Steam locomotive profile: 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler

Pennsylvania Railroad G5s class 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler No. 1963

The Pennsylvania Railroad built 90 G5s class 4-6-0s between 1923 and 1925. Ten-Wheeler No. 1963 was photographed pulling away from the coaling dock at Fort Wayne, Ind., with a westbound passenger train in October 1947. J. R. Crosby The first Ten-Wheelers appeared in the late 1840s. They grew out of the need for a locomotive […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 4-4-2 Atlantic

Santa Fe 4-4-2 Atlantic No. 1468

Santa Fe owned the largest fleet of Atlantics, and kept a handful in service until 1953. No. 1468, a 1909 Baldwin, was pinch-hitting for an ailing gas-electric car when it pulled up to the depot at Riverside, Calif., with a westbound train on January 14, 1941. Jack Whitmeyer In the 1890s there was a general […]

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Acela Express passenger train set in N scale from Bachmann

Bachmann N scale Acela Express passenger train A sharp-looking ready-to-run model of Amtrak’s Acela Express is the newest arrival in Bachmann’s Spectrum N scale line. The model is equipped with a dual-mode Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder and is usable on DC or DCC layouts. The powered café car and dummy locomotives and passenger cars […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 4-6-2 Pacific

Chicago St. Paul Minneapolis Omaha Pacific 4-6-2 No. 602

C&NW subsidiary Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha owned the world’s heaviest and most powerful Pacifics. No. 602 – one of the road’s three giant 4-6-2s, built by Alco in 1930 – blasts through St. Paul, Minn., with train 514 on July 5, 1953. W. H. N. Rossiter The 4-6-2, or Pacific type, grew out […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 4-6-4 Hudson

New York Central Twentieth Century Limited 4-6-4 Hudson

Henry Dreyfus created the timeless design worn by the streamlined 4-6-4s that pulled the Twentieth Century Limited. New York Central rostered North America’s largest fleet of Hudsons. In this photo, one of the speedsters prepares to depart LaSalle St. Station in Chicago. W.C. Merle, II In the early 1920s, as passenger train lengths grew and […]

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PDF: 1:20.3 scale surrey

1:20.3 scale surrey

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections using the overview pages as a guide. […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 4-8-2 Mountain

Classic Trains logo

BY Neil Carlson The development of the 4-8-2 grew out of the need for a locomotive with greater power than the Pacific to handle heavy passenger trains in mountainous terrain. The first 4-8-2 in North America was built at Alco’s Richmond plant and delivered to the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1911. Chessie wanted an engine […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 4-8-4 Northern

Northern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 2662

Northern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 2662 storms up the 1.8 percent grade at Muir, Mont., in 1947. Warren R. McGee With the general speed-up of passenger train schedules in the 1920s, the need arose for a more powerful version of the 4-8-2. Although it had adequate adhesion, the 4-8-2 lacked the raw horsepower to accelerate a […]

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PDF: 1:20.3 scale lobster boat, part 1

1:20.3 scale lobster boat

Download a PDF to build part one of our 1:20.3-scale lobster boat. Part one includes plans for the boat itself. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from […]

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PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale delivery wagon

Build a 1:20.3 scale delivery wagon

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections using the overview pages as a guide. […]

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