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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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Throttling Up

Ever wonder why railroads chose certain locomotives to pull freight trains? Railroads have practiced multiple-unit train control since the 1890s when Frank J. Sprague developed a system to combine motive power in electric train operation. When assigning power and consisting locomotives today, railroads generally match the horsepower per ton and tractive effort ratings to specific locomotives designed to meet specific network needs. But other factors are involved, and it's not uncommon for railroads to mix makes and models of locomotives when consisting for trains.

State of Model Railroading

Response to the Cowcatcher’s 2025 State of Model Railroading survey was positive and many say the hobby is rolling along fine, maybe a bit complicated for some. The 31-question survey sent to readers across the U.S. in November earned a 42 percent response rate. Questions ranged from personal preferences and skill levels and layouts to how modelers buy and spend.

Joint Agency

Whether shuttling power, moving cars through interline carrier agreements or running on joint lines, North America’s largest rail providers interact. One of the more obscure examples is the Milwaukee Road’s Joint Agency Yard in Kansas City, MO, where the Milwaukee Road and Kansas City Southern coexisted for 40 years. On the N-scale Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad, joint yard agreements in Kansas City and Dallas make sense, allowing KCS traffic to move in and out of both ends of the layout to service grain customers without the need for another yard.

Plus

BNSF posts record agricultural volumes on the heels of a good harvest. A Milwaukee Road stock car with a storied past is now on display at the Galveston Railroad Museum. And a United Kingdom retailer and manufacturer introduces its camera car, the Eye-Choo, to the U.S. And more!