Review: Lionel Legacy GP30 locomotive

Lionel GP30 locomotive

Electro-Motive Division’s GP30 was a pioneer of sorts: a herald of the second generation of diesel-electric locomotion on American railways. By 1960 most American railroads had an idea of what worked and what didn’t cut it in diesel operations. Watch Lionel’s Legacy GP30 run here. Builders such as Alco, Baldwin, Lima-Hamilton, and Fairbanks-Morse fell to […]

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Bob’s Train Box 74: Lionel GP30, track cleaning, modern S gauge

Bob Keller and Hal Miller in studio with a Lionel GP30 for taping of Bob's Train Box.

On this installment of Bob’s Train Box, Bob and CTT editor Hal Miller do a quick review of Lionel’s new Legacy GP30 (Read the full review in the December 2021 issue of CTT). Then Bob explains various track cleaning techniques and reveals his favorite thing to keep the rails shiny. The last stop is modern […]

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Bob’s Train Box 74: Lionel GP30, track cleaning, modern S gauge

Bob Keller and Hal Miller in studio with a Lionel GP30 for taping of Bob's Train Box.

On this installment of Bob’s Train Box, Bob and CTT editor Hal Miller do a quick review of Lionel’s new Legacy GP30 (Read the full review in the December 2021 issue of CTT). Then Bob explains various track cleaning techniques and reveals his favorite thing to keep the rails shiny. The last stop is modern […]

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How to sell toy trains

A listing for toy trains on Craigslist.

Where can I sell my trains? How to sell toy trains might be one of the most-asked questions we get at Classic Toy Trains. I first refer people who want to know how to sell Lionel, MTH, Marx, and American Flyer trains to the advertisers in Classic Toy Trains and even Model Railroader. There are […]

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CTT’s fall 2021 special: Toy train layouts for small spaces

the magazine cover next to a tablet showing the cover featuring toy train diesel train on a layout

The latest special issue from Classic Toy Trains! If you’re looking to build your first toy train layout, or maybe just something more manageable, Toy Train Layouts for Small Spaces has you covered! It’s full of plans for layouts under 100 square feet that will fit in a spare room, including island and around the […]

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Wonderful warbonnet: Lionel’s no. 11739 “The Super Chief” set

Hal Miller with Lionel train set box

CTT’s Hal Miller has a look at Lionel’s no. 11739 Santa Fe “The Super Chief” set that was the first one in the modern era to feature an Alco locomotive. This O-27 outfit is still available and affordable on the auction and swap meet market along with its add-on cars. It’s great to run or […]

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Wonderful warbonnet: Lionel’s no. 11739 “The Super Chief” set

Hal Miller with Lionel train set box

CTT’s Hal Miller has a look at Lionel’s no. 11739 Santa Fe “The Super Chief” set that was the first one in the modern era to feature an Alco locomotive. This O-27 outfit is still available and affordable on the auction and swap meet market along with its add-on cars. It’s great to run or […]

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Lionel No. 6356 stockcar

Lionel stockcar

Stockcars are among the types of rolling stock some railroads had a lot of. When it was time to move livestock to market, railroads would often make up entire trains of these or string together long blocks of them in their speediest freight trains. Since they were dealing with live animals, it was imperative they […]

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Meet Milwaukee’s ambitious layout builder

A Lionel diesel exiting a tunnel

The layouts most recently showcased here have reflected the hobby activities of two of the top performers of the second half of the 20th century, each of whom has a reputation for greatness spanning the earth. In fact, if beings far out in the solar system have a toe to tap, they probably are doing […]

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