In the pages of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS magazine you’ll find information about building, operating, and enhancing toy train layouts; track plans, repair and maintenance tips, profiles of collectible postwar and prewar trains, and more. SUBSCRIBE | RENEW | DIGITAL EDITIONS | GIVE A GIFT | BUY THIS ISSUE Features STEAM SHOWDOWN By Bob Keller We […]
While I have been a part of the toy train hobby, I have attended many train shows and met other train lovers. And I’ve come to realize that there are hundreds of us that don’t know enough about the value and rarity of different O and S gauge trains. We may not even be aware […]
It was an April evening when I returned home to find this message on my answering machine: “I have a train set that was purchased in 1941. Can you tell me what it’s worth?” I recognized the voice as belonging to an acquaintance that knew I collected Lionel trains. “Nice of the guy to call,” […]
Prior to the Hudsons, Mountains, and Northerns, the 4-6-2 Pacific-type was celebrated as THE passenger locomotive at the turn of the 20th century. Outperformed in later years by their bigger, faster, and stronger successors, the smaller racehorses continued to hold their own until the end of steam along North America’s railroads. Though, it can be […]
Orphan Trains The orphan train story does not involve a specific train consist, locomotive, route, or even schedule. The story comes from a period that was socially different from today — 1854 to 1930. Attitudes about the idea of family, how parents cared for children, and the dichotomy between well-off and not, were radically different […]
Lionel’s postwar 44-ton diesels may be the most overlooked O gauge locomotives of the era. Collectors focus, instead, on the firm’s models of F3 cab units by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and the Train Master road diesels made by Fairbanks-Morse. Operators also like those powerful diesels as well as the big and small […]
Ask Trains.com April 2024 compilation | Our host Cody Grivno addresses a wide array of modeling and prototype railroading questions, including an explanation why and how modern railroads still use cabooses; where to find a sound modules used to enhance specific layout scenes; what the pros and cons are replacing plastic trucks with metal trucks; […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former CSX CEO Jim Foote, who helped turn the railroad from industry laggard into a leader, died yesterday. He was 70. “Jim’s leadership was instrumental in guiding CSX through a transformational period in our company’s history, advancing CSX to new heights, marked by record operating and financial performance,” CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs […]
Diesel-electric locomotive technology has advanced significantly since World War II. Experience leads me to list these eight technological breakthroughs as the most important in the postwar period. Important technology developments preceded World War II, but we began with the era after General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division introduced “The Diesel that Did It,” the FT [see “FT […]
Meet David Popp, Trains.com Director in this Q&A with the Editors. Trains.com Unlimited Members can see the video in the Trains.com Video section. Steve Sweeney: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Q&A with the Editors. We are delighted to have David Popp with us today. David, welcome. David Popp: Thank you, Steve. SS: […]
Sketching with Steve Introduction to track templates Learning to use a track template was among the first tasks I gave myself as a model railroader. You may have seen one of them hanging next to the register in your local hobby shop. Perhaps, in these days of point-and-click track-planning software, you thought it was a […]
As a child I remember my parents buying me a big book filled with photos of the New York Central Railroad. The book cover featured a unique steam locomotive. I was too young to understand its significance, but I knew that this locomotive stood out from every other train I had seen. Its beauty left […]
