25 railroad places to visit out West

Railroad places to visit 1. GOAT LICK TRESTLE: Fast-paced action of BNSF’s northern transcon and the beauty of Glacier National Park, plus live GN goats. 2. CAJON PASS: Busy mainline mountain crossing for both BNSF and Union Pacific leaving LA. 3. TEHACHAPI: Mind-boggling over-and-under loop in Southern California sees more than 40 trains a day. […]

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Gensets: A disappearing act

A primary selling point At the time, gensets seemed like a good idea. Efficient, small, and imminently capable, they would be able to do everything an industrial switcher or small road unit could, but while using less fuel and producing fewer emissions. In environmentally conscious areas, and those with legitimately bad air quality, anything that […]

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8 diesel locomotive breakthroughs

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 […]

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Foam-coated freight cars

Today, home insulation is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you hear people talk about spray-on foam. But in the 1960s and ’70s, railroads wanted to see if the material’s insulating properties could be leveraged on rolling stock. Would foam-coated freight cars change the way perishable materials were transported by rail? Might […]

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Built by Others: Cody Grivno’s Red Wing Division

Built by Others in an article series showing layouts constructed by modelers using plans and projects from the pages of Model Railroader and its associated products. The Soo Line Red Wing Division originally appeared in the December 1994 issue. In this installment on Cody Grivno’s Red Wing Division, MR’s senior editor shares how he adapted […]

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News & Products for the week of March 25th 2024

News & Products for the week of March 25th 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 March 25th […]

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Atlas O Premier ES44AC

The Canadian Pacific ES44AC graced the cover of the Atlas Fall Premier catalog and was delivered in March of 2024. Atlas cataloged eight versions of the ES44AC, along with two CSX ES44CD models. These Premier models are former MTH tooling and feature DCS Protosound 3. They can be operated conventionally, as well. Atlas also offers […]

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Work to begin on Del Mar Bluffs stabilization

DEL MAR, Calif. — Construction will begin this month on a three-year, $78 million project to stabilize the Del Mar Bluffs along the Surf Line rail line, the Times of San Diego reports. The segment along the Pacific Ocean has long been a source of erosion and occasional line closures on the route used by […]

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