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All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm

COWCATCHER MAGAZINE

2012 Cowcatcher Magazine

Issues Priced starting at $5.95

EMBRACING RAIL FANS – January/February 2012: Railroads open arms to rail fans with programs aimed at keeping another set of eyes on the rails. PLUS, we reveal our 2011 Cowcatcher Magazine Gold Rail Award winners; the Tulsa-based Kansas City Terminal railroad has multiple personalities; growth at the Hondo Railway is exceeding expectations five years after its inception; and Athearn revisits production on the GP7/9 with new tooling.





UNDECS UNPOPULAR – March/April 2012: With highly detailed ready-to-run products now the norm, demand is down for undecorated models. PLUS, what a difference a year makes for the North Texas Council of Railroad Club shows; Southwest Missouri club keeps chugging with solid involvement; the economy takes its toll on a long-time East Texas model railroad shop; DCTA opens its new maintenance facility and rail traffic returns to Blackwell, OK.





TALL ORDER ON THE TALL PINE – May/June 2012: Noted Lone Star Region/NMRA modeler Chuck Lind looks ahead to the end of an era on his model railroad to a new beginning. PLUS, the Amarillo Railroad Museum transformed from a model railroad club to an organization that preserves rail history; Union Pacific’s vaunted No. 844 has a flat tire while touring Texas; actor Michael Gross is the Master of Fakery with highly detailed weathering; Watco Companies goes Down Under by providing grain movements for Western Australia road; and Woodland Scenics tidies track with new cleaning line.





JOINT EFFORT – July/August 2012: North Texas regional agencies work together in pursuit of creating a seamless rail system that adequately meets future demand. PLUS, our Railroad in Focus feature debuts with an inside look at the South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL); R.D. Moses’ layout returns to life with opening of museum in Jefferson, TX; BNSF layout is a hit at stockholder’s meeting; and a Missouri layout asks what might have been if the Frisco had kept trackage rights on the MOPAC.





TIME FLIES ON THE T&P – September/October 2012: Whether it’s 1947 or 1952, a Texas & Pacific layout is ready to please visitors on the Dallas/Fort Worth home and club layout tours. PLUS, the Blacklands Railroad in East Texas is our Railroad in Focus subject; the St. Louis Museum of Transportation is a paradise on rails; the Louisiana Steam Train Association has sights on a new home; preparing a layout for an open house requires housekeeping and hospitality; and Athearn and Intermountain announce Norfolk Southern Heritage runs.





SIGNATURE SCENERY- November/December 2012: The Vandalia Rail & Hobby layout is filled with distinctive elements of a line between western Illinois and central Missouri. PLUS, carloads of crude oil are increasing in the U.S.; the Louisiana Southern is a Tale of Two Lines; a North Texas G-scaler remembers his days helping his dad deliver the news by recreating an Alabama bridge along the route of his backyard layout; the Kansas City Society of Model Engineers is focused on the big picture; and cork roadbed supply levels begin to return of shortages left retailers scrambling to meet customer demand.





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Coal Stragglers

North American railroads have hauled coal in quantity ever since the anthracite roads were built on the East Coast. Decades later and despite many changes that have diminished production, coal remains a top (but declining) commodity. While it has weathered shifts in power generation and other factors leading to its decline, coal still accounts for 28 percent of total rail tonnage and 12 percent of revenue. Watch a coal trains roll by and you’ll notice that most cars are painted a stripe or block of color on one end. The color doesn’t matter, but the painted end has a rotary coupler, the non-painted end a solid drawbar. Learn how this combination of couplers enable railroads to move coal efficiently.

Record Turnout

Manufacturers roll out the red carpet at January's Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show in Springfield, MA. The show set an attendance record of 27,535 at what has become the big daddy of train shows. Several manufacturers came out in full dress to tout their latest products and announce new runs. At times it appeared to be a battle of the booths, something show chairman John Sacerdote anticipated leading up to the show. Lionel and Walthers did not disappoint.

Spirit of St. Louis

After almost 20 years of top-line service, the Pennsylvania Railroad's St. Louisan and New Yorker were rechristened Spirit of St. Louis after the custom-built Ryan monoplane in which Charles Lindbergh made the first transatlantic flight. PRR’s advertising and publicity forces wasted no time capitalizing on transatlantic frenzy. The Spirit’s christening was celebrated June 15, 1927, less than a month after Lindbergh’s May 21 landing in Paris. Take a ride on the train in the Cowcatcher's ongoing series, "The Golden Age of Passenger Travel."

Plus

CN rolls out a medium horsepower hybrid locomotive that will be deployed this year across several of the railroads's yards and branch lines. Watching trains circle a layout adds a warm touch to modeling and relieves stress, say modelers. And more!