In the December 2013 issue, author Jim Kottkamp shows you how to build a functional workbench. He has generously shared his drawings of this project. The link will download a PDF file. […]
Build a large-scale workbench
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Kansas City tonnage: 1971 and 2003
Chicago might have more trains, and St. Louis a big shiny arch, but Kansas City is the ton-mile king, with over 1 billion tons passing through the city (or above it, on flyovers) in 2003. That is 15 percent more tons than Chicago. What is remarkable about K.C. is its sheer growth, from 378 million […]
Book Review: Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line
Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line by Ed Wolfe, Charles Wilson, Jr., and Paul Mandelkern HEW Enterprises, 116 Oakview Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 1521; 432 pages, 384 b/w and 48 color photos; hardcover, 8.5 x 11 in.; $65.00 Ed Wolfe has established himself as an outstanding researcher and writer in Appalachian railroad history with five different […]
Trains 2014 Photo Contest
Robert Jordan took this aerial image of Canadian Pacific train No. 270 at Bellevue, Iowa, and won grand prize for Trains 2012 photo contest. Trains‘ 2014 photo contest theme is “Sequence.” Sequential art can be traced back to cave drawings, and more recently in comic books. Well-known photographer Elliott Erwitt published a 2011 book called […]
Dixie Creek ore train to the mines
A Joe Works HOn30 Shay pulls a string of ore cars from the processing mill back to the mining district. The train will climb approximately 17″ from the mine site. The elevation is possible on the rugged 3′ x 7′ section of the layout by utilizing a helix on each end of this part of […]
Member video: Overland Models Union Pacific experimental steam turbines
The Union Pacific Railroad flirted with steam turbine power in the 1930’s and in1939, two experimental turbines, simply named no. 1 and no. 2 took to the rails. These two examples are brass units produced by Overland Models. I installed QSI Titan decoders in each unit and utilized a custom sound file for steam turbine […]
Dixie Creek ore train to the mines
A Joe Works HOn30 Shay pulls a string of ore cars from the processing mill back to the mining district. The train will climb approximately 17″ from the mine site. The elevation is possible on the rugged 3′ x 7′ section of the layout by utilizing a helix on each end of this part of […]
Member video: Overland Models Union Pacific experimental steam turbines
The Union Pacific Railroad flirted with steam turbine power in the 1930’s and in1939, two experimental turbines, simply named no. 1 and no. 2 took to the rails. These two examples are brass units produced by Overland Models. I installed QSI Titan decoders in each unit and utilized a custom sound file for steam turbine […]
Dixie Creek Central RR
The video features a log train, making its way from the high country to the mill at Sawyer. The train will pass through Clear Creek, over several bridges and through several tunnels. The Dixie Creek Central shares track rights with the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Ry., which serves mines on the upper level of the layout. […]
The electric social train
The “Crandic” interurban was a safe way for University of Iowa students to travel to and from parties at Cou Falls, 15 miles north of Iowa City. Crandic car 120 is near the Cou Falls station shelter in May 1944. Classic Trains coll. The Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway, universally known by the abbreviation […]
Dixie Creek Central RR
The video features a log train, making its way from the high country to the mill at Sawyer. The train will pass through Clear Creek, over several bridges and through several tunnels. The Dixie Creek Central shares track rights with the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Ry., which serves mines on the upper level of the layout. […]
Cajon Pass Extra
In October 2013, Trains sent me to Southern California to attend the first-ever Association of Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums meeting, to see Union Pacific’s preparatory work for moving Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 AND to get material for the February 2014 article in the magazine: “Cajon Pass Unplugged.” I spent weeks before and after […]
