K-Line O gauge Boston & Maine 2-8-4 Berkshire

WELL, THE MAURY KLEIN era of K-Line Electric Trains is toast. In a quarter century he took his company, MDK Inc., from re-issues of Marx trains to some of the hottest new trains in several price ranges on the market. Alas, K-Line went out in a blaze of litigation, debt, and innovative model railroad products. […]

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Athearn and PCM HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotives

Black and silver HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive.

Athearn’s model has a highly detailed plastic superstructure that’s nearly filled with a two-piece weight that supports and encloses the mechanism. Precision Craft’s locomotive is made of die-cast metal with excellent detail throughout. This model includes a smoke unit and engine crew. Two impressive new HO scale models of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 […]

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Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy video

Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy

Athearn HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy We reviewed Athearn’s 4-8-8-4 locomotive in the December 2006 issue of Model Railroader. Click the icons below to see a video clip of the 4-8-8-4 in action. All videos may take several minutes or more to download depending on your connection speed. […]

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Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy video

Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4

Precision Craft HO scale 4-8-8-4 We reviewed Precision Craft’s Big Boy steam locomotive in the December 2006 issue of Model Railroader. Click the icons below to see a video clip of the locomotive in action. All videos may take several minutes or more to download depending on your connection speed […]

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MTH Tinplate Traditions O gauge no. 263E reproduction

LIONEL’S PREWAR no. 263E steam locomotive was the last of its kind. The tinplate O gauge 2-4-2 locomotive was everything that its die-cast metal successors were not. It was glossy and bold and featured plenty of smooth sheet-metal surfaces accentuated by stamped rivets, nickel ladders, railings, and domes, with a red cow-catcher thrown in too. […]

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S-Helper Service S gauge 2-8-0 Consolidation

I’VE LONG THOUGHT that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s E-27-class 2-8-0 Consolidations were some of the most attractive, balanced-looking products the steam era ever produced. They were powerful, sure-footed, and reliable. The B&O at one time had more than 400 of the E-27-class 2-8-0 locomotives. The flexibility and utility of those locomotives led them to […]

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1:29 scale, gauge 1, Pennsylvania K4 Pacific

Marc Horovitz 1:29 scale, gauge 1, Pennsylvania K4 PacificAmerican Mainline (AML)33268 Central AvenueUnion City CA 94587Price: $1,949Web site: www.accucraft.com” All metal, electrically powered model of Pennsylvania Railroad K4 4-6-2; lighted classification lights; directional headlight; sound ready; smoke-unit ready; 12 electrical pickups; three drawbar positions; independent, ball-bearing wheels on tender; sprung trailing truck; sprung tender trucks; […]

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Williams O gauge postwar-style no. 2056 4-6-4 Hudson

MORE THAN a decade ago, I bought a postwar Lionel no. 2056 Hudson. I paid close to $300 for the steam locomotive – on installments – at a local hobby shop. The rush of buying a “real, vintage Lionel train” lasted a few years before it faded as newer and better trains entered the marketplace. […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 0-4-0

Baltimore & Ohio 0-4-0 Tom Thumb

Baltimore & Ohio constructed this replica of the 0-4-0 Tom Thumb, its first steam locomotive. The original Tom Thumb was built in New York by inventor Peter Cooper, and made a successful first trip on August 25, 1830, when it pushed an open car hauling 18 passengers from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills. Early four-coupled locomotives […]

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Texas Types: Musclemen of steam

T&P 2-10-4

Texas & Pacific 600 was from the first group of 2-10-4’s. In 1919 Santa Fe purchased a group of 2-10-2’s. One of them, No. 3829, was built with an experimental four-wheel trailing truck, but was otherwise identical to the rest of the group. The experiment was inconclusive: No. 3829 was not converted to a 2-10-2, […]

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