I DON’T HAVE a bond with postwar American Flyer. My grandfather had Flyer trains, my uncle had Marx trains, and I had Lionel trains. So I have a pretty broad view of postwar trains, and my S gauge interests aren’t driven by nostalgia, but rather by what I think will look cool on my layout. […]
I’VE HAD A SOFT spot for Cab-Forward steam locomotion since buying a book called Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives about 40 years ago. To me, even the early versions of the locomotive, with a square, boxy cab mounted in front of the boiler looked amazingly futuristic. Though the Southern Pacific adopted the Cab-Forward design to ensure […]
WHEN ASKED WHY TRAIN sets promoting NFL teams, John Deere tractors, or even Sponge Bob cartoon characters were important, MTH Electric Trains honcho Mike Wolf noted in an interview with CLASSIC TOY TRAINS that the paint schemes representing licensed products got train sets into homes that might not otherwise have one. Lionel’s skipper Jerry Calabrese […]
ONE OF THE Goliaths of modern railroading is the Electro-Motive SD70ACe, and it is far more than a tweak of the popular SD70. Electro-Motive designers re-worked its 16-cylinder prime mover to be more fuel-efficient and to meet tougher environmental emissions requirements. Improvments were made in just about every aspect: from crewmember ergonomics to ease of […]
WHILE THUMBING THROUGH the ads in CLASSIC TOY TRAINS, I discovered a diesel that I’d missed when it originally came out: MTH’s version of the Baldwin AS-616 road switcher. Why? For me, the Pennsy is a secondary road name. But when I saw it offered at a bargain price, I reached for my wallet. The […]
I’VE OFTEN THOUGHT that the Reading Company’s presence in popular culture – and in model railroading – was far greater than its actual importance as a railroad. Nonetheless, the Reading, a two-and-a-half-state regional carrier gone now for three decades, continues to attract a fan base so enthusiastic that you’d expect the line was still running. […]
ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, a friend I knew through non-train circles called me on the phone. He knew of my interest in model railroading, and he said he had a Lionel train set, and could I tell him if it was worth anything. “It’s a bit strange,” he began, “the locomotive is pink. We got […]
Marc Horovitz 1:24 scale, gauge-1 San Francisco cable carAMS33268 Central AvenueUnion City CA 94587Price: $299 + s&hWeb site: www.amstrains.com Plastic, ready-to-run model of a Powell & Hyde Streets cable car; interior detail; one power truck; working headlight and marker lights; available in two color schemes; two car numbers per color available. Dimensions: Length, 151/4 “; […]
Bachmann 1:20.3 three-truck Shay This three-truck 1:20.3-proportion three-foot gauge Shay from Bachmann gives large scale fans an action-packed logger complete with Digital Command Control. A SoundTraxx Tsunami decoder adds realistic steam sound effects to this Spectrum series locomotive. Built to order. Beginning around the turn of the 20th century Lima Locomotive Works built Shay geared […]
Walthers HO heavyweight baggage car A highly detailed ready-to-run HO scale 70-foot heavyweight baggage car is now available in several paint schemes. This new Walthers model accurately follows an American Car & Foundry-built Missouri Pacific prototype that’s similar to baggage cars used by many other railroads. Head-end workhorses. Railroads began buying all-steel or heavyweight baggage […]
Athearn HO clay slurry tank car A highly-detailed 16,000-gallon clay slurry tank car is available from Athearn. The Ready-to-Roll model, based on the UTLX Mfg. prototype, features numerous freestanding parts and plastic double-shelf knuckle couplers. What is clay slurry? When kaolin, a soft white clay mined in the south-eastern United States and found throughout the […]
Digitrax’s new SDH104K1C+FN04K1 SoundFX decoder for Kato F40PH engines makes installing sound in these HO scale locomotives a snap. Digitrax’s latest SoundFX Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder is made specifically for Kato’s F40PH passenger locomotives. The plug-and-play decoder replaces the locomotive’s factory-installed circuit board and comes wired with a lighting effects decoder and a 28mm, […]
