Athearn HO scale 50-foot SIECO boxcar

Athearn HO scale 50-foot SIECO boxcar Athearn is now marketing HO models of a common 70-ton single-sheathed boxcar built in the 1970s for general service. These handsome Genesis-series models come ready-to-run and feature numerous separately applied details, magnetic knuckle couplers, and roller- bearing trucks with rotating caps. The prototype cars were built by the Southern […]

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Trainworx N scale 100-ton quad hopper

Trainworx N scale 100-ton quad hopper Trainworx is offering well-detailed, 100-ton quadruple hoppers in N scale that are just the ticket for modeling Western unit coal trains of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Bethlehem Steel introduced its first 100-ton quad hopper in 1963. Although based on the Norfolk & Western’s H-11 triple hopper design, Bethlehem’s […]

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The ways to and from Denver

In the Fall 2001 issue of Classic Trains magazine, Senior Editor Dave Ingles recounts his train trip to and from Denver in May 1967. His detailed notes of train consists and time-keeping of arrivals and departures are presented here. May 11, 1967 IC #21, Green Diamond, Springfield, Ill.-St. LouisIC 4023 E8AIC 4109 E9B CofG 812 […]

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Amtrak’s beginnings

It’s June 1971, and Amtrak is one month old, but the Chicago-Los Angeles Super Chief looks almost the same as it did under Santa Fe Railway auspices. A Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 shoves the streamliner from the coach yard to a departure platform at Chicago Union Station. Note the Sears Tower under construction in the background. Doug […]

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Railroad electrification proposals

At the end of the 1930s, the United States stood as the world leader in railroad electrification. With 2400 route-miles and more than 6300 track-miles under electric power – far more than any other country – U.S. electrification represented more than 20 percent of the world total. Electricity was harnessed for a variety of railroad […]

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A Little Nervous Calculating

On the Norfolk & Western, when you qualified for passenger service as a fireman or engineer, the Road Forman of Engines’ office put a “p” by your name on the seniority roster. This told the world that you had the right to warm the appropriate seatbox on a locomotive on any passenger train on your […]

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