On June 2, 2014, Trains Passenger correspondent Bob Johnston was in the cab of Amtrak ACS-64 electric locomotive 600, joining engineer Darren Avila, road foreman T.C. Williamson Jr., and signal supervisor Joe DiGiacomo aboard Northeast Regional train No. 184 from Washington D.C., to Wilmington, Del. His cover story in the January 2015 issue, “Amtrak’s new […]
Subscription: Metered
A month in the life of 4 freight cars
This map shows how four freight cars, threading their way through the North American railroad network, can take about two weeks to cross half the continent. The shippers using these four cars enjoyed tremendous efficiencies by sharing the costs of train crews and locomotives, track and signaling, classification yards, and overhead expenses with the other […]
Trainfest 2014 show report
Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division FP45 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division F45 and FP45 diesel locomotives. F45: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (pinstripe scheme); BNSF Ry. (ex-Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe yellow bonnet), Burlington Northern, and Montana Rail Link. FP45: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (Super Fleet warbonnet) and Milwaukee Road. Railroad-specific […]
Build your own wireless DCC system (article bundle)
Mark and Vince Buccini’s series of articles titled “Build your own wireless DCC system” ran in the April, June, and August issues of Garden Railways. It’s been the most-talked about series we’ve done in many years, but it’s also had the most questions. We’re providing the complete set of articles, along with a correction, and […]
Video Review: Big Boy: On the Road to Restoration
Big Boy: On the Road to Restoration By Trains Magazine Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, Waukesha, WI 53187; 1 hour and 30 minutes, NTSC format. The steam story of the decade is Union Pacific’s announcement that it is going to repatriate and restore one of the eight surviving 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotives. Folks […]
Book Review: On Track: A Field Guide to San Francisco’s Historic Streetcars & Cable Cars
On Track: A Field Guide to San Francisco’s Historic Streetcars & Cable Cars By Rick Laubscher Heyday, P.O. Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709, 510-549-3564; 128 pages, color photos; softcover, 4.5 x 9 in.; $14.95 Only in San Francisco can you ride a fleet of historic PCC and cable cars through one of the world’s most […]
The Gold Rush Special
Name: Gary Dennis Railroad Name: Pinecone County Central Location: Corsicana, Texas Scale: G scale Theme: Back woods of East Texas Description: This is special run of the Gold Rush Special through Pinecone County. […]
Hi-cubes and fruit cans
NYC RS3 8288 — a “little diesel” to the author as a pre-schooler — heads a westbound way freight along the Hudson River at Peekskill in 1959. Nine years later and 29 miles down the river a hi-cube car ran into trouble. Karl R. Zimmermann Between the 1910s, when the New York Central electrified its […]
Vermont Rail System locomotive roster
NOTES: 1. Owned by Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority 2. Lettered Washington County Railroad 3. Painted in 50th anniversary scheme 4. Built as ACL GP7 No. 103 in 1950, rebuilt by SCL to GP16 ABBREVIATIONS: CLP – Clarendon & Pittsford Railroad GMRC – Green Mountain Railroad NY&OC – New York & Ogdensburg Railway VTR – […]
MR Insider Weekly: October 27, 2014
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page This week on MR Insider Weekly, you’ll see just how hard some guys will try to avoid a full day of work in the office! MRVP’s Kent Johnson and Ben Lake just had to go to New Jersey to deliver a copy of […]
Build a curved trestle
In the December 2014 issue, contributor Michael Herhusky explains how to build a curved trestle to fit any location. Download the article he used to build his trestle bents here! […]
Build a Mason Bogie locomotive
In the December 2014 issue, Mike Garforth shows us how to kitbash a Mason Bogie, using a Piko locomotive as a starting point. Mike has generously provided 10 step-by-step PDFs detailing the project. Also, despite our best efforts to compress these files, they are graphically intense and may take a few minutes to download. Part […]
