AN O GAUGE GP7 diesel for a mere $49.95. Yup, you read that right. “But wait,” you say. “Where’s the fine print?” Well, this is a physically large O gauge road diesel locomotive made for little hands, and priced right for gift giving. But rivet-counters beware: This model isn’t for you. The target audience for […]
REMEMBER THE Visible V-8? When I was a kid, I begged and begged my mom and dad to get me one for Christmas. The Visible V-8 was a clear plastic model of an automobile engine. It was big – 14 inches long. And it worked. In the original version, flashlight batteries hidden within a “car […]
I’LL BE HONEST. When I saw the box with “GP60” written on the label, I sighed. Geeps may be the most modeled diesel in the O gauge world, and here was another. Then I took the Atlas O model out of the box and said out loud, “Holy smokes, this model is stunning!” Once again, […]
PERHAPS THE MOST lasting symbol of the electrification era of American railroads is the Pennsylvania Railroad’s GG1 locomotive. To steal a phrase from a 1930s boxing movie, the GG1 electric is the “Winnah and still heavyweight champeen” of prototype American electric locomotives. Like the New York Central Hudson steamer, the hobby will most certainly see […]
OKAY, KOKOMO isn’t exactly on the right-of-way of the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, but I’ve got your attention, right? Well, I hope so, because Weaver has produced a first-rate model of a remarkable locomotive that soldiered on in relative obscurity, deserving of a better fate. The General Electric 2-D+D-2 was one of […]
ROARING INTO VIEW from those thrilling days of yesteryear is the latest re-creation of a postwar icon from Williams Electric Trains: the Alco FA set. Williams continues to reproduce popular trains from Lionel’s past at prices substantially lower than mint-condition originals. The latest example is a reproduction of the Alco FA A-A diesel set that […]
Readers may recall how dazzled I was with Atlas O’s superb GP60, painted in Santa Fe’s blue-and-yellow freight scheme and reviewed in the May 2005 issue. Well, that issue was still warm from the printing presses when we received two more sturdy additions to the CTT locomotive test fleet: the powered Atlas O GP60M and […]
K-LINE’S TRACK-SPEEDER SHED is an interesting little accessory that can be installed on a layout with a minimum of fuss. You’ll need to remove a section of track to install this accessory. Once you have wired the shed, on/off switch, and turntable controller, you’re ready for action. Run the speeder down the track and stop […]
K-LINE’S WATCHMAN’S SHANTY would be a good-looking accessory even if it didn’t do anything. The shack looks convincing (though I can’t say that I’ve ever seen two doors on a gateman’s shack). It has interior and exterior illumination and frosted windows to hide the mechanical innards and preserve the magic. But the fun kicks in […]
COLORFULLY DECORATED TRAINS, cold Molson ale, and Shania Twain are by far my favorite Canadian exports. I know some people won’t share my enthusiasm for all three, but I’m willing to venture that at least one piques your interest. Based on the contents of their Canadian Pacific Grain Train boxed set, I’d think that the […]
GROWING UP ON the east coast of Florida, I found Rocky Mountain electrification to be a pretty arcane subject. Whether the locomotives were those large, boxy things that evoked the pages of Tom Swift and his Electric Locomotive, or streamlined, dual-cab models that suggested they were some sort of super funky F units, these unusual […]
IT WAS THE DAWN of time. Electrification hadn’t strayed far from Thomas Edison’s lab. In the 1880s mechanical coal stoker was a wild fantasy of overworked firemen. Balloon stacks ruled the rails, and the Pennsylvania was still struggling to make its claim as the Standard Railroad of the World. It was in this dark era […]
