVER BRASS has turned its scale-like attention to three-rail locomotives and now rolling stock. The company has produced a rugged, well-detailed 50-foot boxcar that is exactly what many modelers want: a large freight hauler and a great platform for railroad graphics, too. The model itself is a superb rendering of a car that is […]
A NEW ENTRANT into the three-rail market, Pecos River Brass has stuck its toe in the water of the three-rail pond, found it inviting, and has dived in with an exceptionally sharp-looking Santa Fe Hudson. The Santa Fe rostered just 16 4-6-4 Hudson locomotives, but don’t let the low number suggest that they didn’t leave […]
CABOOSES ARE HISTORY. They’re dead, gone, finito, kaput. They symbolize featherbedding rascals sleeping at the rear of the train rather than at the controls of an engine generating revenue for the parent company! Then if that’s the case, why are so many utterly fantastic caboose models making their way to market? Guess there must be […]
CTT PUBLISHED A pair of crossing track wiring diagrams in the March and July 1999 issues. Since then our office has received a minor deluge of calls about wiring diagrams to prevent trains from colliding at crossings. If you’ve always wanted a protected crossing on your layout but are intimidated by wiring and electrical relays, […]
INDUSTRIAL RAIL, a relative newcomer to the ranks of O gauge manufacturers, has added some spice to its commendable line of O-27 rolling stock – its first motorized unit. The Industrial Rail handcar is a spunky little gizmo crewed by two small guys who spend their whole day cruising layouts looking for track to repair […]
LIONEL HAS BEEN slowly re-creating some of its more memorable postwar O gauge accessories. The company commenced two years ago with reproductions of the nos. 138 Water Tower and 164 Log Loader. Now add the no. 465-99 Sound Dispatch Station to the list. Some of these re-issues have been truer to the originals than others, […]
STEAM VERSUS diesel, Godzilla versus Mothra, great taste – less filling. These are some of the significant battles of our time. Almost on cue, MTH Electric Trains and Lionel have released two O gauge locomotives that will challenge all but the gentlest of curves and the sturdiest of bridges. MTH offers the first three-rail model […]
WHEN I REVIEWED MTH’s reproduction of the 400E steamer two years ago, I praised it as a fun and economical way to get into Standard gauge. That didn’t set well with some folks, who, presumably had originals for sale. Well, I’ll run the risk of stirring up things again by suggesting that the MTH 260E […]
THE QS-3000 SOUND and control board is the newest update for locomotives with MTH ProtoSound, Weaver-installed QSI systems, and earlier QSI units. The QS-3000 board also is designed to work with Lionel’s TrainMaster system in conventional mode (some older ProtoSound systems don’t work properly with TrainMaster) and with TrainAmerica Studio’s Universal Command Upgrade Board (UCUB). […]
S-HELPER SERVICE injects new diesel power into the S gauge market with the SW1. By any criterion, the Electro-Motive SW1 diesel switcher was a milestone locomotive. The humble engine was a real pioneer of the diesel era. More than 560 were sold between 1939 and 1953. These engines were the first taste of internal combustion […]
