General Motors Diesel Division F59PH diesel locomotive from Rapido Trains Eric White, Editor of Model Railroader magazine, reviews the new HO scale General Motors Diesel Division F59PH diesel locomotive from Rapido Trains and takes it on a tour of our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy staff layout. Features on the four-axle model include an injection-molded […]
Frisco steam to diesel transition: The mid-20th century was a time of great change for U.S. railroads. They were in the midst of a great steam to diesel transition that would revolutionize the industry for generations to come. An example of how the diesel changed part of one railroad may be found on the rolling […]
ALEXANDER, W.Va. — West Virginia’s coal history is a cyclical tale of boom-and-bust periods driven by the world’s appetite for the state’s most abundant fossil fuel. Agility and resiliency have carried coal and its closely linked partner, railroading, through periods of prosperity and dispersity. Today in one of the state’s most rural dwellings is a […]
Their debut delayed by installation and testing of Positive Train Control equipment, Rocky Mountaineer’s GP40-3 locomotives last week finally began replacing leased Union Pacific power on the “Rockies to Red Rocks” excursions to Glenwood Springs, Colo., and Moab, Utah. On Wednesday, May 25, 2022, they head west from Denver at Arvada, Colo., at milepost 9.75 […]
Apply decals and finishing an N scale locomotive. Senior Editor Cody Grivno shares the final steps to decorating an Atlas EMD GP38-2 diesel locomotive model into Milwaukee, Racine & Troy model railroad colors. To close out the effort, his process starts by applying waterslide decals, adding weathering effects, and then re-assembling the unit for layout […]
Bob Keller and Classic Toy Trains Editor Hal Miller have a look at the new MTH Trains’ O gauge RailKing Imperial SD70ACe and caboose set. Since the latter is lettered for Canadian Pacific, of course it’s a “van.” This episode also reveals Menard’s new Cripple Creek Switch Tower, and a variety of new books and […]
MT. VERNON, Ill. — Merritt Becker is the new CEO of National Railway Equipment Co., the rail, marine, and power company has announced. Becker joins NRE from engine and power generation company Cummins Inc., where he has spent the last 12 years, effective June 1. He was most recently president and managing director of Cummins […]
Frisco locomotives: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad all throughout May 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of St. Louis-San Francisco locomotives selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The Frisco’s steam roster included several locomotives inherited from predecessors, subsidiaries, and short lines, among them St. […]
SANFORD, N.C. — One of just two RS1325 locomotives built by EMD, which had been in danger of being scrapped, may be saved following a Facebook post from a local railfan sounding an alert about the diesel’s status. Former Chicago & Illinois Midland No. 30 has been at North Carolina’s Atlantic & Western Railway since […]
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Time may be short for the GP10 locomotives that handle traffic on the Gettysburg & Northern, a 27-mile Pioneer Lines short line connecting to CSX Transportation at Gettysburg and Norfolk Southern at Mt. Holly Springs, Pa. Photographer William Anderson reports that the railroad is currently testing a CEFX (CIT Rail) lease unit, […]
Baldwin Centipede locomotives were an oddity of mid-century railroading that just couldn’t compete with more mundane offerings from rivals Alco or Electro-Motive. What is a Centipede? Officially, this gargantuan diesel is the Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2. That’s a mouthful. Broken down, it stood for Diesel Road, 12-axles, eight of which were connected to traction motors, with two […]
Lake State Railway has recently acquired six SD70Ms to add to its all-EMD fleet of power. The Michigan-based railroad operates approximately 375 miles of track in the eastern half of the state. The six units were chosen from a group returned by Union Pacific to the lessor. These units had a solid reliability record on […]
