WalthersMainline HO scale EMD SD50 diesel

MRRNP0620_41

WalthersMainline HO scale EMD SD50 diesel Electro-Motive Division’s SD50 diesel locomotive was the successor to its wildly popular SD40-2. Now a model of this big 3,500-hp brute equipped with an optional Electronic Solutions Ulm (ESU) dual-mode decoder is available from Walthers Mainline for your HO scale layout. The prototype. General Motors sold the first SD50s […]

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Rapido Trains HO scale P-S New Haven diner

MRRPR0720_500

Rapido Trains HO scale P-S New Haven diner Rapido Trains has added a 1949 Pullman-Standard streamlined dining car to its ever-growing line of New York, New Haven & Hartford HO scale passenger equipment. The injection-molded plastic and metal car features more than 200 parts and is detailed inside and out. The prototype. In December 1945, […]

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Atlas N scale 4,180-cubic-foot-capacity Airslide covered hopper

MRRPR0720_403

Atlas N scale 4,180-cubic-foot-capacity Airslide covered hopper Underbody details include separate, factory-applied outlet gate piping, hopper outlets, underframe slope braces, and the cylinder/brake assembly.   Atlas Model Railroad Co. has added a new model to its expanding N scale lineup, the General American 4,180- cubic-foot capacity Airslide covered hopper. The model, based on a mid-1960s […]

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Modeling the mighty Pennsy in a small space

Pennsylvania RR Juniata Division

A version of this article appeared in Model Railroader’s special issue from 2018: Build a Small Railroad.  Pursuing my hobby concurrently with my military career meant I needed a portable model railroad that could still suggest the scale and intensity of a gigantic prototype in an impossibly small space. I found what I needed in […]

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Modeling a narrow gauge railroad in a small space

Michigan-California Logging Co.

Modeling a narrow gauge railroad in a small space: Modeling a logging camp requires a variety of structures, trackwork, scenery, figures, and activities. The camp includes not only loggers involved in different pursuits, but also woodchoppers, a laundress, checkers players, engineers and mechanics, stable hands and horses, bears, garbage cans, railroad materials, and more, surrounded […]

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CSX switching layout in HO scale in 12 square feet

CSX Ridgecrest

A version of this article appeared in Model Railroader’s special issue from 2018: Build a Small Railroad. In today’s world of trains, big 6-axle locomotives, and flashing red lights replacing cabooses, it’s comforting to know that spotting a single boxcar at a warehouse is still an integral part of railroading. Designing the module As I […]

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Remembering Santa Fe Railway freight trains

A black and white photo of locomotive 2-10-2 on the tracks with black smoke coming out of its chimney as it turns

All this month — May 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include Santa Fe diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might […]

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How to find items in your chosen scale

three scale rules on a table

How to find items in your chosen scale Download the PDF here. Once you have settled on a scale that strikes the right balance for you, you can then begin to assemble the pieces to build your railroad—locomotives, rolling stock, buildings, vehicles, and people. Some manufacturers are good enough to mark the scale of their […]

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How to cast plaster rocks for model railroad scenery

Rockmolds1

David Popp Nothing says “impressive” quite like a rugged mountain range full of jagged rock faces. Though mountains appear solid to us, many are just individual layers of rocks, stacked one on top of another. If you keep this idea in mind, then adding impressive rock features to your layout isn’t a difficult task. Whether […]

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New model trains for the week of May 14, 2020

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD35 diesel locomotive

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70MAC diesel locomotive. Alaska RR (blue-and-yellow scheme), BNSF Ry. (green-and-cream warbonnet in one road number, Heritage III in three numbers), Burlington Northern (as-delivered green and cream scheme, three numbers), CSX (dark blue and yellow with “boxcar” herald), Mexican Rail Transportation (gray and red Kansas City Southern-style scheme, three numbers), and […]

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In a surprise, UP shuts down Cold Connect reefer service

Cold_Connect_Lassen

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has pulled the plug on its innovative Cold Connect reefer service, which the railroad had touted as a way to return long-lost perishables business to the rails. The service linked growers in California and the Pacific Northwest with consumers in the Northeast and New England via a mammoth refrigerated warehouse […]

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