Like a grade-school report, “What I did on my spring 2020 vacation,” this story is about optimism in the face of confusion and lack of resources. We had just started a new little garden railway loop in front of our house, but hidden from the street. Having built a gallery along the walkway, we next […]
Rapido Trains HO scale P-S New Haven diner Rapido Trains has added a 1949 Pullman-Standard streamlined dining car to its ever-growing line of New York, New Haven & Hartford HO scale passenger equipment. The injection-molded plastic and metal car features more than 200 parts and is detailed inside and out. The prototype. In December 1945, […]
A right-front angled view of Piko’s mogul steam locomotive. Garden Railways file photo OK, I have a confession to make before I start. One of my favorite types of steam en-gines is the 2-6-0, commonly called a Mogul. To me, it was one of the pivotal pieces in the evo-lution of railroad motive power. Produced […]
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This is a beginner’s guide to dwarf Alberta spruce trees. Across the country, hundreds of us rely on one, small scale, slow growing, almost perfectly conical evergreen to fill our miniature forests, towns, and mountains: dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’). How do you prune them, what kind of conditions do they really need, and […]
Prototype operations weren’t the focus of many model railroaders when I started work on my HO scale layout in 1988. But I had a clear vision of an operations-oriented layout that would depict the Canadian Pacific Ry.’s Montreal Terminals Division in Canada’s second largest city in the late 1960s. That was when I spent […]
The 2020 Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show is being held Jan. 25 and 26 at The Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds in West Springfield, Mass. The two-day show, now in its 52nd year, features model railroad manufacturers, railroad historical societies, vendors, and clinics. Athearn Genesis 2.0 HO scale EMD SD80MAC diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives […]
Bill Zuback Manufacturer Bachmann Trains 1400 East Erie Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19124 bachmanntrains.com Price: $399 Era: 1949 to present Paint schemes: With sound and moving eyes: Percy the Small Engine and Thomas the Tank Engine ($399 each). With moving eyes only: Emily ($429), James the Red Engine ($389), Percy the Small Engine ($319), Thomas the […]
Drawing by Marc Horovitz One of the beautiful things about 3D printing technology is that you can easily make custom parts. This let’s you standout from other layouts plus it is a lot of fun, but it can be frustrating at the same time. First, let’s make a simple part that everyone needs; wheels. I […]
O gauge ALP-46 electric locomotive from MTH Electric Trains Price: $549.95 (20-5701-1) Cmd low: 2.1 scale miles per hour Cnv low: 4.2 smph High speed: 97 smph Drawbar pull: 1 pound, 2 ounces Features: O-72 operation, two can-style motors, ProtoSound 3.0 command and sound system, directionally raising pantographs, two remote couplers. Current-production road name: NJ […]
Tyler Hardin with one of the three commemorative units he’s designed for CSX. Chris Anderson An early front porch drawing by Tyler Hardin. Hardin family collection HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Sitting in the darkness at a picnic table under a shed at CSX’s Huntington Heavy Repair shop, Tyler Hardin’s face lights up when he recalls where […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Short line railroad operators like Patriot Rail and Ports are increasingly on global investors’ radar amid rising demand for long-lasting infrastructure that can offer a combination of stability and growth. First State Investments, an Australia-based investment firm, announced on Aug. 27 that it would acquire Jacksonville-based Patriot, which operates short line railroads, […]
