Mistaken identity: Rumors of Baldwin Sharknose diesels in PRR freight service prompted a 14-year-old boy to visit Altoona, where he had a satisfying—if erroneous—encounter with a pair of FM Erie-builts. Fred Kern, Jay Potter coll. From the look of the icicles and snow in this photograph, December 20, 1960, must have been a cold day […]
HO scale locomotives Denver & Rio Grande Western class C-19 2-8-0 steam locomotive. HOn3. Denver & Rio Grande Western (Flying Grande lettering, Royal Gorge Route herald, or flared top tender), Denver & Rio Grande, Rio Grande Southern (“Rising Sun” herald or “41” on tender), painted black but unlettered with diamond stack, flared top tender, and […]
HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70ACe diesel locomotive in Norfolk Southern heritage schemes. Central RR of New Jersey; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; Erie; Illinois Terminal; New York Central; Norfolk Southern no. 1030 (1982 and 2012 number boards); Penn Central; Reading Co.; Savannah & Atlanta; Virginian Ry.; and Wabash. New m.u. receptacles, turbocharger compartment doors on […]
ExactRail HO scale Berwick 7,327-cubic-foot boxcar The ExactRail HO scale car features a prototypically detailed underframe. North America’s automakers have depended upon railroad transportation since the 1920s, and auto traffic remains a popular theme for model railroaders. Thousands of specialized cars haul auto parts, including this Berwick 7,327- cubic-foot-capacity boxcar that’s now available in HO […]
FULL SCREEN Top, photo courtesy of Norfolk Southern Corp.; bottom, Robert Palmer photo Top: The first NS heritage unit, ES44AC No. 8098, poses in Conrail blue at Altoona Shops on March 15, 2012. Bottom: Conrail SD60 6702, GP40-2 3220, and an unidentified GE lead a Philadelphia-to-Bethlehem iron ore train out of Black Rock Tunnel near […]
HO scale locomotives General Electric U25B diesel locomotive. New road name: Southern Pacific (road no. 3100). Upgraded handrails, separately applied details, and RP-25 contour metal wheelsets. Bowser will donate $15 from each sale to Orange Empire Ry. Museum. Direct current, $199.95. With SoundTraxx Digital Command Control sound decoder, $299.95. Late 2012. Ready-to-run. Executive Line. Bowser, […]
FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston Welcome to Hialeah! Amtrak shares space in the 53-acre shop area with CSX and Tri-Rail vendors Veolia and Bombardier, which service Tri-Rail’s Miami-West Palm Beach commuter trains. FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston Wheels that have been recently trued (machined and straightened) are put on a truck for the Auto Train facility at […]
Atlas HO scale Trinity 25,500-gallon-capacity tank car HO scale freight cars Trinity 25,500-gallon-capacity tank car. New paint schemes: ADM (leaf logo), Bunge, ConAgra Foods, and Chevron. New road numbers: Cargill Vegetable Oils and IBPX. Three car numbers each. See-through platform grating, prototype-specific details, and knuckle couplers. $31.95. Ready-to-run. Master Line. Atlas Model Railroad Co., 908-687-0880, […]
In the early 2000s, North America’s 88 automobile assembly plants produced about 15 million new cars and trucks a year. And railroads moved 70 percent of the vehicles built in the United States alone. Most Canadian and U.S. plants are concentrated in a wide corridor stretching from Toronto to Mobile, Ala. Plants in Mexico are […]
Coal is the most important rail commodity in the United States. In the early 2000s, when this map was produced, coal accounted for one of four cars loaded and slightly more than 20 percent of rail revenue. Eighty percent of the coal goes to the generation of electricity at steam power plants, so a map […]
Commercial shipping on the Great Lakes follows a 2,300-mile corridor from the St. Lawrence Seaway to the western edge of Lake Superior. Over 200 million tons of cargo a year cross the five lakes and connecting waterways, hauled in some 150 U.S. and Canadian lakers, 50,000 barges, and about 1,000 visits by ocean-going vessels, or […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the February 2004 issue of Trains magazine. Historians have argued that one key to the success of Norfolk & Western’s 1982 consolidation with Southern Railway was that the railroads shared a similar culture — determined, forward-looking, and committed to success. This served to douse the fires of early rivalries […]
