Rock Island E7 634 eases to a stop with a late-running Golden State from Los Angeles at Joliet Union Station in 1951. In the background Santa Fe F units wait with the westbound Grand Canyon. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Clean track and repel critters: I’ve been running my garden railway for about nine years. While operations have been successful, I’ve had to deal with two recurring challenges that seem to affect other large-scale operators as well, namely connectivity and Mother Nature. Connectivity issues usually means either bad joint connections between pieces of track or […]
Mind-blowing dining car facts Dining by rail was transformed from a disgusting experience to a culinary calling card pitting one railroad against another to garner passengers. At the table, passengers enjoyed fine food served with the grace and style of the best restaurants. What we didn’t see was the world and culture of the dining […]
Amtrak roomette tips The journey begins If you’ve taken a trip on Amtrak before, some of this may already resonate with you. But as a newcomer, I’ve not had the pleasure of traveling roundtrip via the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Cumberland, Md. before. After two completely different experiences (for me), Model Railroader Associate Editor […]
Let’s look at some different types of tunnels. In the real world, tunnels are incredibly expensive to build and maintain. Prototype railroads would only dig a tunnel when there was no other way through or around an obstruction like a mountain, a river, or a built-up city. However, some types of tunnels are often necessary […]
Q: I’m going to scratchbuild a two-track telltale for both of my tunnel entrances. I have a couple of questions. How are railroad telltales made? What material did the railroads use? For a double track, would there be one long bar or two separate bars with the telltales on them? – Wes Barteck A: I […]
Meet David Popp What was your first train set? With a dad and grandfather both into model trains, I was surrounded by model railroading from an early age. The first train I can remember that I was given was a colorful plastic version of what we would now call Brio trains. It had silver-colored plastic […]
BRONX, N.Y.— New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the Penn Station Access project, which will allow trains from Metro-North’s New Haven Line to directly serve Penn Station while adding four new stations in the Bronx. Hochul said in a press release that the project “will not only […]
Can a railroad single-handedly preserve the intermodal dominance of North America’s biggest port complex? BNSF Railway is making a $1.5 billion bet that the answer is yes. The railroad announced on Oct. 1 that it will build a massive new intermodal facility in Barstow, Calif., to expedite the handling of freight imported and exported through […]
Food Machinery Corporation 50-foot plug door boxcar from Athearn Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $39.99. Add $5 for Prime for Grime models. Era: 1977+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com FMC 50’ boxcar features: Separately applied grab irons, end ladders and brake wheel Photo-etched cross-over platform 33” […]
Think of the GMD-1 as the Canadian prairie locomotive. With a legacy stretching six decades the EMD GMD-1 (General Motors Diesel of Canada) was a locomotive model that was used exclusively in Canada by the Canadian National and the Northern Alberta Railways. Build at the General Motors Diesel plant in London, Ontario, the 1,200-horsepower diesel […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board to investigate what it calls the “abysmal” on-time performance of the Sunset Limited, which it attributes largely to the operating practices of Union Pacific, and seeks “damages and other relief” from UP as a result of those practices. Amtrak lays out the details of its complaint […]
