A Santa Ana freight works upgrade on the eastbound main at Summit, Calif., on Cajon Pass on Dec. 28, 1940. Edwin A. Vail photo […]
Fast freight
Era: 1920 - 1945
What industries for an Idaho model railroad in the 1940s?
Q: I am looking for suggestions for industries for an Idaho model railroad in the 1940s. I’m working on building an HO scale 10 x 11-foot around-the-walls model railroad. I have decided to model a small town in rural Idaho along the Union Pacific in 1942. I am looking for a few plausible industries to […]
Classic coal hauler
Most offset-side hoppers were built to AAR common designs. This two-bay Minneapolis & St. Louis 2,081-cubic-foot-capacity car, built in 1936, is typical of those in service through the 1960s. Classic Trains collection […]
Five prestigious Burlington Zephyrs
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, commonly known as the Burlington Route, had many Zephyrs. But out of all the streamlined trainsets and services famously named after the Greek God of the West Wind, which of the five where considered the most prestigious? Pioneer Zephyr Rolled out on April 7, 1934, by the […]
Fox Valley Models HO 55-ton hopper
Fox Valley Models, a ScaleTrains company, has released an HO scale 55-ton two-bay hopper. The model, based on a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) prototype, features plastic and die-cast metal construction, 33” metal wheelsets, and semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers. Prototype information With railroads facing equipment shortages during World War I, the USRA designed five […]
Photos from a late 1930s themed garden railway
The railroad at a glance Railway name: Dunckley Northern Railway (DNR) Size of railroad: Covering an odd shaped garden approximately 70′ x 70′ Scale: 1:24 Gauge: 45mm for 3’6″ gauge and 64mm for standard gauge Era: Late 1930s Theme: The DNR is a colonial railway in an undisclosed country. The Consolidated Concentrates Conglomerate (CCC) branch […]
Pennsy’s Broad Street Station on fire
The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed. PRR photo […]
Milwaukee S3 4-8-4 on a freight
Milwaukee Road class S3 Northern 267 rolls stock and refrigerator cars east at Bensenville, Ill., in the 1940s. The 4-8-4 is one of 10 built by Alco for MILW in 1944; sister 261 was restored for excursion service in 1993 and still runs out of Minneapolis. Classic Trains collection […]
O gauge three-truck Shay from MTH
Classic Toy Trains Editor Rene Schweitzer and Model Railroader Associate Editor Bryson Sleppy explain the history, features, and operate the O gauge three-truck Shay from MTH. Read the print review here. Learn more about the history of the Shay. […]
Frisco freight at Neosho, Mo.
High-mounted St. Louis-San Francisco 2-8-0 1262 heads into a siding with a freight at Neosho, Mo., in 1934. The tower in the background and split-rail derail in the foreground protect the Frisco’s crossing with a Kansas City Southern line. Harold K. Vollrath collection […]
ScaleTrains S gauge 40-foot boxcar
The ScaleTrains S gauge 40-foot boxcar, based on a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) rebuilt steel prototype, is in hobby shops now. The model, the company’s second release in its S-Helper Service line, is offered ready-to-run in 10 paint schemes and as a kit in two versions. The prototype The sample we received is decorated […]
Big day for the Broadway
It’s June 15, 1938, the date on which the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited made its debut as a streamlined train. K4s 3768, given a streamlined cowling two years previously, handled the train out of Chicago. Classic Trains collection […]
