FOR MORE THAN 25 years, Weaver has produced a vast array of rolling stock, brass steam locomotives, and great diesels in plastic. The latest challenge the Northumberland, Pa., firm has tackled is a die-cast metal locomotive. And not only is this the company’s first die-cast steamer, it is also its first steamer to include Lionel’s […]
WHILE STIFF COMPETITION among the bigger boys of the toy train world pushes O gauge locomotives to new levels of sophistication, Williams has found its niche producing well-made toy trains – minus some of the frills – at a price that is well within reach of most operators. Among the newest items on Williams’ list […]
ONE OF THE HOTTEST locomotives ever made was the streamlined Pennsy K4-class Torpedo. The rocket-shaped steamer looked ready to launch even when standing still. In the 1930s, when the Pennsylvania Railroad re-designed its signature train the Broadway Limited, management wanted the train’s 4-6-2 locomotive to be just as striking as the passenger cars. Industrial designer […]
IF YOU ASK collectors and operators of postwar Lionel trains which accessories they prize, most will put the no. 264 Operating Forklift Platform high on their list. They like its reliability, compact appearance, and neat action. Lionel cataloged the 264 for only four years, from 1957 through 1960. That fact and the fascination this accessory […]
COMPETITION HAS always brought out the best in toy train manufacturers. Just consider the fantastic accessories that Lionel and A.C. Gilbert brought out during the postwar era that represented similar but not identical answers to what the market wanted. Kids loved pretending that their trains hauled logs and coal, so each company created operating loaders. […]
THE ALCO RS-3 ROAD switcher was one of the Schenectady, N.Y., locomotive builder’s most popular diesels. Between 1950 and 1956, Alco produced 1,375 of the 1,600-horsepower units for North American railroads. Only the Alco S-2 switcher outsold the RS-3 in the United States. The locomotive is a rugged and reliable engine, as evidenced by the […]
THE MILWAUKEE ROAD bipolar electric left an indelible imprint on the toy train world. The body style was quite popular with prewar manufacturers and it captivated a generation of model railroaders.Oddly, this singular engine was ignored in the postwar and modern eras, and now, on the brink of the Digital Era, we finally have MTH’s […]
TODAY, UNION PACIFIC’S articulated M-10000 train is quaint, in an odd but wondrous, Buck Rogers sort of way. But in 1934, the turret-topped train had the impact of a Concorde SST jetliner on rails. The M-10000 and the Burlington’s Zephyr were the first gleaming streamliners in a world of ponderous smoky-black steam locomotives pulling long […]
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD had two major challenges: The Allegheny Mountains and a primary commodity of coal. This double-whammy resulted in some of the most impressive non-articulated steam locomotives ever developed. And rest assured, when the line found an engine that “worked,” it cranked out a ton of them. The I-class 2-10-0 Decapods are a case […]
SOME OF THE slickest-looking steam locomotives were the streamlined Atlantics and Hudsons that served the Milwaukee Road’s speedy Hiawatha passenger trains. During the Great Depression, competition for diminishing passenger traffic was intense. Some roads, such as the Union Pacific, opted for cutting-edge diesel streamliners. Others, such as the Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road, […]
ARE WE IN THE midst of a revival of the trolley car on tinplate layouts, or what? For years we’ve had trolleys by Lionel and Bowser, but recent months have seen new trolleys offered by MTH, K-Line, United Models, and Marx. Now Western Hobbycraft has jumped into the mix on O gauge track. I can’t […]
HOW OFTEN I CAN remember the late Frank Pettit complaining about how quickly Lionel had pulled the plug on what he insisted was among his greatest inventions. Frank, who served as a one-man research and development department at Lionel during the postwar period, was talking about the no. 38 operating water tower. According to an […]
