General Electric’s AC4400CW marked the company’s first entry into the new generation of diesel-electric road locomotives utilizing traction motors powered by Alternating Current (AC) instead of DC (direct current) used previously.  Made possible by advances in powerful microprocessors that finally enabled precise delivery of electrical current,  AC traction provided several major advantages, including lower maintenance and the key ability to take on extremely high amounts of current for extended periods of time to deliver enormous amounts of sustained traction at low speeds.  Th ..read more

by Miles Callan/photos by the author Every day, manufacturers are coming out with more finely detailed, higher-performance, and better-sounding locomotives than ever before. What does that mean for that older diesel you have lying around? You could sell it, or even pass it down to younger friends just getting started, but you could also enjoy some hobby time turning it into a show-stopper at the next meet. Even today, with so many new offerings coming out one after another, it’s refreshing to break that relentless cycle and look at older models. Having options for financially accessible models ..read more

by Michael Hauk/photos by the author My HO scale model railroad is based on the Susquehanna & New York Railroad, a short line common carrier once located in the mountains of central Pennsylvania north of Williamsport. S&NY ran from Newberry, Pa. (just west of Williamsport on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River), north along Lycoming Creek via trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad Elmira Branch to Marsh Hill, Pa. From Marsh Hill, the S&NY sent its own right-of-way northeast in the narrow Pleasant Stream Valley, climbing upgrade to Ellenton, and then downgrade along Sch ..read more

by Don Janes/photos by the author My HO scale Green Mountain Division is inspired by New England railroading in the 1950s (see December 2023 RMC) and one of the railroads represented is the Canadian Pacific and its operation in northern Vermont. CP was a main player in the region, moving a heavy amount of traffic to and from its connection with Boston & Maine. In the late 1940s, CP decided to dieselize its Vermont operations and one of their early diesel acquisitions was a group of five RS-2s built by American Locomotive Company in 1949. As built these engines were equipped with steam gene ..read more

By George Riley The model railroad hobby is by its very nature driven by innovation and technology. As such we are constantly looking for new approaches to the hobby in the use of new techniques and products. While it has been over two decades since laser-cut craftsman structures were introduced, this process has revolutionized how scale buildings are produced for the hobbyist. Laser-cut kits have provided the modeler with a torrent of model structures representing both prototype and freelanced subjects. The ability to produce small runs on demand with either no hard tooling, or at best minimu ..read more

By Harry K. Wong The 60-series was Electro-Motive’s first foray into what most diesel locomotive historians deem to be the third generation of diesel locomotives in North America. Unlike earlier generations, this new breed of diesels was defined by the incorporation of electronic microprocessors to provide a much higher level of control over the prime mover, wheelslip control, cooling systems, and other critical components, thus delivering higher reliability and greater efficiency over its predecessors. Beginning in 1984, EMD introduced several different models of its 60-series locomotives inc ..read more

Bernard Kempinski, MMR/photos by the author The United States Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia Line, set in Virginia in March 1863 during the American Civil War, is an uncommon subject for a model railroad, one that to my knowledge has never been modeled before. Since 2009, I’ve been building an O scale layout with that theme. Despite the unusual subject and era, there are common aspects of the design and operation of my railroad that are applicable to any layout. The first question you might ask is, why model a railroad set in the Civil War? I was born a New York yankee. The Civil War seemed l ..read more

by Scott Meyer/photos by the author I built my first portable layout partly from necessity. I was the only N scaler in the club I’d joined and had no place to run my trains. I also wanted to participate in the shows where the club displayed its portable HO layout. I was given a “standard” 6×2’ module to use for my stand-alone project. It was framed with 1×4” lumber with a plywood top and four 2×2” legs. I built a nice little N scale layout using plaster scenery material. It was portable but needed two people to transport and set up. Then a club member asked me to build him a Z scale portable ..read more

I’m the type of person that is easily distracted. And when it comes to a hobby like model railroading, let’s face it: there are a lot of interesting things that can cause distraction. For example, I like prototype modeling because it puts restraints on a modeler—whether it be how a railroad looks and functions, the industries it serves, or the varied scenes it passes through. But in contrast, I also like freelancing because it affords the opportunity to develop your own reality and focus on things that grab our attention and inspire our imagination. When I made the decision to model a prototyp ..read more

Now arriving at your favorite dealer are all-new ready-to-run HO scale Intermodal Container Chassis from Walthers’ SceneMaster line of accessories. Three different lengths of container chassis are available: 20-foot, 40-foot and 53-foot, each able to accommodate HO intermodal containers of equivalent lengths.   Each chassis features 2-hole disc wheels that rotate, precision pad-printed rear tail lights and reflectors, mud flaps, dimensional data and a choice of front landing gear – either extended for a parked scenario by default, or a retracted version for highway movement.   In add ..read more