News & Products for the week of June 10th 2024 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of June 10th 2024. […]
My first regular assignment as a brakeman on the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1977 was one that no one else wanted. In accordance with my union’s working agreement, when a job could not be filled voluntarily, the most junior employee was “forced” to work it. The morning after being notified by the crew clerk, […]
WASHINGTON — A subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has scheduled a hearing this Thursday on California regulations that would require zero-emissions locomotives in the state beginning in 2030. The focus of the hearing by the Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee is clear from its title: “Environmentalism Off the Rails: […]
Pickle cars have a unique look, and they served a unique purpose. Cucumbers brined onboard in vats as they traveled from farm field to processing plant. I thought a pickle car would look at home on my layout. My version is loosely based on period photos; it’s not a scale model of a specific car. […]
Lionel Trains’ 21″ passenger cars have been a staple in the manufacturer’s lineup of O-scale, 3-rail products for some time. A common censure though has been the lack of previously installed passengers upon purchase, leaving empty seats that need to be filled. From disassembly to reassembly, this project is easier to accomplish than I initially […]
ALTOONA, Pa. — Norfolk Southern introduced a new specially painted locomotive saluting its railroaders at an NS Family Day event at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona on Saturday, June 8. NS CEO Alan Shaw was on hand and spoke, and the railroad’s Southern and Virginian heritage units were also on display. The front of […]
MONTREAL — Beginning June 19, VIA Rail Canada is adding 90 minutes to the westbound schedule of its Montreal-Halifax, N.S. Ocean and 45 minutes to the eastbound train, “to provide passengers with a schedule which better reflects actual travel times,” according to a statement provided by VIA in response to a set of detailed questions […]
PAYSON, Ariz. — Logan “Stan” Garner, rail enthusiast, actor, and supplier of railroad equipment to the entertainment industry, died May 20 in Arizona at the age of 83. Born in Pasadena, Calif., Garner gained initial fame for being a co-founder in 1967 of Short Line Enterprises, where discarded railroad equipment, mostly from Hollywood movie studios, […]
Q: I’d like to know how trains turn around at the end of a branch line in the caboose era. I have great affinity for turnaround operations and am designing a new N gauge layout that might feature several of these operations. How do the crews manage to reattach the caboose on the end of […]
The first patented stock car was developed in 1870 and used in shipments between Chicago and New York City. The cars were designed for 90 hours of travel, had water troughs fed from tanks under the car, and food troughs fed from hoppers in the roof. Over the years, other stock car designs were introduced […]
MONTE VISTA, Colo. — Short line San Luis Central Railroad embargoed its entire 13-mile line May 28 after its crossing of the Empire Irrigation Canal, one mile north of Monte Vista, collapsed. According to local farmers, the crossing, a series of culverts surrounded by cement walls, had been seeping water between the pipes for a […]
Model railroading — in any scale — can be a challenging hobby for people with disabilities, whether caused by illness, accident, or age. In addition, visitors who use a wheelchair or walker may find it difficult to view distant points on a large layout. The pike shown here was built with such limitations in mind. […]
