Marc Horovitz Rail bender for code-332 railEmpire Builder Railroad Designs4418 E. Lariat LanePhoenix AZ 85050Price: $130 + $14 s&h Heavy-duty rail bender; brass, aluminum, and steel construction; case-hardened steel rollers; larger adjustable roller; mounting holes. Dimensions: 3″ x 3″ x 3″ (not including handle)Pros: Excellent, high-quality unit; easily adjustable with wrench; large crank makes rolling […]
CAN THERE EVER BE too many O gauge Santa Fe F units on the market? Probably not. General Motors cranked out these diesels by the thousands, and both the high and mighty lines, as well as scores of railroads you probably never heard of, used these trusty machines. As with New York Central Hudsons, the […]
K-LINE’S UNITED STATES Railway Administration light 2-8-2 Mikado commemorates the 625 steam engines of this type built for U.S. railroads during and shortly after the First World War. The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, and that December President Wilson placed U.S. railroads under the control of the railroad administration (USRA). In […]
MOUNTAIN RAILROADING is a tough job in North America. In the last century both the Great Northern and Milwaukee Road utilized electric locomotives to master this beastly job. The grades of Washington state’s Cascade Mountains were a tough nut to crack for the Great Northern. The first Cascade Tunnel was built in 1900. At an […]
THESE ARE GOOD DAYS for Reading Railroad fans. First was the arrival of Weaver’s brass G1sa and G2sa Pacific steamers (CTT, March 2002) and now SGL Lines Electric Trains , a newcomer to the train business, has imported a fine example of the G3-class Pacific and matching Reading passenger cars.In 1948, the Reading railroad committed […]
Marc Horovitz 1:20.3-scale figuresFine FolkAvailable from your local dealer or from:Mike’s Backshop12129 Gay Rio DriveLakeside CA 92040Price: $9 each, unpainted; $35 painted + s&hWeb site: www.mikesbackshop.com Unpainted, cast resin, seated figures in 1:20.3 scale; fireman Clem, engineer Chet, and Miss JennyPros: Superbly modeled figures; no cleanup necessary; ready to paintCons: Difficult to modify due to […]
K-LINE’S O GAUGE Allegheny 2-6-6-6 steam locomotive is the second of the firm’s miniaturized Mallets. Like K-Line’s previously released 1:64 scale, O gauge 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, this 1:58 scale Allegheny is targeted at operators with O-31 curves and tight budgets. The prototype Allegheny evolved from a 2-12-6 concept for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Lima […]
WAY BACK IN 1965, I showed Joe, my next door neighbor, my prize birthday present: a James Bond Shooting Attaché Case (made by MPC, no less). Joe, a grownup insurance salesman, opened it up, smiled, and said, “Boy, Bobby, you could commit mayhem with this!” Opening the box for the Operation Iraqi Freedom train set, […]
AMID A SEA OF limited-edition, $1,400 locomotives, why should anyone be interested in this modest steamer? Well, first, it is designed to run through curves as tight as O-27 – and there are still plenty of operators using O-27, O-31, and O-54 curved track. Second, the tooling is new. This isn’t a lame attempt to […]
WHEN I FIRST SAW the ads for the LionMaster Hudson, I presumed that it was launched in response to K-Line’s similarly priced, scale-sized Hudson (CTT, July 2003). Not so. While all new like the K-Line Hudson and featuring TrainMaster Command Control, Rail Sounds, Odyssey speed control, and a wireless tether, the Lionel model is the […]
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS Lionel has been making some very smart choices when capitalizing on its past. Offering models of never-produced items and reissues of desirable sets from the postwar era is especially attractive to many of today’s operators and collectors. A reissue of the no. 2527 Super O gauge missile launcher outfit from […]
WHEN ANDREW’S RAIDERS tried to steal the Western & Atlantic Railroad’s General locomotive during the Civil War, they certainly had no idea how many fantasy “great locomotive chases” they’d inspire in the decades to come. Lionel, for one, has had great fun with the concept. When the Lionel Corp. produced its postwar nos. 1862 and […]
