Kato N scale SDP40F and Amtrak Southwest Limited passenger train set

KatoSDP40F

Kato N scale Electro-Motive Division SDP40F When Amtrak began operations in 1971, it inherited a mixed bag of locomotives and passenger cars from participating railroads. In order to survive, the decades-old equipment needed to be replaced. Amtrak’s first all-new locomotive was the General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division SDP40F. This locomotive is now offered by Kato in […]

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Quick Look: Walthers HO scale American Car & Foundry 50-foot boxcar

Walthers HO scale American Car & Foundry 50-foot boxcar

Walthers HO scale American Car & Foundry 50-foot boxcar Price: $24.98 Manufacturer Wm. K. Walthers Inc. 5601 W. Florist Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53218 www.walthers.com Era: mid-1990s to present (as painted) Road names: Railbox (mid-1990s repaint and original schemes); Ashley, Drew & Northern; Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern; Port Huron & Detroit; and Vermont Ry. (SSI scheme). […]

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MR Insider: July 2016

Jenny Freeland standing outside of the Milwaukee Amtrak station

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page MR Insider host Jenny Maaske takes the show on the road to preview some of the videos set to arrive on MR Video Plus in July! You’ll see that Jenny isn’t the only MR or MRVP staffer out of the office, as Neil, […]

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2016 National Train Show report, part 1

Athearn Trains HO Electro-Motive Division GP40P-2 diesel locomotive

Athearn HO scale Electro-Motive Division GP40P-2 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP40P-2 diesel locomotive. Southern Pacific (American Revolution Bicentennial scheme in one road number, scarlet and gray in two numbers). Single rear headlight, detailed cab interior, long hood with steam generator, split fuel tank with steam generator water tank, and train indicator number […]

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Get-r-done

  Norfolk Southern train No. 375 passes maintenance equipment at “North Wye” near Faulconer, Ky., as the train prepares to head onto the Louisville District on April 25, 2016. Photo by Jeff Wagoner […]

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How-to Library: Weathering a diesel locomotive

Cody Grivno holding a model train.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In this how-to video, MR’s Cody Grivno shows you how quick and easy it is to add realistic weathering to a diesel locomotive of any size or scale. Using an out-of-the -box HO scale model, Cody’s demonstration first walks you through the processes […]

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How-to Library: Weathering a diesel locomotive

Cody Grivno holding a model train.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In this how-to video, MR’s Cody Grivno shows you how quick and easy it is to add realistic weathering to a diesel locomotive of any size or scale. Using an out-of-the -box HO scale model, Cody’s demonstration first walks you through the processes […]

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My memorable summer of 1959

CP3422

CP Consolidation 3422, pictured at North Bay, Ont., in October 1954, was among the engines author Quastler came to know during his 1959 summer at London, Ont. Mert Leet In that memorable summer, I was 18 and about to enter my sophomore year in college. My father worked for a Detroit firm that had a […]

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Broadside steam

  Former Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 on the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad passes under the BNSF Railway “Race Track” at LaGrange, Ill., on June 10, 2016, en route to the 2016 Franklin Park Railroad Days. Photo by Benjamin J. Muciek […]

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Two ways: Chicago to Galesburg, Ill.

TRNM0414

Learn about BNSF Railway’s amazing main lines between Chicago and Galesburg, Ill., with our three-page foldout map! See today’s track arrangement, find what abandoned lines one ran in the area, and understand the rich history of railroading in Northern Illinois. […]

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NS ‘barcode’ unit

barcode_olson

SD70ACe No. 1111 Randy Olson Q I recently saw a Norfolk Southern locomotive passing through Vermillion, Ohio, with only four vertical stripes on the cab where a unit number should be. Can you explain what this designation is? — Joseph McCormick, Oberlin, Ohio A The stripes are really four “1s” for NS’s SD70ACe No. 1111. […]

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