Walthers HO scale New York Central observation car Price: $69.98 ManufacturerWm. K. WalthersP.O. Box 3039Milwaukee, WI 53201www.walthers.com Era: 1948 to 1967 Comments: A five-bedroom buffet-lounge-observation car completes Walthers HO scale 1948 New York Central 20th Century Limited. The plastic model has many separately applied parts, including rooftop vents and antenna and many underbody details. The […]
Type of Train: Passenger/Transit
Welshpool & Llanfair 3rd-class coach
16mm scale, gauge 0/1, Welshpool & Llanfair 3rd-class coachAccucraft Trains33268 Central Ave.Union City CA 94587Price: $610 for 2-car setWeb site: www.accucraft.com Mostly plastic model of a W&L “Pickering” 3rd-class coach; complete interior; truck-mounted chopper couplers; die-cast trucks; supplied with blackened, gauge-0 and gauge-1 wheelsets. Dimensions: Length over end beams, 22″; width, 41/8″; height, 63/8″. In […]
A Tour Conductor’s trains
Train No., Name — To-From — Accommodation WESTERN TOURSAtchison, Topeka & Santa Fe19, The Chief — Chicago-Williams, Ariz. — Roomette17, El Capitan — Williams-Los Angeles — Coach74-77, San Diegans — Los Angeles-San Diego round trips — Coach123, Grand Canyon Limited — Chicago-Grand Canyon-Riverside, Calif. — Coach63, Golden Gate — Bakersfield-Merced-Richmond, Calif. — Coach1, San Francisco […]
Santa Fe nights
The Grand Canyon was a stop on several of the tours I conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Our groups would ride Santa Fe Railway trains to Williams, Ariz., then chartered motor coaches to the Canyon. After dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon, the passengers and luggage were aboard […]
Rapido N scale Canadian National lightweight passenger cars
Rapido N scale Canadian National lightweight passenger cars Price: $47.95 each ManufacturerRapido Trains Inc. 140 Applewood Crescent, Unit A Concord, Ont., Canada L4K 4E2 www.rapidotrains.com Era: 1952 to present day Comments: These new N scale lightweight passenger cars from Rapido Trains are some of the best-detailed commercial models I’ve seen. Each plastic car comes assembled […]
Ask Trains from September 2009
Q How do railroads figure how much power is necessary for a train?– Richard Panarese, Mesa, Ariz.A Railroads determine power needed for a train based on the route, and the train’s weight and priority. BNSF, for instance, considers the “horsepower per ton” required based on what officials call the train’s “transportation service plan.” The transportation […]
Washington, D.C.’s Dulles Corridor Metrorail project
Construction is underway for Washington, D.C.’s train to the the Dulles International Airport. It is due to open in two phases. Trains will roll on the first phase to Reston, Va., in 2013; the second phase to Loudoun County, including Dulles, in 2016. In the October 2009 issue of Trains, we reported on the decades […]
Reading Co. Office Car No. 15
Now on display at the Reading Co. Technical & Historical Society’s Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pa., office car No. 15, the Henry E. Huntington, led a rich life. No. 15 served the Reading for 40 years. Then, Philip and Diana Goldman purchased, preserved, and used the car. Author of “Going Home” in August […]
Rail Transportation in Motion Pictures
A New York Transit R-142 subway car has discharged its passengers on the Lexington Avenue line No. 6 terminus in Manhattan. The train is about to go through City Hall loop station where it will pick up passengers on the northbound side. The movie derives its name from the location and departure time from the […]
Norfolk Southern and Amtrak’s Vermonter
A Norfolk Southern freight prepares to diverge from Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor onto NS track at Newport, Del., while Amtrak’s Vermonter passes, on Aug. 26, 2008. The NS freight is bound for the “Shellpot Secondary” and Edgemoor Yard in Wilmington, and has been riding the Corridor from Perryville, Md. […]
What’s behind Amtrak’s new dining car entrees?
Daniel Malzhan and Tom Douglas put together new dining car recipes in Amtrak’s Wilmington, Del., test kitchen. All photos: Bob Johnston Amtrak is rolling out new menu items for long-distance dining car patrons and first-class Acela Express passengers. Trains magazine brings you the details behind the new offerings and what riders can expect in the […]
Erie Railroad’s Waldwick Tower preserved
Before: Erie’s 1890 tower showed serious signs of deterioration by the early 200s when restoration work had begun. Curtis Springstead Ten years of dreams and five years of hard work will come to fruition at the end of 2009 when the former Erie Railroad WC Tower in Waldwick, N.J., reopens as a museum. The tower […]