In the steam age, most Chicago & North Western locomotives burned coal, but those assigned to divisions west of the Missouri River were oil burners; in addition, the four Pacifics rebuilt for the 400s were converted to oil. One group of light Pacifics was fitted with special grates for burning lignite, a low-grade coal. […]
The Broadway Limited Imports HO EMD GP35 visits our Wisconsin & Southern staff layout in this Product Review video. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he talks about the features on our Paragon4-equipped Chicago, Burlington & Quincy sample. Learn more about the sound and light functions on the four-axle road locomotive, see it […]
New train fleets and new long-distance overnight services are highlights of the annual European timetable change which took place Dec. 10. The growth of the night-train network — after decades of relative decline from the 1980s to around a decade ago — is largely due to the growth in demand for sustainable travel, with many […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Cheyenne’s newly formed Passenger Rail Commission held its first meeting Friday, with Front Range Passenger Rail District General Manager Andy Karsian offering a presentation on the efforts to launch a new passenger route in Colorado that could eventually be extended into Wyoming. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins announced creation of the 10-member commission […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Graham Christie has been named as chief operating officer of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, a new position for the agency overseeing the 20-mile rail line connecting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to downtown LA. “Graham provides more than 30 years of highly valued experience and leadership in […]
COTTAGE GROVE, Wis. — Wisconsin agricultural and energy cooperative Alcivia has purchased 40 acres and more than 21,000 feet of track from BNSF Railway in Hager City, Wis., to build a new grain terminal, the member-owned business has announced. The facility about 20 miles southeast of Minneapolis will serve producers in west central Wisconsin and […]
Lionel wasn’t alone in making landmark accessories after World War II. Colber and Marx brought out great ones. Above all, the A.C. Gilbert Co. developed outstanding S gauge accessories for its American Flyer line. One of the most significant and collectible was the No. 23780 Gabe the Lamp Lighter. The 23780, arguably the last great […]
Amazing how an idea can take off and conquer a segment of the toy industry in the blink of an eye. In 1950, three manufacturers introduced oil derricks. No big deal except that, even though toy manufactures had been producing miniature oil cars since the very first years of the 20th century, there were no […]
The trend of motorized accessories replicating activities associated with railroading began at the Lionel factory in New Jersey. Let’s spotlight the revolutionary No. 97 coal elevator, which made its debut in 1938. Prototypical – not always accurate The idea of a vertical loader with buckets on a chain that lifted coal from a receiving bin […]
The world of animated O and S gauge toy trains accessories was, for all intents and purposes, a fairly serious one during the postwar era. Operating freight loaders, stations, and other facilities sought to imitate the activities associated with big-time railroading and industrial labor. There wasn’t time for frivolity. Where animals were concerned, however, all […]
Joshua Lionel Cowen had adopted a firm stance on the need to avoid manufacturing “war toys.” Even on the eve of World War II, when Lionel was already producing precision instruments for the armed forces, Cowen refused to bend, unlike his peer and rival, Louis Marx. Everything changed in 1955, probably because the mood of […]
Improving a basic model: 1949-56 Lionel did not immediately fill its postwar line with a true searchlight car – just a work caboose equipped with a floodlight (No. 2420). The presence of a searchlight car in the rival American Flyer catalog, beginning in 1946, makes this omission more glaring. In 1949, Lionel brought out the […]
