AMID A SEA OF limited-edition, $1,400 locomotives, why should anyone be interested in this modest steamer? Well, first, it is designed to run through curves as tight as O-27 – and there are still plenty of operators using O-27, O-31, and O-54 curved track. Second, the tooling is new. This isn’t a lame attempt to […]
WHEN I FIRST SAW the ads for the LionMaster Hudson, I presumed that it was launched in response to K-Line’s similarly priced, scale-sized Hudson (CTT, July 2003). Not so. While all new like the K-Line Hudson and featuring TrainMaster Command Control, Rail Sounds, Odyssey speed control, and a wireless tether, the Lionel model is the […]
ONE OF THE MOST distinctive experimental locomotives of the 1930s was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s S1-class Duplex-drive 6-4-4-6 locomotive. Originally developed as a replacement for the railroad’s venerable K4s 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives, the big S1, of which only one was built, was designed to be a high-speed passenger engine, capable of hauling a 1,200-ton train at […]
Vance Bass Servo bracket unit for Accucraft RubyElectronic Model Systems22605 East La Palma Avenue, Ste. 516Yorba Linda CA 92887Price: $129 + shippingWeb site: www.rc-steamers.com Anodized aluminum bracket; two micro-servos; mounting hardware; mounts in Ruby cabPros: Compact unit makes easy work of installing R/C servos in a Ruby live-steam locomotive; elegant, sturdy, and attractive packageCons: None […]
THE ROYAL SCOT is British manufacturer Bassett-Lowke’s latest modern re-creation of one of its own classic prewar O gauge locomotives. The London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) created the Royal Scot to boost its express service in the competitive London-to-Glasgow passenger market. The first batch of 50 engines was ordered from the North British Locomotive […]
FEW OF THE locomotives that I’ve reviewed strike me as elegant. After all, in the real world these were just machines made to pull heavy loads. All the same, I would even forsake my beloved New York Central to say that the Southern Railway Ps-4-class 4-6-2 Pacific in that railroad’s wonderful green, gold, and white […]
WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT is not a locomotive DNA experiment gone terribly wrong. It’s a steam locomotive known as a Garratt. A fellow named H.W. Garratt came up with a patented design for an articulated locomotive with a water tank up front, a boiler in the middle, and a coal bunker (and smaller water tank) […]
THE K-LINE K4s 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive needs little introduction to railroad hobbyists because the prototype steamer was the standard Pacific-type favored by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In its search for the perfect 4-6-2, an engine that could adequately handle freight or passenger work, the Pennsy stumbled onto the K4s design and liked it so much that […]
LET ME SAY RIGHT OFF THE BAT, this is the sort of quality entry-level locomotive that Lionel should have come out with five years ago! But I’m not complaining, because it’s here now and it’s a winner! While Lionel has offered a few saddle tank locomotives in the past, this model is brand new. It […]
ONE OF THE MOST distinctive locomotive styles on any railroad – real or 1:48 scale – is the “Camelback,” also known as “Mother Hubbard.” The name “Camelback” came from the early days of railroading, when some steam locomotives were designed with their cabs atop the boiler. “Mother Hubbard” referred to locomotives that had the engineer […]
WORN DOWN BY THE Depression and the war years, the Virginian Railway embarked on a program in the 1940s to revive its aging fleet of locomotives using existing designs developed for railroads briefly owned by the Van Sweringen Brothers (Chesapeake & Ohio, Erie, Nickel Plate Road, and Pere Marquette). From these plans the Virginian produced […]
AMONG THE MOST MASSIVE locomotives on North American rails just about 100 years ago was the 0-8-8-0. Surprisingly, 85 locomotives with this wheel arrangement were in service in the early years of the 20th century. Surely the most interesting of them all were the Camelback, or Mother Hubbard, 0-8-8-0s run by the Erie Railroad. The […]
