by Rob Bell/photos as noted Gold! Gold! Gold! Those words were the driving force behind the mad rush to the Klondike in 1896 and 1897. Yet, by 1898 the fever was waning in the Yu-kon, and word of other gold-rich regions echoed in the dance halls, saloons, and along the trails. In the spring of 1898, Fritz Miller and Kenneth MacLaren left the trail north at Bennett, B.C., and headed east. They crossed the frozen Taku Arm of Tagish Lake and then Lake Atlin. The two men discovered gold on Pine Creek in the Atlin District. They needed supplies for an extended stay, and when they returned with supp ..read more

Ride Trains has released a series of resin 3-D printed passenger equipment in HOn3 and soon in Sn3. I discovered and obtained some kits at the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Denver last summer from the young couple making their debut. Offered are many variations of Rio Grande passenger equipment such as open-platform coaches with bullnose or duckbill roofs or a vestibuled version; baggage cars including the modern version with Delco generator and both short and long RPO cars, all priced at $29.00 each. A series of different parlor cars are $31.00 and the C&S coach, combine and short c ..read more

This new kit (available in HO and O) for a fire hose house is based on a building still standing in Idaho Springs, Colorado. The O scale kits sell for $54.95 and the HO versions are $32.95. Each kit comes with an additional kit for a two-wheel hose cart that are available separately. I assembled the O scale kit. It consisted of an inner core of laser-cut walls that interlock at the corners. Over this you add thin laser-cut walls with bricks etched into them. This is some of the best brick work I have seen. The floor, roof, windows, front doors, and roof trim are also laser cut and there is som ..read more

by Rob Bell/photos as noted In the September/October 2023 issue I examined a truly massive 2-8-0 that the White Pass & Yukon Route ordered from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1907. Built to be a helper engine on the steep grades between Bennett, British Columbia, and Skagway, Alaska, WP&YR 68 came to a tragic end in 1917. Long before her untimely demise, the huge No. 68 was such a success that the White Pass management went back to Baldwin and placed an order for a slightly bigger loco-motive in March 1908. No. 69 was built in April, 1908 as construction no. 32962. She had a 66-inch d ..read more

by Tom Staton/photos by the author A little more than 50 years ago, I received an American Flyer train set for Christmas. Just four straight tracks and some curves to make a circle. Around and round it went until it derailed. As I remember, the wooden floor was not real level. Anyway that, and our landlords’ children’s Lionel train set with lots of extras, put the train bug into my system. Several decades later, I had my own house with space to play with trains. I soon purchased a book titled A Short Haul to the Bay. It’s the story of the Narragansett Railroad and I found it humorous. Now that ..read more

by Bob Brown/photo by the author Conowingo Models continues to produce freelance HOn3/HOn30 and On3/On30 car kits for small cabooses and passengers cars. They have a new kit available for a very interesting HO scale Stilwell Oyster car. It sells for $57.00 less trucks and couplers. The kit is composed of laser-cut wood parts, 3D and Tichy parts. This car’s distinctive side bracing, roof vents, side doors and Fox trucks will ensure it stands out on your layout. Trucks and couplers are available separately. This review appeared in the Nov/Dec 2023 issue of Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette ..read more

by Charlie Getz/photo by the author Bar Mills has released Stewart’s Rods structure kit in HO scale. Honoring famed rocker and model railroader extraordinaire Rod Stewart, this kit is delightfully complex appearing but actually very buildable with a graduate course in techniques for different materials. The kit contains laser-cut components, some with peel and stick adhesive; Tichy styrene parts, resin castings, acetate, pre-cut tarpaper siding, cardstock roof panels, tarpaper and shingled roofing, laser-cut roof sign, printed signs, and color instructions. Actually, the instructions are more ..read more

I have been corresponding with William Longely-Cook for several years. William often sends photos of his latest garden railway project and I sometimes put the photos in the “Pigeon Hole.” I assumed his garden line was G scale with Bachmann locomotives and rolling stock. Then I read in Narrow Lines (the magazine of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association) that he had won First Place in the Association’s annual contest with his 7mm scale Redgate Mill (see January/February 2023 Gazette). I wrote to congratulate him and said that I didn’t re-alize he also modeled in 7mm scale. That was when William told ..read more

Mine Mount Models offers the Utopia Café in HO for $40.00. They will be releasing this kit in O scale as well. The prototype is in Texas, but this attractive design is universal with similar cafés throughout the US. The kit consists of laser-cut wood walls and MDF sub-roof parts, peel and stick laser-cut windows, Tichy plastic doors, MDF sandwich boards, acetate for windows, tile roof panels, 3D printed details, fully illustrated color instructions and signs. The large size and number of windows in the café make interior detailing almost mandatory so I elected to add an interior including a ne ..read more

by Gary Bothe/photos by the author Shortly after it was introduced back in 1980, I purchased a Grandt Line On30, 18-ton Porter kit. Grandt Line produced the kit in On3, but sold them with On30 drivers and instructions on how to narrow the frame. I assembled my kit to the point where I could test-run it, but then for reasons lost in the mists of time, it got put aside in favor of some other project. Recently, with a lot of pandemic isolation time on my hands, I found it again and decided to finish it and upgrade it to DCC with a Tsunami 2 sound decoder. If you have one of these locomotives or s ..read more