Q: Interesting article on removing the flanges from steam locomotive drivers. So, what about those long diesel engines like the General Electric C44-9W or EMD’s FP45s or SD40? Could removing flanges from diesel wheels help my HO scale Athearn Blue Box diesels go around 19” radius curves? If so, the question becomes what’s the easiest way […]
Riding the Cumbres & Toltec Ride the Cumbres and Toltec in the San Juan Mountains. And when you do, above the 9,500-foot level, the cold thin air nips at the skin on the edge of a breeze flavored with coal soot. In this scene, we have gathered to witness the ritual of a narrow gauge […]
WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific has asked federal regulators to approve the appointment of former Federal Railroad Administration administrator and longtime railroad executive Ron Batory as trustee of the CP-Kansas City Southern voting trust. The move comes after former KCS CEO Dave Starling, who had been serving as trustee, died last month. “Mr. Batory is eminently […]
A signature N scale truck for Tehachapi: This photo of a cattle truck at Caliente, Calif., existed in my mind for perhaps 10 years before it finally came to fruition, and it was spurred by buying a Road Apples N scale stock trailer kit. The kit had two things going for it. First, I thought […]
NASHVILLE — The seven-year effort to take former Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 No. 576 from static display in a Nashville park to operating locomotive and regional tourist attraction is entering its final phase, with caretakers Nashville Steam Preservation Society Inc. launching a new matching campaign to raise $350,000 to finish the job. “We […]
N scale by the numbers: Scale model railroading couldn’t exist without numbers, some that are very important and some that are not important at all, but fun to play around with. This article is for those who model in N scale, so let’s look at N scale numbers, starting with the two most critical, 9mm […]
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has filed legislation designed to prevent derailments like the Norfolk Southern wreck that released toxic chemicals and upended life in East Palestine, Ohio. But the Rail Safety Act of 2023 also goes much further by proposing rules that would limit train length and tonnage, mandate a crew size […]
Q: I watch videos of model railroads on YouTube. On a video of a Boston & Maine layout, I saw a strange steamer. A 2-10-2 had a long tender, and on the rear truck of the tender, the wheels were ganged together with a connecting rod and the wheels had counterweights. Why? – Robert Beadle A: […]
Passenger diesels Florida may not leap to mind as a center of passenger railroading — or a hotbed of railroading oddities, for that matter — but the locomotives of the state’s passenger rail operations do include some rarities. And in the winter, you could do worse than spending time trackside at any of these operations. […]
Improving N scale engine performance: One of the most puzzling N scale locomotive performance problems I’ve encountered came with the two Atlas Electro-Motive Division (EMD) SD60s I purchased in 2014. The prototype locomotives were lease units from Oakway (an EMD subsidiary), and they were painted in the gorgeous blue-and-white scheme EMD had used for years […]
Jeff Schmid was an unusually versatile railroader. Over more than a half a century with BNSF and two of its predecessor railroads, he moved from track worker to locomotive engineer to safety officer, the latter bringing him special satisfaction. If that wasn’t enough, along the way he mastered the art and craft of running one […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gulf & Atlantic Railways is the new name for the holding company known as RailUSA, which is overseeing its two key properties — the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railroad and Grenada Railroad — from a new corporate office in Jacksonville. “We are taking a long-term approach that is heavily focused on investing […]
