SIXTY YEARS AGO, if you’d lined up Alco, Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, Electro-Motive, Fairbanks-Morse, and General Electric diesels and tried to pick which would rule 21st-Century railroading, few would have guessed it would be GE. After all, General Electric was a late-comer to the locomotive business and was chiefly known for supplying electrical components to other locomotive builders. […]
INEXPENSIVE IS NOT BAD. Cheap is bad, but not inexpensive. Cheap means flimsy material and poor reliability. Inexpensive means “I’ll take two, instead.” Lionel seems to be steering the K-Line product line in a specific direction – and that direction appears to be smart, economical trains, rather than the high-dollar super-spectacular locomotives we came to […]
Watch Bob’s video introduction of Atlas O’s Industrial Rail starter set. Only from Classic Toy Trains. […]
Here is a video of the MTH RailKing diesel freight set. […]
ALTHOUGH THE SHAPE OF THE P5a BOXCAB bears a strong resemblance to a plastic cheese storage box, don’t let that fool you. This model illustrates the high level of detail that can go into a die-cast metal diesel or locomotive shell. […]
Action video of the SuperStreets sets by K-Line by Lionel can be viewed below. […]
Athearn N scale FP45 and F45 The semi-streamlined successor to Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe warbonnet-clad F units, Electro-Motive Division FP45s served briefly in passenger service but had long freight-hauling careers, as did the F45. The Athearn N scale FP45 and F45 feature many prototype- specific details. Prototype. In 1966, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa […]
Broadway Limited Imports HO scale PRR I1sa 2-10-0 Models of the Pennsylvania RR’s powerful class I1sa Decapod-type locomotives have just been introduced by Broadway Limited Imports. They’re offered in a number of versions that capture the look and feel of PRR’s standard motive power design. The models include automatic dual-mode sound decoders that operate on […]
Zimo Electronk MX31ZL Digital Command Control (DCC) system While this Digital Command Control (DCC) starter set is easy enough for a novice to set up and operate, the Zimo MX31ZL also has a wide array of advanced programming features and operating capabilities that would satisfy expert DCC users. Getting started. I set up the Zimo […]
Atlas HO scale 1932 ARA boxcar You might think there are few significant freight cars that haven’t been represented by HO plastic models. That assumption is a little closer to being true because of this convincing Atlas model of the American Railway Association (ARA) standard boxcar of 1932. In 1932, the ARA, the predecessor of […]
Marc Horovitz A Century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 19812nd edition, revised and enlargedby Robert E. SloanPublished by BHI PublicationsPO Box 247Cottleville OH 63338Spiral bound, hundreds of b&w photos, 360 pagesPrice: $49.99Web site: www.bhipubs.com In 2000, Bob Sloan published a ground-breaking work on the freight equipment of American’s best known, […]
Kevin Strong 1:20.3 scale, gauge-1 D&RGW Spreader OVAccucraft Trains33268 Central Ave.Union City CA 94587Price: $1,000Web site: www.accucraft.com All-metal model of a D&RGW ballast spreader; working knuckle couplers; appropriate moving parts; two versions available. Dimensions: Length, 17″ over end beams; width, 6″ (wings folded) or 10¼” (wings extended); height, 7¾”. In 1:20.3 scale, this works out […]
