Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives By Jeff Wilson Kalmbach Books; 350 pages, 400+ photos, softcover, 8.25 x 10.75 inches; $27.99. www.kalmbachhobbystore.com Back in the late 1950s/early 1960s, many “old guard” railfans held the opinion that the hobby of train watching would gradually die out concurrently with the demise of steam. In 1963, Lucius Beebe, […]
O GAUGE SW8 DIESEL FROM MTH Price: $329.95 (no. 30-20408-1) Min Curve: O-27 Cmd Low: 2.9 smph Cnv Low: 3.1 smph High: 73.6 smph Drawbar pull: 1 lb., 2 oz. Features: Two can-style motors, ProtoSound 3.0 command and sound system, coil couplers Current-production road names: Chicago & North Western, GM Diesel Division (Canada), Nickel Plate […]
O SCALE MOBILE HOMES BY WOODLAND SCENICS Price: $94.99 each Features: Fully assembled and decorated, interior decoration and illumination, made for the Just Plug lighting system The three Built-&-Ready mobile homes from Woodland Scenics prove that astonishing things can come in relatively small packages. I will confess to some confusion with the idea, but when […]
Atlas O 55-ton coal hopper Price: $74.95 Manufacturer Atlas O 378 Florence Ave. Hillside, NJ 07205 www.atlasrr.com Era: 1960s (as decorated) Road names: Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf; Boston & Maine; Canadian National; Virginian; and Westmoreland Coal Co. Four road numbers each. Data only and undecorated versions also available. Comments: One of the enduring freight-car designs […]
Part of Athearn’s Genesis series of superdetailed locomotives, this HO scale Electro-Motive Division SDP40F models Amtrak’s first purpose-built locomotive. The model also comes equipped with a new SoundTraxx Tsunami2 Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. See and hear the HO scale SDP40F in action as it hauls an Amtrak train along the Milwaukee, Racine & […]
The Model Rectifier Corp. Prodigy WiFi module is a plug-and-play component that makes it easy to add smartphone-app control to your MRC Prodigy DCC system. Check out this quick demo with Model Railroader senior editor Dana Kawala where he demonstrates how the MRC WiFi system works with the Engine Driver and WiThrottle smartphone apps. […]
Engine Driver screenshot Smartphone apps such as Engine Driver or WiThrottle have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional Digital Command Control (DCC) throttles. In addition to downloading the app, to turn a smartphone or tablet into a DCC throttle usually involves setting up a computer running Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI) software and a […]
Kato N scale Olympian Hiawatha train set Hiawatha is the name the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific, also known as the Milwaukee Road, used for its first streamlined passenger trains in 1935. By the late 1940s, there were Hiawathas providing fleet passage between many cities of the upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. The […]
Athearn HO scale SDP40F with Tsunami2 Athearn HO scale Amtrak SDP40F and Santa Fe SDF40-2 Athearn HO scale Santa Fe SDF40-2 Athearn SDF40-2 interior and mechanism (DC version) Amtrak’s first all-new passenger diesel joins the Athearn Genesis line of superdetailed HO scale locomotives. This model is also the first that we’ve tested to come factory-equipped […]
Walthers HO scale 89-foot channel-side flatcar Walthers HO scale 89-foot channel-side flatcars Price: $27.98 Manufacturer Wm. K. Walthers Inc. 5601 W. Florist Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53218 www.walthers.com Era: 1963 to present Road names: TTX (yellow and 1960s brown for 40-foot trailers, Twin 45 with KTTX marks in yellow and brown for 45-foot trailers, and general […]
Menards O gauge illuminated vehiclesO Price: Autos 24.99, trucks, $29.99, No. 279-4062 4.5-volt three-outlet adapter $9.99, No. 79-4035 Plug and Play adapter kit $9.99 Features: Die-cast metal and plastic construction, front and rear lights, each vehicle has a male barrel plug connector pre-wired to the frame. I believe the first illuminated vehicles I saw were […]
MTH O gauge Union Pacific 4-6-2 Price: $499.95 (no. 20648-1) Min Curve: O-31 Cmd Low: 6.1 smph Cnv Low: 7.7 smph High: 64.1 smph Drawbar pull: 2.1 lb. Features: Two can-style motors, ProtoSound 3.0 command and sound system, smoke unit, coil coupler on tender Current-production road names: Baltimore & Ohio, Lehigh Valley, Norfolk & Western, […]
