N scale locomotive resource celebrates anniversary

Super wide-angle photo of Mark Peterson in the middle of a model railroad.

By Will Everitt An N scale locomotive resource celebrates an anniversary N scalers have questions. How does Athearn’s Big Boy compare to Broadway Limited’s? How can you tell the second run of Kato’s GP38-2 from its first? How do you remove the shell of a Fox Valley GP60M? What’s the (crazy!) production history of Con-Cor’s […]

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What shade of green were Lackawanna M.U. cars?

A six-car Erie Lackawanna electrified passenger train rolls under wire

Q: I’m planning to model the Hoboken, N.J., and Brick Church, N.J., stations on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the railroad I rode as a child and as an adult. I rode in the Lackawanna M.U. cars, but I can’t find them anywhere. I’m thinking I’ll buy the MuMP54 cars from Con-Cor and airbrush them […]

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CSX derailment halts Amtrak service west of Albany, N.Y.

Fire truck next to derailed tank cars on closed highway

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. — Thirteen cars of a CSX Transportation train derailed near Albany, N.Y., this morning, disrupting Amtrak service and leading to road closures. WNYT-TV reports most of the cars, part of a 157-car train en route from Selkirk, N.Y., to Buffalo, were empty tank cars. Montgomery County Sheriff Jeff Smith said there were no […]

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Worker killed in accident on Housatonic Railroad in Massachusetts

National Transportation Safety Board logo

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — A contract worker hit by a piece of track equipment on the Housatonic Railroad has died, the Berkshire Eagle newspaper reports. The worker’s name was being withheld pending notification of family, Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti told the newspaper. The National Transportation Safety Board, which announced on social media that […]

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No injuries reported in BNSF derailment in Minnesota (updated)

BNSF Railway logo

PERHAM, Minn. — No injuries were reported when a BNSF Railway train carrying mixed freight derailed at approximately 12 a.m. today (Aug. 4) near Perham, Minn. No hazardous material was involved. BNSF did not respond to a question regarding the number of cars involved; KEYC-TV reports 13 railcars, most of them empty auto racks, derailed. […]

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Ohio tourist railroads you must visit

Train passing small station

From excursions through a National Park to memories of a cherished Midwest railroad, you won’t go wrong when visiting these tourist railroads, museums, and displays in Ohio. From Trains Magazine’s Tourist Trains Guidebook, let’s see what the Buckeye State has to offer! Ohio Tourist Railroads and Museums Northeast Ohio Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad – 1630 […]

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BNSF testing locomotive-mounted track geometry system

Metal box mounted on locomotive

BNSF Railway is now testing Kawasaki’s Locomotive-Mounted Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement System, Kawasaki has announced. The system uses sensors and cameras to provide near-real-time track geometry data for track maintenance planning, Kawasaki says in a press release. Production units of the system have been in use since 2021 and have provided over 500,000 miles of […]

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21 must-have gardening tools

shovel and ice scraper near corner of garden railway

I’m going to share 21 must-have gardening tools. Railroad gardening is a niche of general gardening with many overlaps. What I’ll cover in this column are the tools that fit particular jobs that come with gardening in general, but especially railroad gardening. You don’t necessarily need all these tools but most of them can find […]

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Easier access to sneak track

MRRNS0317_00

Easier access to sneak track: Like model railroaders in other scales, most of us N-scalers are natural-born cheaters when it comes to layout planning. We set our design parameters, but then we start compromising them. Hey, it won’t hurt if we make this one curve a little tighter, or this aisle just a few inches […]

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