50 years ago in railroad history: April 1959

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50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter TRAINS magazine devotes its April 1959 issue to an investigation titled “Who Shot the Passenger Train?” The landmark issue examines the (mostly unhealthy) state of the rail passenger business and proposes solutions. . . . [All feature […]

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Building the Milwaukee Road Beer Line

Watch the Model Railroader staff build this model train layout. The HO scale Milwaukee Road Beer Line project layout series ran in the January through May 2009 issues of Model Railroader magazine. Build the Milwaukee Road Beer Line part 1 Benchwork section Build the Milwaukee Road Beer Line part 2 Attaching feeder wires Build the […]

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Abingdon Branch

Name: Abingdon Branch Scale: HO Size: 2 x 8 feet Prototype: Norfolk & Western Ry. Locale: Western Virginia Era: 1950s to early ’60s Style: shelf Mainline run: 8 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 (no. 3 wye) Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Model Railroader. See a […]

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Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line (J and F configuration)

Name: Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line (J and F configurations) Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 4 x 12 feet Prototype: Milwaukee Road’s Chestnut Street Line Locale: Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1947 Style: sectional Mainline run: 24 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Model Railroader. See […]

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50 years ago in railroad history: March 1959

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50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter The U.S. Supreme Court on March 2 upholds a lower court’s ruling not to interfere in the discontinuance of New York Central’s Weehawken-Cortland Street Hudson River ferries, paving the way for their last runs on March 24; […]

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Jones Island

Name: Jones Island Scale: 1:24 and 1:29 proportion Size: 28 x 28 feet Prototype: freelanced Locale: Jones Island and the south side of Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1950s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 125 feet Minimum radius: 30″ (main line); 24″ (streetcar track) Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the April 2009 issue […]

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The New Haven’s Derby Junction

Name: New Haven’s Derby Junction Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 15′-6″ x 19′-6″ Prototype: New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Locale: Shelton/Derby, Conn., and Maybrook, N.Y. Era: late 1940s to mid-1950s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 80 feet Minimum radius: 32¼” (main), 24″ (sidings) Minimum turnout: no. 5 (main), no. 4 (sidings) Maximum grade: 1.5 percent […]

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Whasup Dock Co.

Name: Whasup Dock Co. Scale: HO scale (1:87.1) Size: 4′-3″ x 6′-8″ Theme: freelanced Locale: Northeast Era: Summer 1956 Style: Shelf Mainline run: 8 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 3 percent Originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Model Railroader. Click here to download a PDF of this track […]

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White River Division

Name: White River Division Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 11′-6″ x 13′-6″ Prototype: Boston & Maine and Central Vermont Theme: New England main line Locale: White River Junction, Vt. Era: fall 1950s Style: around the walls Mainline run: 34 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: level Originally appeared in the March 2009 […]

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A look back in time: January 1959

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50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter Pullman car Ferdinand Magellan, modified to haul the President of the United States in 1942 and in POTUS ever since, is donated to the Florida Development Commission for display at the University of Miami; it later moved […]

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Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line

Name: Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 4 x 12 feet Prototype: Milwaukee Road’s Chestnut Street Line Locale: Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1947 Style: sectional Mainline run: 24 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Model Railroader. See a PDF version of […]

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