It’s been more than a decade since Lou Sassi photographed my HO scale White River Division for a feature in the March 2009 Model Railroader. A lot has changed since then. The track plan has been altered to better view and photograph scenes. I also eliminated the duckunder. Now a point-to-point layout, there’s a yard […]
Meet Cody Grivno How did you get started in the hobby? My journey to model railroading isn’t the one you often read about in the pages of Model Railroader. There wasn’t a Lionel set under the Christmas tree. Though my dad, Steve, dabbled with model trains as a kid, he was more into military modeling. […]
Burlington Zephyr 9900 left a shiny legacy on North American railroading that’s still evident today. Zephyr! It’s a name in the world of American passenger trains that dates from 1934 and is still in use by Amtrak. Its pronunciation even has a fast sound to it. Let’s do what Classic Trains does best: […]
Q: I’m building a new layout using Kato HO scale Unitrack. I have read many different opinions on whether to solder all track joints. What’s the best practice? Some say that using terminal joiners on Kato Unitrack for connection to the DCC bus is OK, while others say they’re unreliable. I use terminal joiners every […]
Louisville & Nashville diesel locomotives show a variety that was typical for the era. The railroad’s roster was largely comprised of Alco and EMD models, but the road also sampled Baldwin and GE switchers and later GE road power. In the 1960s, L&N management opted to stick with what it knew, acquiring a number of […]
The Alco C855 locomotives is a locomotive that Union Pacific should have never considered purchasing. The railroad’s operating department had always favored big motive power to move its mainline trains; just look at its 4-12-2 Union Pacifics, 4-6-6-4 Challengers, and 4-8-8-4 Big Boys in steam days. That philosophy carried over to a fleet […]
Monon Railroad diesel locomotives showed a variety of models from four builders. The Monon began dieselizing after World War II in 1946. It opted for EMD F3 units for mainline freight and passenger service and with EMD BL2s and Alco RS2s for locals. An A-B-A set of F3s started as EMD demonstrators. The […]
Choosing model rail sizes is one of the things modelers often spend time on when building their second layout. We often start with whatever came in the train set we began with, but then we start to hear about rail “codes,” and how they can differ. Regardless of scale, model rail sizes are specified […]
Whether you need more blue on your locomotive roster or want to add Conrail units in other paint schemes to your layout, this is a comprehensive list of Conrail models you can buy. This list just focuses on locomotives and cabooses. Mixing Conrail freight cars into your rolling stock roster will also add some colorful […]
BRADENTON, Fla. — Seven cars of a Seminole Gulf Railway train — two of them carrying propane — derailed this morning, Tuesday, Feb. 28, near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, the Bradenton Herald reports. One of the propane cars was among six cars that ended up on their side; the other five cars were carrying sheetrock. The other […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation has activated its third train inspection portal, the railroad said today (Tuesday, Feb. 28). The three inspection portals — which use advanced imaging and analysis technology — are all located on lines that radiate out from CSX’s yard at Waycross, Ga. “CSX strategically positioned the three TIPs near Waycross as […]
WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration today encouraged railroads to improve the way they collect and use data from wayside hotbox detectors in order to prevent catastrophic derailments like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. “Preliminary investigation of recent train derailments indicates the cause of, or contributing factor to, […]
