ROARING INTO VIEW from those thrilling days of yesteryear is the latest re-creation of a postwar icon from Williams Electric Trains: the Alco FA set. Williams continues to reproduce popular trains from Lionel’s past at prices substantially lower than mint-condition originals. The latest example is a reproduction of the Alco FA A-A diesel set that […]
WE INITIALLY REVIEWED Z-Stuff’s crossing gate system in the May 2002 issue of CTT. Since that time, Z-Stuff has upgraded the O gauge crossing set to allow for slower, more prototypical operation of the gates. The no. DZ-1010 set comes with two crossing gates and two infrared dwarf signal detectors. The signal detectors, in conjunction […]
Readers may recall how dazzled I was with Atlas O’s superb GP60, painted in Santa Fe’s blue-and-yellow freight scheme and reviewed in the May 2005 issue. Well, that issue was still warm from the printing presses when we received two more sturdy additions to the CTT locomotive test fleet: the powered Atlas O GP60M and […]
K-LINE’S TRACK-SPEEDER SHED is an interesting little accessory that can be installed on a layout with a minimum of fuss. You’ll need to remove a section of track to install this accessory. Once you have wired the shed, on/off switch, and turntable controller, you’re ready for action. Run the speeder down the track and stop […]
K-LINE’S WATCHMAN’S SHANTY would be a good-looking accessory even if it didn’t do anything. The shack looks convincing (though I can’t say that I’ve ever seen two doors on a gateman’s shack). It has interior and exterior illumination and frosted windows to hide the mechanical innards and preserve the magic. But the fun kicks in […]
COLORFULLY DECORATED TRAINS, cold Molson ale, and Shania Twain are by far my favorite Canadian exports. I know some people won’t share my enthusiasm for all three, but I’m willing to venture that at least one piques your interest. Based on the contents of their Canadian Pacific Grain Train boxed set, I’d think that the […]
GROWING UP ON the east coast of Florida, I found Rocky Mountain electrification to be a pretty arcane subject. Whether the locomotives were those large, boxy things that evoked the pages of Tom Swift and his Electric Locomotive, or streamlined, dual-cab models that suggested they were some sort of super funky F units, these unusual […]
IT WAS THE DAWN of time. Electrification hadn’t strayed far from Thomas Edison’s lab. In the 1880s mechanical coal stoker was a wild fantasy of overworked firemen. Balloon stacks ruled the rails, and the Pennsylvania was still struggling to make its claim as the Standard Railroad of the World. It was in this dark era […]
BACK WHEN I was a lad, one of the first books I bought about railroading was Ron Ziel’s Twilight of the Steam Locomotive. Inside the covers were photos of derelict locomotives as well as steamers still earning their keep. A chapter covering excursion locomotives had a full-page action shot of Reading locomotive no. 2124 with […]
RARELY DO YOU find a locomotive that is as accurate on a layout modeling 1915 as on a layout modeling 2005. The Baldwin-Westinghouse steeple-cab surely must win the all-time award for everyday longevity. In the early days of the 20th century, small electric railways dotted the countryside. While most used trolley-type passenger equipment, quite a […]
NOT THAT MANY years ago, I wouldn’t even think of using my precious Kodak film to take photos of GP9s. I mean, Geeps were everywhere. Old power, like F-units, and newer jobs like the GP40 or SD40-2 were the subject of my attention, not those old, rusty “things.” Alas, I learned the error of my […]
IN ITS search for new electric locomotives in the mid-1950s, the New Haven Railroad settled on the EP-5 built by General Electric. The locomotives were designed to operate from overhead or outside third-rail (for Grand Central Terminal tunnel operation) power, offered 4,000 horsepower, and reached speeds as high as 105 mph. They were just right […]
