Atlas HO scale Alco C-424 diesel locomotive

Atlas Model RR Co. HO scale Alco C-424 diesel locomotive Although the HO scale Alco C-424 has been part of the Atlas product line for years, this latest Classic-series version marks the first time the firm’s HO model has been available with an ESU LokSound Select Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder that captures the raspy […]

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The merger puzzle

A westbound trackage rights train is seen at Otis, Ind., in March 2014 with Canadian Pacific and CSX Transportation power. Bruce Stahl Procter & Gamble agrees to buy Gil­lette. Kmart takes over Sears. Federated Department Stores gobbles up rival May. Mergers filled the business news in 2004 and early 2005, and experts predict the trend […]

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2014 iHobby Expo show report

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Alco C-424 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Alco C-424 and C-425 diesel locomotives. New paint schemes. C-424 (Phase II): Erie Mining (one road number); Springfield Terminal (Guilford); and Toledo, Peoria & Western (two numbers). C-424 (Phase III): Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Morristown & Erie (two numbers). C-425 (Phase […]

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First Look: WalthersMainline HO scale Budd passenger cars

Model Railroader recently had a chance to look at hand-painted, pre-production samples of the HO scale WalthersMainline Budd 85-foot passenger cars, scheduled for release in January 2015. The newly tooled cars, which can operate on 18” radius curves, will feature truck-mounted couplers, 36” turned-metal wheelsets, sprung diaphragms, and Proto-Max knuckle couplers. The gap between the […]

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Montreal circa 1952

CP’s St. Luc Yard roundhouse Walter R. Allen for CPR Canadian Pacific in July 1950 opened its sprawling new St. Luc Yard in the “wilds” above the cities of Lachine and Cote St. Luc, Quebec. Built to relieve congestion at CPR’s Hochelaga and Outremont Yards in Montreal, St. Luc included this 37-stall roundhouse, completed in […]

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Borrowed

Canadian Pacific train No. 810, with some borrowed power, makes its run for Wisconsin as the sun settles behind the bluffs along the Mississippi River in southeast Minnesota on Jan. 5, 2014. Photo by Matt Krause […]

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Mixed train through the muskeg

Near Conklin, Alberta, NAR mixed train 77 ambles toward Fort McMurray on June 26, 1972, the second day of author Armstrong’s four-day adventure. James B. Armstrong At 5 o’clock every Sunday and Wednesday evening, mixed train No. 75 would trundle slowly out of Dunvegan Yards (Edmonton), headquarters and southern terminus of the Northern Alberta Railways, […]

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New products for the week of July 31, 2014

HO scale locomotives AEM-7 electric locomotive. New fictional paint schemes: Great Northern, Lackawanna, Milwaukee Road, Pennsylvania RR, and Reading Co. Two road numbers each. New road numbers: Amtrak (as delivered or Acela) and NJ Transit. Three numbers each. Operating pantographs, separately applied wire grab irons, and Accumate couplers. Direct-current model, $179.95; with dual-mode ESU sound […]

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2014 National Train Show report

Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD70, SD70M, and SD75I diesel locomotives HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70, SD70M, and SD75I diesel locomotives. SD70: Canadian National (ex-Illinois Central). SD70M: Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific (both with flared radiators). SD75I: BNSF Ry. (ex-Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe). Four road numbers per scheme. Detailed cab interior, flat […]

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Foreigner

  A set of borrowed Canadian Pacific family SD40-2s heads Norfolk Southern train No. 278 east on the old Wabash main near Illiopolis, Ill., on May 22, 2014.  It’s a nice spring day and the engineer has the windows open enjoying the breeze as the train heads for Decatur. Photo by Bruce Bird […]

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Whatever happened to the anthracite roads?

The Northeast was laced with anthracite roads — those carriers that made a name for themselves hauling hard coal out of the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. With its high heat value, clean-burning anthracite was far superior to wood for warming homes and offices, and moving this coal by rail fueled the growth of the East’s […]

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