Have you ever been curious about how to calculate the speed of toy trains? Running trains over a layout, how can we know whether it’s moving at a realistic speed? Answering this question requires a bit of math. Speed, or velocity, is simply distance divided by time. In the United States, we are used to […]
5 tips for better scenes on your toy train layout Whenever someone asks me what makes a toy train layout special, I reply that detail is the key. Size and scope don’t matter as much as what a modeler does in the space available. Developing memorable scenes – “vignettes,” as they’re called – can […]
Richard Arsenault’s S gauge railroad (shown in the February 2003 issue of Classic Toy Trains) illustrates the drama that a grade can add to a model railroad. The battle of man versus mountain can be won in S, O, or Standard gauges only if the inclines aren’t too great. Classic Toy Trains file A […]
New CTT products for September 2023 Locomotives and rolling stock An Electro-Motive Division SD70MAC road diesel locomotive has joined the Atlas O Premier Line. Paint schemes include BNSF Ry. (green and cream), CSX (dark blue and yellow), Lake State Ry. (blue and gray), Metra (blue, black, and orange), Paducah & Louisville (green and white), R.J. […]
The Classic Toy Trains staff built the Polar Express layout over a five day period, from benchwork to final scenery. The layout features scenes from the beloved movie, including the Hero Boy’s house, the train crossing the frozen river, and the city scene where the First Gift of Christmas is given. Staffers Hal Miller, Roger […]
Submit your My Greatest Find story We at Classic Toy Trains invite you to tell us about your “greatest find.” What’s the best train or train-related item you’ve ever found? What makes it your “greatest find”? Does the locomotive, set, car, or whatever have a fascinating story attached to it? Did you search for years […]
A unique tender for a Lionel No. 1587 Girl’s Train I couldn’t have imagined the excitement that year would bring to me as a collector and a new father. Chasing after postwar Lionel trains for about four years, I had amassed a decent collection. [Anthony’s superb collection was profiled in the special Kalmbach publication, All-Star […]
My greatest find occurred in 1957, when I was 13 years old. Before I tell you about it, let me share some memories of my growing up in northeast Philadelphia. Second-hand trains My family wasn’t wealthy, so my trains were mostly what I scrounged up using my allowance. One example was my Lionel GG1 (a […]
The Lionel 700E Hudson steam engine, a super-detailed 1:48 scale model of the J-1e New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson, was a masterpiece. Of museum quality and accuracy, yet functional, it was targeted at O gauge model railroaders, but appealed to just about everyone who saw it. New York Central President Frank Williamson kept a 700E […]
Menards Cripple Creek Beam Pump is now available on the Menards website. The oil industry has been a part of this country for more than 100 years. A familiar sight in many parts of the country is an oil beam pump. The beam pump, also known as a pumpjack, horse-head, or several other colorful names, […]
One night in 1992, I was in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, waiting for a plane. Bombay is about as far away as a person can travel from Little Silver, N.J., where I grew up, and just as far from the Lionel fun factory where my greatest find was manufactured. But because one day I asked […]
My greatest find could also be known as the one that almost got away. This Lionel outfit was sitting on a shelf of a local pawnshop for quite some time, collecting dust with many other items that no one was interested in buying. Enter my wife, who had worked for a large telecommunications company that […]
