FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES, the center of electric-powered railroading in North America was the Pennsy. Oh sure, you might have had a little out west or on the New Haven, but the Pennsylvania RR’s electrified operations were the pinnacle of high-speed and high-tonnage operations in the United States. The Pennsylvania had an eclectic mix of […]
Magazine: Classic Toy Trains
O gauge starter-set 0-8-0 by Lionel
OKAY, SO THE BRASS IN LIONELVILLE was trying to come up with a new engine for starter sets. Or, better said, they were trying to develop a new value-priced locomotive that could be sold separately or in starter sets. Of the gazillions of prototypes out there, Lionel settled on the USRA 0-8-0 steam locomotive. That […]
Superstreets sets by K-Line by Lionel
OKAY, THE SUPERSTREETS STUFF IS, well, kinda starter-set material – but not quite in the sense of there being a train involved. Both of these sets have a powered unit and track with metal rails, and even a power supply. And oh, yes, trains can run on the track, too. But strictly speaking, they aren’t […]
Classic Toy Trains, October 2008
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O gauge 4-6-4 Royal Hudson by MTH
LIKE THE UNITED STATES, much of Canada is flat and empty with a humongous mountain range over on the left side. Factor in absurdly bad winters, and railroading in Canada requires industrial-strength solutions. It takes quite a bit of effort to haul people and things today, and it was not any easier in the steam […]
O gauge EMD BL2 diesel from Williams by Bachmann
THERE WAS A SHORT TIME when the influence of General Motors’ automotive engineering was felt in the real world of locomotion. The two most significant of those designs were the Aerotrain streamliner and the BL2 diesel road switcher. The concept behind the BL2 was, more or less, to take the mechanicals of an F unit […]
Classic Toy Trains, September 2008
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O gauge 2-10-0 by MTH
Okay, so Czar Nicholas II lost the Bolshevik revolution and allowed Russia to slide into four generations of murderous totalitarian rule. But let’s not dwell on the negative – look at the bright side: American railroads got all those 2-10-0s Decapods that were built in the United States to help the Russians fight the Kaiser […]
O gauge GP7 by Lionel
Let me get this out on the table. The GP7/GP9 is a key locomotive in the history of American railroading. In the realm of O gauge train operations, I own at least four traditional Lionel GP7/GP9s and a Geep set from Williams. That having been noted, I can think of few locomotives that make me […]
O gauge 2-10-0 by MTH video
Enjoy a streaming video of the O gauge Premier Line 2-10-0 Russian decapod by MTH. It retails for $999.99 (no. 20-3310-1) and features can style motors, O-31 operation, die-cast metal construction, ProtoSound 2.0, and coil coupler on tender. […]
O gauge 4-12-2 by MTH
All right, already. The Union Pacific was the Big Cheese of big steam. Sure, the Pennsy might have had a zillion K4s and their 4-4-4-4s did turn heads, but it was the UP that had the most amazing giant freight haulers. The O gauge world recognizes this with models of the FEF-class 4-8-4, the large […]
O gauge MP15DC diesel by Atlas O
My first introduction to O gauge diesel switchers occurred sometime back in the late 1950s or early ’60s. My Uncle Chuck was the manager of a Moore’s Automotive store in Hamilton, Ohio, and they sold Lionel trains during the holidays. This was a major plus in the kid world of the time. On some dimly […]
