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When the TRAINS staff began preparing its April 2010 report on obscure coal moves in North America, we got more photos than we bargained for. In no particular order, here are five more cool coal moves. Two SD90MACs on lease to Wheeling & Lake Erie lead two run-through Union Pacific diesels on a Powder River […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page The HO scale Ohio Southern, built by Senior Editor Jim Hediger, is not only one of the first multi-level model railroads, the layout is also one of the first to use a helix. Listen to Jim recall how he built his first helix […]
Smoking like Alcos do, a pair of Western New York & Pennsylvania diesels storm eastbound past Almond, N.Y., on Sept. 20, 2009. WNY&P is an Alco-only short line operating over a portion of the Erie empire. Photo by Richard S. Perry […]
John Helmstetter receives a ceremonial check for $40,001 on Nov. 9, 2009. From left to right: Frank Fowler of Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, John Helmstetter, trip promoter Carl Franz, trip promoter Bill Larduskey, and Steve Barry of Railfan & Railroad. Jim Larduskey John Helmstetter’s cattle watch their new home taking shape, as more than 120 […]
The stack-top addition to John J. Craig Co. Shay No. 2147 may have caused more sparks than it arrested. T. G. King photo, C. K. Marsh Jr. collection Hard by the campus of the 1950’s-era University of Tennessee lay the modest Knoxville terminal of the storied Smoky Mountain Railroad. Several postwar railfan students, including me, […]
In any hobby, or indeed in any field, there is terminology used as shorthand by those with experience in the hobby or field, to refer to things specific to that hobby. That terminology, though, can be a barrier to entry for the uninitiated. This article is intended to serve as a brief introduction to model […]
It can be difficult to get started in the hobby of model railroading. The terminology a beginner needs to learn is daunting for some, particularly for those without experience with or knowledge of prototype railroading. This article explains prototypes and modeling terminology for beginner model railroaders, or those looking to brush up on their model […]
Want to add a basic locomotive servicing area but don’t have room for the turntable, roundhouse, and other shop and warehouse buildings typical of a large facility? As this 1953 photo of a Missouri Pacific RR fueling facility in Little Rock, Ark., shows, a no-frills fueling area can easily be modeled in limited space. At […]
Chesapeake & Ohio B30-7 No. 8242 is sandwiched between SD45s, with 4383 in the lead, as they pass through Thurmond, W.Va., on July 26, 1984. Kermit Geary Jr. photo […]
Take a look at our list of roundhouses that still exist in 2010. Are we missing one? If so, click here. […]
The invention of the tank car coincided with the discovery of oil in northwestern Pennsylvania in the 1860s. Oilmen quickly discovered that hauling oil to market in horse-drawn wagons or floating barrels down local streams wasn’t going to do the job as oil production ramped up. The oil industry needed to find a way to […]
Durango & Silverton crew favorite 473 turns a photographers’ special on the Silverton wye during Railfest in August 2009. Her big plow was useful in fighting snow four months later. Robert S. McGonigal Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad engineer Jarrette Ireland assesses the K-28 Mikados:There are many reasons why I personally enjoy the K-28’s, […]
