Moloco HO Northern Pacific boxcar

Color photo of HO scale boxcar painted brown and silver.

A Northern Pacific HO scale 50-foot XM double-door boxcar is the latest release from Moloco Trains. The ready-to-run model features car-number-specific details, Stanray R3-4 ends, and 8-rung ladders on the sides and ends. A railroad-built car The Moloco model is based on full-size cars built at NP’s Brainerd, Minn., shops between 1956 and 1959. During […]

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Nickel Plate Road No. 765 rolls out for Rolling Victory (updated)

Steam locomotive with World War II reenactors and vehicles

PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. — Labor Day concluded the summer schedule for Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Indiana Rail Experience. The sendoff during the three-day weekend was the Rolling Victory event in Pleasant Lake, billed as a World War II experience with reenactors, displayed equipment, battle reenactments, big band dance, train rides, and Nickel Plate Road […]

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Broadway Limited HO scale EMD GP35

Screen capture from Product Review video showing HO scale diesel painted orange and green.

A sample from the latest run of Broadway Limited HO scale EMD GP35 diesel locomotives paid a visit to our Winston-Salem Southbound layout. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he shares a brief history of the four-axle road locomotive and Burlington Northern No. 2510, points out the details on the plastic and die-cast […]

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Heartland of America: The Big Boy cometh

people in cab of Big Boy

VILLA GROVE, Ill. — Villa Grove Mayor Cassandra Eversole-Gunter sat behind engineer Ed Dickens, manager of Union Pacific’s Heritage Program on Monday as the Big Boy “Heartland of America” tour made a scheduled service stop at Watseka, Ill. The mayor, in her second term, rode No. 4014 from Watseka back to Villa Grove arriving at […]

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Colorado’s San Luis Central reopens line

Green-and-yellow diesel locomotive on five culverts over waterway with pink railcar

MONTE VISTA, Colo. — The San Luis Central reopens its main line running the first train to operate since May 24, 2024. Here, it crosses an irrigation canal on newly installed culverts that repaired a washout on this section of line on Sept. 9, 2024. Electro-Motive SW8, No. 70, with General Manager Tom Tancula at […]

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Nominees to Amtrak board support national network at hearing

man in suit

WASHINGTON — As is usually the case with hearings held by U.S. Senate and House committees responsible for Amtrak, the most revealing part of the event usually comes in the witness question-and-answer session well after opening statements. Yesterday’s Senate Commerce Committee cross examination of four prospective Amtrak Board of Directors nominees was no exception. [Near […]

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Using the Lionel Base3 on large club-size layouts

Grey control box sitting on a counter with large layout in the background.

In July of 2024, Lionel Trains’ long-awaited Base3 arrived in stores, homes, and our own Firecrown office here in Brookfield, Wis. This new command control takes all of the manufacturer’s previous systems in a backwards-compatible manner and centralizes them into one package. Out of this sole setup, you can control Lionel Legacy, TMCC, LionChief, LionChief+, […]

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Norfolk Southern dismisses CEO Alan Shaw, promotes Chief Financial Officer Mark George to president and chief executive

ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern today terminated the contracts of embattled CEO Alan Shaw and the railroad’s chief legal officer, Nabanita Nag, for having a consensual relationship in violation of company policy. The NS board unanimously named Chief Financial Officer Mark George as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately, the railroad announced Wednesday evening. George […]

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Study on impact of long freight trains is due out next week

Yellow locomotives in with double-stack cars ahead and behind

WASHINGTON – The long-awaited National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on the impact of long freight trains will be released next week. “Over the last two decades, railroad companies have been operating increasingly longer trains to reduce the number of crews, locomotives, and overall number of trains needed,” the academies said today. “In […]

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