This map has been almost 25 years in coming. As soon as Conrail was formed in 1976, Trains readers began requesting a huge “breakdown” map of Conrail coded to predecessor railroads. The project was too big for the limited resources then available to us. Thanks to Curt Richards, though, we now have a good source […]
Compared here are the world’s most important main lines across the most important freight territory on earth, at a time when railroads were the most important of man’s technologies, 1927. These four main lines were the Trunk Lines, a title originally given to any important main line between two great cities, but later reserved almost […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the November 2004 issue of Trains magazine. “Everywhere West” was an appropriate slogan for a railroad that once operated over 12,000 route-miles across America’s heartland. The classically styled 1940 official railroad map at right shows how the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy grew from modest beginnings to become a major […]
Bill Metzger This Map of the Month appeared in the October 2005 issue of Trains magazine. Rock Island Lines serve 14 Western states,” the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific’s map in the Official Guides of 1964 proudly proclaimed, offering “7,849 miles of modern railroad.” Trouble was, Rock Island’s main lines went everywhere its parallel rivals […]
Bill Metzger This Map of the Month appeared in the February 2006 issue of Trains magazine. Mention the Pennsylvania Railroad and iconic images come to mind immediately: passenger trains rocketing down a four-track electrified main line; limiteds scooping water on the fly from track pans; impossibly long coal drags; and mammoth engineering projects, from Horseshoe […]
This crossbuck stands guard on County Road Y near Sussex, WI, protecting Union Pacific’s Adams Sub as the sun sets on July 15, 2009. Drew Halverson photo […]
The Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts are alive with color on October 11, 1997, as Conrail freight SELA rolls through Chester, Mass., behind C30-7A locomotives. Matt Van Hattem There are countless opportunities to enjoy the colors of fall from trackside public parks and railroad museums, and aboard special fall foliage train excursions. The U.S. Forest […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Thirty years ago on September 26, 1979, construction began on Model Railroader Senior Editor Jim Hediger’s influential HO scale Ohio Southern. Jim describes the concept and some of the challenges building his HO layout. Learn how a three and a half hour lunch […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Thirty years ago on September 26, 1979, construction began on Model Railroader Senior Editor Jim Hediger’s influential HO scale Ohio Southern. Jim describes the concept and some of the challenges building his HO layout. Learn how a three and a half hour lunch […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Associate Editor Cody Grivno takes you on a video tour of this modern-era shelf layout built by the Model Railroader staff. Cody will give you an overview of each scene and show you how the WSOR interchanges with our large HO club layout […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Associate Editor Cody Grivno takes you on a video tour of this modern-era shelf layout built by the Model Railroader staff. Cody will give you an overview of each scene and show you how the WSOR interchanges with our large HO club layout […]
Follow Model Railroader Managing Editor David Popp as he shows you some of the configurations of our Beer Line project layout. He also show you some of the operations on the HO scale railroad, including how we use a car-card-and-waybill operating system. […]
