Rapido HO scale lightweight passenger cars

Rapido HO lightweight passenger cars

Rapido HO lightweight passenger cars These new HO passenger cars from Rapido Trains are among the best-detailed mass-produced models we’ve ever seen. Each plastic model comes assembled and ready-to-run with McHenry magnetic knuckle couplers, interior and underbody details, lighting, removable marker lights, and an end gate across the vestibule. The two samples reviewed here are […]

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Upgraded Walthers HO 2-8-4 Berkshire with sound

Walthers HO 2-8-4 Berkshire with sound

Walthers HO 2-8-4 Berkshire with sound This classic Nickel Plate 2-8-4 Berkshire by Walthers is an accurate, medium-sized locomotive that delivers smooth performance with excellent sound. It’s an upgraded version of the Life-Like Proto 2000 model that was reviewed in the March 2004 Model Railroader. The new model includes different prototype-specific details and a dual-mode […]

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QSI upgrade chip for Quantum decoders

As model railroading moves deeper into the digital era, manufacturers are offering more opportunities for hobbyists to improve their equipment via software and/or hardware updates. One of the newest update packages is from QSI, manufacturer of the Quantum DC/Digital Command Control (DCC) sound systems found in many new locomotives from Atlas, Broadway Limited, Life-Like, and […]

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Trainfest show report

Electro-Motive Division F45 and FP45 diesel locomotives

Electro-Motive Division F45 and FP45 diesel locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP40X diesel locomotive HO scale locomotivesElectro-Motive Division GP40X diesel locomotive. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Southern Ry. (high nose); St. Lawrence & Atlantic; and undecorated (high and low nose). Upgraded Rail Power Products shell with see-through fans, Celcon handrails, railroad-specific fuel tanks, and Digital Command Control […]

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Dremel no. 1100 Stylus rotary tool

MOST OF US own big, all-purpose power tools: electric drills, circular saws, and pad sanders. We use them to make picnic tables, hang pictures in our living rooms, and build wall shelves above washing machines. But there’s another category of power tools – smaller and more specialized than those in your garage – that are […]

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K-Line O gauge Boston & Maine 2-8-4 Berkshire

WELL, THE MAURY KLEIN era of K-Line Electric Trains is toast. In a quarter century he took his company, MDK Inc., from re-issues of Marx trains to some of the hottest new trains in several price ranges on the market. Alas, K-Line went out in a blaze of litigation, debt, and innovative model railroad products. […]

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MTH Standard gauge no. 384 steam passenger set

TINPLATE REPRODUCTIONS may be the last tension-free zone in model railroading. Nobody is yelling about competing command-control systems. Nobody takes prewar-style tinplate to task for looking toy-like. Nobody gripes about the wrong road name being applied to a locomotive. You can get your trains in the old-line colors or brand-new paint schemes. You can get […]

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News & Products for the week of November 2, 2006

Pennsylvania RR 28-foot stockcar

HO scale locomotivesUnion Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger steam locomotive. Union Pacific no. 3985 (fan trip locomotive) with oil tender, no. 3958 with coal tender, and no. 3983 (two-tone gray) with oil tender. Ready-to-run locomotive with dual-mode Digital Command Control and Vibranta sound system. $399.98. Ready-to-run. Genesis series. Athearn Trains General Electric AC4400 diesel locomotive. Canadian Pacific, […]

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How to Design and Build Your Garden Railroad

I read a lot of pleas for help from beginning garden railroaders, both in the form of letters to Garden Railways and queries on Internet discussion groups. Building a railroad can seem a daunting task, especially if you compare your patch of dirt with the finished showpieces featured in the magazine. Whenever I’m asked this […]

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Athearn and PCM HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotives

Black and silver HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive.

Athearn’s model has a highly detailed plastic superstructure that’s nearly filled with a two-piece weight that supports and encloses the mechanism. Precision Craft’s locomotive is made of die-cast metal with excellent detail throughout. This model includes a smoke unit and engine crew. Two impressive new HO scale models of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 […]

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