The sight of a toy train locomotive puffing across a layout, its rhythmic white exhaust reaching out to the sky, is as captivating today as it was when the first smoking O gauge locomotive debuted more than 50 years ago. But what you see isn’t smoke. There is no combustion occurring. Without combustion, you can’t […]
Depot and diesel wear different heralds, but nothing is out of the ordinary as a Chicago Great Western freight ambles past the Rock Island station in Waterloo, Iowa, in June 1961. Richard J. Anderson A family visit took me to Waterloo, Iowa, on a June day in 1961, but it was good ol’ railfan instinct […]
F3s, Hudsons, and Girls’ trains – those are the postwar jackpots that everybody knows about. Here, though, are six underexposed Lionel items that are quickly moving up the charts. Models courtesy Joe Algozzini What’s hot today among postwar Lionel trains and accessories? I attend several train shows each year, check out eBay listings almost every […]
Two Wisconsin & Southern MP15s switch the MillerCoors brewery on July 1, 2010. The lead unit’s heritage is unmistakable, thanks to the Milwaukee Road lettering and “bandit” colors. Railroads and brewing propelled Milwaukee’s industrial might in the 20th century. Matt Van Hattem photo […]
A GIFT FROM THE HEART IS SOMETHING TO TREASURE. If the gift happens to be a train, that’s all the better. Such is the case with the Christmas train I created for my club layout to operate throughout the holiday season. While a variety of special holiday sets are readily available from toy train manufacturers, […]
It’s easy and fun to create your own roadside signage. I love billboards, especially the Lionel billboards that have removable inserts allowing you to change what’s on the billboard. Until recently, you had to be content with whatever advertisement was printed on the thin cardboard that’s packed with the billboard. Wouldn’t it be more fun […]
If you’re just getting into O gauge, or even if you’re a collector getting the urge to build a layout, you’ll need to lay some track. After all, without track (and a transformer, of course), your three-rail trains are just expensive push toys! Where I refer to “tubular” track, I’m talking about regular Lionel, K-Line, […]
1. A Southern Pacific 2-8-4 Berkshire with a Vanderbilt tender takes a freight train over the bridge. Nothing in the picture suggests that this garden line is actually built up on benchwork. Bill Hook 2. Full-size trees and the lake in the background can be seen in this dramatic view from behind the railroad. The […]
The Athearn Genesis HO scale MT-4 features a SoundTraxx Tsunami Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. See and hear this new steam locomotive run on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]
The Athearn Genesis HO scale MT-4 features a SoundTraxx Tsunami Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. See and hear this new steam locomotive run on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]
The Santa Fe established a major shop complex at Albuquerque to maintain and repair steam locomotives. At their peak in 1940, the shops were one of the city’s largest employers, with 1787 workers. The shops declined as the Santa Fe dieselized, and, as the road’s last steam backshop, perfromed their final locomotive work in March […]
Illinois Central wasn’t the first railroad in Chicago, but it was one of 10 Class 1’s headquartered there and became arguably the most visible, thanks to its lakefront location. Its Romanesque Revival-style Central Station, built on fill in Lake Michigan for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, served IC plus New York Central’s Michigan Central and […]
