For toy train collectors looking to up their game to include more and collectible pieces without breaking the bank, consider Lionel’s 2227W from 1954. Set No. 2227W, which had a retail price of $69.50 ($795 in 2023 dollars), relied on an iconic A-A combination of Santa Fe F3 diesels as its motive power. The […]
In 2006, then-CTT Associate Editor Bob Keller wrote that the doodlebug held “an interesting place in railroad history.” These self-propelled railcars were developed in the early part of the 20th century and initially powered with gasoline engines (some later were converted to diesel). These railcars were popular with railroads looking to economize service on lightly […]
After Gilbert acquired the assets of American Flyer in 1938, it set out to develop a line of 3/16-inch scale models that ran over three-rail track. The firm announced the debut of a die-cast metal 4-6-4 Hudson and tender the next year. The men assembling Gilbert’s first S gauge line for 1946 were eager to […]
In the years after World War II, Lionel strengthened its presence in Canada by working closely with the heads of its sales office in Toronto. Roy Clarke and his son, William, represented the toy train giant and made sure Lionel had a significant presence in department stores and retail chains across Canada. Evidence of Lionel’s […]
Facts & features Name: Freemont MillsScale: HO (1:87.1)Size: 3′-51⁄2″ x 7′-103⁄4″Prototype: freelancedLocale: Eastern U.S.Era: 1970Style: Free-Mo moduleMainline run: 94″Minimum radius: 60″Minimum turnout: No. 6Maximum grade: noneBenchwork: open gridHeight: 50″Roadbed: corkTrack: Walthers code 83Backdrop: noneControl: Train Control Systems LT-50 Download this trackplan! Buy the January 2023 issue of Model Railroader! […]
Facts & features Name: Reading Co. Scale: HO (1:87.1)Size: 13′-6″ x 22′-0″ plus 2′-6″ x 5′-3″ West Philadelphia additionPrototype: Reading Co.Locale: eastern PennsylvaniaEra: 1930s to 1940sStyle: walk-inMainline run: 80 feetMinimum radius: 36″ (main)Minimum turnout: No. 6 (main), No. 4 (yards and industries)Maximum grade: 2%Benchwork: modified L-girderHeight: 50″ to 58″Roadbed: cork on plywood (main), Homasote on […]
Overlooked during the prewar era and for the first decade of the postwar, it inspired four O gauge diesels and an operating boxcar in the space of four years in the second half of the 1950s. Let’s focus on the No. 2240 F3s. Introducing the Wabash The Wabash Ry. was one of several lines crossing […]
Lionel no. 2460 crane car During the prewar decades, crane cars became one of the hallmarks of the Lionel roster, with the No. 500 derrick car added to the 2 7/8-inch gauge roster in 1903. However, the Standard gauge line that followed did not boast a crane until the No. 219 made its debut in […]
Lionel’s engineers reached greater heights in 1959 when the firm introduced the No. 44 U.S. Army mobile missile launcher. Lionel offered an example of motive power that could pull cars and carry out a task worthy of a separate toy. To this moment in Lionel’s history, the best that its locomotives could offer were lights, […]
Lionel’s automatic refrigerated milk car model No. 3672 is an updated version of the path-breaking car that Lionel enthusiasts of all ages loved when it debuted as the No. 3462 in 1947. The evolution of the milk car that culminated with the 3672. It is known among collectors of postwar trains as the “Bosco car.” […]
New York Central 4505, a rare Fairbanks-Morse CPA-24-5, leads a train toward Chicago at Otis, Ind., in April 1954. A Studebaker, built in nearby South Bend, is beside the depot. Eugene Van Dusen photo […]
Into the 1960s, Chicago & North Western passenger trains blanketed the Upper Midwest, especially in Wisconsin — a popular vacationland until the jet airliner beckoned travelers instead to the likes of Southern California, Miami, and Las Vegas. In the late 1950s, new C&NW management saw the writing on the walls of the railroad’s majestic […]
