Regulators toss out effort to force UP to sell Tennessee Pass line

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WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board has rejected real estate moguls’ effort to force Union Pacific to sell its mothballed Tennessee Pass line in Colorado. But the board’s ruling leaves open the possibility that KCVN and Colorado Pacific, which proposed buying the Tennessee Pass line and restoring it to service to haul agricultural and mining […]

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ScaleTrains.com HO scale GE C39-8 diesel

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ScaleTrains.com HO scale GE C39-8 diesel An HO scale General Electric C39-8 diesel-electric locomotive gets the ScaleTrains.com Rivet Counter treatment. As with the N scale version that I reviewed in the August 2019 issue, this HO scale locomotive features ­roadname- and road number-specific detail. Our review sample also came equipped with an ESU LokSound V.5 decoder […]

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MRC Throttlepack 9950

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MRC Throttlepack 9950 The green plug on the back of the cabinet features terminals for track power and accessories. The Throttlepack 9950 isn’t a new face in the Model Rectifier Corp. power pack lineup. However, the train controller, designed for N, HO, O, and G scales, now has the ability to operate Digital Command Control […]

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Walthers 40-foot HO single-sheathed boxcar

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Walthers 40-foot HO single-sheathed boxcar Modelers of mid-20th century railroading have a new piece of rolling stock to add to their fleets in the Walthers Mainline 40-foot American Railroad Association (ARA) standard single-sheathed boxcar. This ready-to-run car is modernized with AB brakes and has metal ends and doors. An adaptable standard. The 1923 ARA XM-1 […]

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Atlas Trainkids Amtrak Acela passenger train set

Atlas Trainkids Amtrak Acela passenger train set

Atlas Model Railroad Co. hopes to recruit a new generation of hobbyists into model railroading with its new Trainkids line. The first offering under this new brand is a passenger train set inspired by Amtrak’s high-speed Northeast Corridor train, the Acela Express. The set comes with a battery-powered locomotive/first-class car set, two more passenger cars, […]

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HO scale passenger train

HO scale passenger train on layout

Watch this HO scale passenger train as it passes through a crossing on Louis Showers’ freelanced Erie-Lackawanna layout. The engines are F2 ABA Bachmann locomotives with sound. The cars are IHC smooth side passenger cars to which he added body-mounted couplers, interiors, lights, and Walther’s Proto power capable trucks. […]

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Wintergreen Junction

Snowy scene on model train layout

Welcome to Wintergreen Junction, a fictional place located somewhere in the great north, snow covered nearly year round. In reality, this is a new 3 x 3-foot N scale layout built between Thanksgiving and Christmas this past year. Although unfinished (ran out of time), this layout will continue to evolve in the years ahead. Enjoy […]

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HO scale passenger train

HO scale passenger train on layout

Watch this HO scale passenger train as it passes through a crossing on Louis Showers’ freelanced Erie-Lackawanna layout. The engines are F2 ABA Bachmann locomotives with sound. The cars are IHC smooth side passenger cars to which he added body-mounted couplers, interiors, lights, and Walther’s Proto power capable trucks. […]

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Wintergreen Junction

Snowy scene on model train layout

Welcome to Wintergreen Junction, a fictional place located somewhere in the great north, snow covered nearly year round. In reality, this is a new 3 x 3-foot N scale layout built between Thanksgiving and Christmas this past year. Although unfinished (ran out of time), this layout will continue to evolve in the years ahead. Enjoy […]

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Locomotive profile: Alco’s C630 diesel electric locomotive

Norfolk & Western C630 No. 1134 at Roanoke, Virginia.

Norfolk & Western C630 No. 1134 at Roanoke, Virginia. Rick Johnson C630 •YEARS BUILT: 1965-1969 •MANUFACTURERS: Alco, Montreal •OPERATED ON: Atlantic Coast Line, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio, Louisville & Nashville, Norfolk & Western, Pacific Great Eastern, Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading, Southern Pacific, others •NAMES: C630, M630 •QUANTITY: 133 •HORSEPOWER: 3,000 •KNOWN FOR: The […]

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Locomotive profile: DDA40X

Original DDA40X is on display in Omaha, Nebraska.

DDA40X Original DDA40X is on display in Omaha, Nebraska. Jim Wrinn DDA40X •YEARS BUILT: 1969-1971 •MANUFACTURER: EMD •OPERATED ON: Union Pacific (special order from UP) •NAME: Centennial, named to mark the 100th anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah. •QUANTITY: 47 •HORSEPOWER: 6,600 •KNOWN FOR: The most successful of UP’s twin-engine freight […]

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Locomotive profile: EMD F40PH series diesel electric locomotives

Metra No. 166 leads a train at Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2011.

Metra No. 166 leads a train at Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2011. Jim Wrinn F40PH-series •YEARS BUILT: 1976-1988 •MANUFACTURERS: Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, GMD of Canada •OPERATED ON: Amtrak, GO Transit, MBTA, Metra, Via Rail Canada •NAMES: F40PH, F40PHR, F40PH-2, F40PH-2M, F40PH-2C, F40PHM-2C; nicknames, Winnebago, Screamer, Thunder Box, Thunder Wagon •QUANTITY: 486 •HORSEPOWER: 3,000 •KNOWN […]

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