New model trains for the week of August 8, 2019

Accurail HO scale assorted freight cars

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD45-2 diesel locomotive. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (blue and yellow warbonnet in four road numbers) and Conrail (blue in three numbers). Road-number-specific details, factory-installed and painted wire grab irons, and light-emitting-diode headlights. Direct-current model with 21-pin NEM plug for Digital Command Control decoder, $209.98; with dual-mode SoundTraxx Tsunami sound […]

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‘Berkshire Flyer’ to start running in 2020 between NYC and Massachusetts

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Flyer, a two-year pilot program to provide “one seat” passenger service from New York City to Berkshire County in Massachusetts, will move ahead, as funding for the program was included in the state’s budget signed into law Wednesday. The program will receive “not less than $270,000” for its inaugural year, […]

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Computer desktop wallpaper from the September 2019 Model Railroader

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Click on the links at left to download the image sized appropriately for your computer screen. Oil-burning Union Pacific Challenger no. 3977 pulls a special through the Rocky Mountains on Paul Brennecke’s N scale Grand Line model train layout. Click on the links below to download the image sized appropriately for your computer screen. Download […]

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“Let us ride your bikes, we’ll let you shovel coal”

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A Camelback switcher like Lehigh Valley 3421, pictured at Jersey City in 1939, was a powerful magnet for a couple of young boys. Stanley D. Crews My buddy Mike and I were sitting on our bikes at a Lehigh Valley yard in northern New Jersey one day in 1950. We had our eyes on a […]

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July new large scale products from Garden Railways magazine

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PIKO America Mogul PIKO America Halloween hopper Egghaulers car MTH UP Challenger MTH EMD SD70ACe LGB Christmas car LGB Christmas caboose Police Eggliner Fire & Rescue Eggliner Denver & Rio Grande Western Eggliner Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Eggliner Engines & rolling stock PIKO America, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego CA 92120, […]

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CP puts damper on plans for more ‘Hiawathas’

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MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s plans for increasing Chicago-Milwaukee Amtrak Hiawatha service may not be as close to fruition as state officials have believed. Canadian Pacific Railway, the host railroad for much of the Hiawatha route, has released a letter to the state’s rail program manager saying it will not support additional service without additional improvements […]

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New model trains for the week of August 1, 2019

Broadway Limited Imports HO scale Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives

HO scale locomotives 2-6-2 Prairie steam locomotive. New paint schemes: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Boston & Maine. New road number: Pennsylvania RR. Model features operating headlight and smoke unit. $159. Bachmann Trains, 215-533-1600, www.bachmantrains.com Broadway Limited Imports HO scale Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives. BF-16A ($279.99): Baltimore & Ohio (blue, […]

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Anatomy of a water feature

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Nancy Norris/Rick Johnson Water goes down to ‘seek its own level’. Hygroscopic tension forces water sideways when moisture follows the underside of a spill rock or fallen branch. Soil wicks water in all directions by osmosis. Splashing bounces up. Water evaporates into thin air and we wonder if the reservoir is leaking. Water needs to […]

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