A DRUM ROLL, please. This product is unlike any locomotive created in the history of Lionel. This is the first articulated engine ever produced by Lionel. It is the largest engine ever done by the firm and may even surpass the fabled no. 700E scale Hudson in its amount of prototypical detail. This locomotive is […]
ONE OF THE BIG SURPRISES of the past holiday season was MTH’s Pennsylvania RR starter set (no. 30-4023-1). You buy a starter set with certain entry-level expectations. The kick in the pants with this set is how those expectations have been exceeded. Scoring big points on all counts, the Pennsy set packs plenty of attention […]
A NEW ENTRANT into the three-rail market, Pecos River Brass has stuck its toe in the water of the three-rail pond, found it inviting, and has dived in with an exceptionally sharp-looking Santa Fe Hudson. The Santa Fe rostered just 16 4-6-4 Hudson locomotives, but don’t let the low number suggest that they didn’t leave […]
STEAM VERSUS diesel, Godzilla versus Mothra, great taste – less filling. These are some of the significant battles of our time. Almost on cue, MTH Electric Trains and Lionel have released two O gauge locomotives that will challenge all but the gentlest of curves and the sturdiest of bridges. MTH offers the first three-rail model […]
AND NOW FOR something completely different. While I wouldn’t call Ace Trains’ E/1 4-4-4 tank locomotive the Monty Python of the toy train world, for us in the colonies it is very British, very different – and charming. Combine one cup American prewar tinplate, a tablespoon of modern reproduction, two cups of British Hornby trains, […]
IN 1887, a New England railroad added a trailing truck to a common American-type 4-4-0 locomotive to better distribute its weight when crossing bridges. Thus was born the Atlantic-type steamer. The Atlantic’s 4-4-2 wheel arrangement allowed for a larger firebox and improved performance. The 4-4-2s also pulled heavier trains faster than the old 4-4-0s. The […]
A HANDFUL OF locomotive designs are elegant, and the streamlined look of the New York Central Dreyfuss Hudson 4-6-4 may be the most stylish of all. MTH Electric Trains has added a scale-sized version of the Dreyfuss to its Premier line, and it’s a doozy. Before World War II the New York Central set out […]
THE NORFOLK & WESTERN was the last major U.S. carrier to forsake steam power in favor of diesel. The railroad, deep in coal country, was renown for its fast passenger engines and hefty articulated freight haulers that could seemingly move mountains. The last and most advanced of the steamers operated by the N&W was the […]
FOR MORE THAN 25 years, Weaver has produced a vast array of rolling stock, brass steam locomotives, and great diesels in plastic. The latest challenge the Northumberland, Pa., firm has tackled is a die-cast metal locomotive. And not only is this the company’s first die-cast steamer, it is also its first steamer to include Lionel’s […]
ONE OF THE HOTTEST locomotives ever made was the streamlined Pennsy K4-class Torpedo. The rocket-shaped steamer looked ready to launch even when standing still. In the 1930s, when the Pennsylvania Railroad re-designed its signature train the Broadway Limited, management wanted the train’s 4-6-2 locomotive to be just as striking as the passenger cars. Industrial designer […]
SOME OF THE slickest-looking steam locomotives were the streamlined Atlantics and Hudsons that served the Milwaukee Road’s speedy Hiawatha passenger trains. During the Great Depression, competition for diminishing passenger traffic was intense. Some roads, such as the Union Pacific, opted for cutting-edge diesel streamliners. Others, such as the Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road, […]
GETTING BACK INTO the hobby in the early 1990s, one of the engines that impressed me most was the postwar Lionel turbine. I loved the prototype and thought that this was such an amazing locomotive that I just had to add one or two to my fleet. My Lionel turbines are real workhorses; the only […]
