This week, MTS casts the spotlight on the YARDMASTER, the highest level within our rewards program. We take the title of Yardmaster seriously and thought you might be interested in the fuller dimensions of that title. That position in mainline railroading is critical to the business of keeping a railroad fluid and profitable and goes far beyond the textbook definition of that critical role: The yardmaster is a railroad employee in charge of a rail yard. Duties involve managing and coordinating all activities in combining rolling stock into trains, breaking down trains into individual railroad ..read more

Anniversaries are numerous but in railroading, April 13th holds great significance for on that date in 1846, the former titan of the rails was born: the Pennsylvania Railroad. Its legacy continues to hold model railroaders and historians captive long after the passing of its corporate banner 56 years ago. Just witness the number of PRR articles, plans, and photos that continue to dominate all forms of media. The PRR was impressive! In 1920, the system was 11,730 miles long, consisted of 26,600 track miles, scheduled 4,000 passenger and 3,000 freight trains a day. PRR employed 220,000 in that ..read more

The foundation for scale model railroading in the US began nearly 100 years ago when pioneers like E. P. Alexander, Minton Cronkite, and Fred Iken elevated the global fascination with “toy trains” to a higher level of accuracy, craftsmanship, and enjoyment. Since that time, the hobby we now enjoy has seen unrelenting progress that shows no signs of diminishing. It is no coincidence that one of the early model railroad suppliers started in Baltimore, MD, which is rightly recognized as “The Birthplace of American Railroading,” due to the 1827 founding of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Pred ..read more

Rapido Trains are producing a newly tooled range of Fairbanks-Morse H-16-44 diesel locomotives in HO Scale. Over 80 models are to be released from this tooling covering a wide range of road names. Release is expected in 2024. Rapido HO 44502 H16-44, Baltimore and Ohio #9741 (Out of Stock) Rapido MSRP: $335.00 $267.99 MSRP: Rapido HO 44504 H16-44, Baltimore and Ohio #9743 (Out of Stock) Rapido MSRP: $335.00 $267.99 MSRP: Rapido HO 44521 H16-44, Virginian #39 (Out of Stock) Rapido MSRP: $335.00 $267.99 MSRP: Rapido HO 44522 H16-44, Virginian #42 (Out of Stock) Rapido MSRP: $33 ..read more

Our message is basic and sincere: This Memorial Day weekend, we take time to honor those who have given their lives for our nation and its greater mission of freedom. We take this time to solemnly dignify the woeful yet unavoidable result of human sacrifice to preserve the value of safety and freedom for all Americans. Railroads were once the backbone on the home front for supporting our armed forces during global conflict by moving troops and supplies needed to conquer our enemies. Photographers and artists were often employed by the railroads to keep the public informed of each heroic missi ..read more

Pennsylvania Railroad Class S-2 It was positioned to forecast modern railroad motive power and to remind the world that the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) had not lost its way. It also gave steam locomotive builders and coal mining interests promise that their respective markets would not be decimated by the new Diesel-Electric locomotives that showed early signs of dominating the motive power rosters of the nation’s largest carriers. Instead, the one-of-a-kind PRR S-2 turned out to be a hugely disappointing failure in road service, an expensive engineering miscalculation and a public relations ..read more

The Norfolk & Western Railroad (commonly known as the N&W) was a legendary railroad whose legacy lives on today. Its rich history and reputation were built on nicknames such as King Coal and becoming famous for manufacturing its own steam locomotives and hopper cars. The N&W was also the last major railroad in the United States to use steam locomotives before retiring them by the end of 1965. Like many other iconic railroads, mergers were a significant part of N&W’s history. The company was involved in over 200 of them during its lifetime! Let’s look at other key moments and e ..read more

Industry experts acclaim that the mammoth electrification of the Pennsylvania Railroad was one of the last great adventures of traditional railroading with good reason. Immediately after this project was completed in 1938 (but hopes lingered about future expansion until 1960), the railroad industry struggled under the pressure of World War II traffic (noted by accountants as profitless prosperity), followed by the dismal downward spiral of the industry in the 1950s and 1960s before correction commenced. While trackside observers were justifiably impressed with the speeding ele ..read more

It’s Thanksgiving, which also means Black Friday is here! The end of the year is the season for model railroading, whether you’re buying a train set as a gift for a loved one or treating yourself to a new locomotive or other rolling stock. For Black Friday 2022, you can save 10% off everything here at Model Train Stuff by using the code BLACK10 at the checkout. To celebrate this year’s model railroading season, we wanted to highlight some of the latest additions to our Kato Amtrak railroad range. So check them out and treat yourself or a loved one to a stylish new locomotive at a 10% reduction ..read more

The holidays are fast approaching, so it’s time to think about the gifts we’ll buy for the special people in our life. While helping someone discover the joy of model railroading is always amazing, it’s a good idea to know the best ways they can get started in their railroading journey. First…think about whether size matters Before we get into specific products, think about the person you’re buying for and how much space they have to build a model railroad. Read our blog post about model train scales to give yourself an idea of the types of model train products you might want to add to your h ..read more