Brass engine disassembly basics

An image of a model steam locomotive

Brass engine disassembly basics: When I was a kid, I’d go to the local hobby shop and drool over the brass steam locomotives in the glass display case near the cash register. I’d seen most of them in the Pacific Fast Mail advertisements that used to grace the back cover of Model Railroader, and here […]

Read More…

Western Maryland locomotive 1309 is a steam standout

Western Maryland steam locomotive 1309 rounds a curve in the track

Name: Western Maryland locomotive 1309 Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works Wheel arrangement: 2-6-6-2 Mallet (Articulated) Build date: November 1949 Why it’s important: The 1309 is one of the largest regularly operating steam locomotives in the United States. The big 2-6-6-2 originally belonged to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, where it was one of 10 class H-6 compound articulated […]

Read More…

Silvis update: UP passenger cars being repaired

Steam locomotive under repair

SILVIS, Ill. – Railroading Heritage of Midwest America reports it is making significant progress on repairs to former Union Pacific passenger rolling stock at its Silvis, Ill., shop complex. In an email to donors, RRHMA President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg said in the coming weeks former Southern Pacific business car Stanford will be sandblasted […]

Read More…

Pacific with Santa Fe mail and express

20180223

A mail-and-express train running as the second section of Santa Fe train 20 descends Edelstein Hill west of Chillicothe, Ill., around 1950. Six express reefers trail the locomotive, followed by several baggage express cars. The locomotive, Pacific No. 3434, has its smokestack extension raised. T. H. Cole Jr. photo […]

Read More…

Fire-fighting 4-6-0

20180221

Southern Pacific 4-6-0 No. 2248, built in 1896, remained active into the 1950s providing motive power and pumping capacity for a fire train in the Sierra Nevada. Since the early 1990s, No. 2248 has been in tourist service around Fort Worth. SP photo […]

Read More…

Kitbash an inexpensive flag stop station

red and green model station on a table

Kitbash an inexpensive flag stop station: I stopped by a garage sale last year that had children’s toys piled up on a table. I found several items I thought I could use, including what looked to be a horse stable building. The seller was asking 50 cents for it and the other items I picked […]

Read More…

Soo Line No. 1003 Photo Special

In coordination with the Kalmbach Media sponsored TrainFest hobby show in Milwaukee, Wisc., the Steam Locomotive Heritage Association used the opportunity to fire up their 1913-built American Locomotive Company, Class L-1 2-8-2 steam engine, Soo Line No. 1003. This photo special routed over the tracks of regional railroad Wisconsin & Southern — all to the […]

Read More…

EBT No. 16 limbers up for Winter Spectacular

Steam locomotive at edge of turntable with red shop buildings in background. East Broad Top expanded tours

ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – East Broad Top’s 1916 Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive, under restoration for nearly three years, stretched its legs Thursday (Feb. 9) in preparation for the narrow gauge railroad’s annual Winter Spectacular railfan weekend. Expanded to a two-day event this year, it is scheduled for Feb. 18-19. The 81-ton engine has created […]

Read More…

Early Texas type

20180220

Texas & Pacific was the first road to adopt the 2-10-4 type, hence the name “Texas” for the wheel arrangement. T&P amassed a fleet of 70 nearly identical 2-10-4s, Nos. 600–669, built by Lima between 1925 and 1929. Classic Trains coll. […]

Read More…