News & Products for the week of May 6th 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 May 6th […]
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 […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s first-quarter earnings and revenue declined despite a 7% increase in freight volume. Quarterly operating income declined 7%, to $1.72 billion, as revenue declined 6%, to $5.66 billion, BNSF and its parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. The railway’s operating ratio was 69.5%, up 1.1 points from a year […]
Meet John Morrison How did I get started in the hobby? I’ve been a model railroader as long as I can remember. As a little kid, I would tie all my wheeled toys together with string, pull them around the house and call it a “train.” I grew up in Sydney, Australia and couldn’t afford […]
Meet Mike Burgett What was your first train set (or locomotive)? A Lionel 0-27 scale Rio Grande steam engine, a Great Northern hopper, a Burlington Northern gondola, and one oval loop of track at about age 6. I got my first HO scale train, a Athearn “Blue Box” B&O F7A, at about age 8. After that […]
If activist investor Ancora Holdings wins its Norfolk Southern proxy battle this week, its new management team aims to generate unprecedented growth in carload traffic over the next four years. Ancora plans to run the same playbook that CSX has used since it shifted to a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating plan in 2017. Improve your […]
Just before the spring TCA York Show in April, Lionel started delivering some of the diesels from the 2023 Volume II catalog. One of those diesels was the GP30, the gritty workhorse from EMD. This Legacy-equipped model is packed with features and pumps out some serious sound, all in a frame that can safely navigate […]
MOBILE, Ala. —“Hopeful” is the key word in the status report on Gulf Coast passenger service submitted by Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile to the Surface Transportation Board last week. The May 1 report was required by the STB after a February hearing and subsequent explanation of delays was short on […]
DETROIT — A 90-minute concert to be livestreamed globally and 10 days of open-house tours are on tap for the grand opening of the renovated Michigan Central Station, officials said in plans outlined for the Detroit City Council last week. The concert will be held June 6 at 8:30 p.m. ET in Roosevelt Park in […]
Locomotive wraps Railroad paint schemes span the color spectrum, from the dull to the fluorescent, the drab to the flamboyant, but not every railroad has the time, money, brand guidelines, or spare rolling stock to allow for frequent livery changes. Painting is an expensive and time-consuming process, with the results expected to last for years […]
Welcome to our latest Product Review video. This time around, Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno takes a look at the Broadway Limited N scale EMD F3. In the video, you’ll learn about the Lehigh Valley prototypes our samples are decorated as, get a closer look at the details on both units, see and hear […]
Q: I need to calculate the grade on a double deck layout. Though I’ve been interested in model railroading since I was a child, it’s been quite some time since I was active in the hobby. Now that I’m retired, I’m planning a layout. After much deliberation, I’ve settled on a two-level around-the-walls design. My […]
