2012 Gold Rail Awards to determine best of the best in model railroading, rail enthusiasm

Cowcatcher Magazine Publisher Tim Blackwell announced today the official kickoff of the 2012 Gold Rail Awards, which for the fourth year in a row will determine the best of the best in model railroading and rail enthusiasm in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas and Missouri.

Nominees have been selected in 11 categories that range from Best Train Show to Best Regional Freight Railroad. Readers will have an opportunity to vote for the nominees or write in their own selections. Write-in votes for Best Model Train Store will once again be accepted.

Deadline for readers to cast their vote is Dec. 7. The winners will be announced in the January/February Cowcatcher Magazine.

Ballots were included in subscriber issues but other Cowcatcher readers can download the survey at Cowcatchermagazine.com and cast their votes. Voters are asked to mail in the ballot or email it to [email protected] .

Winners and runners-up from last year’s Gold Rail Awards were automatically nominated for the 2012 survey. The Texas State Railroad, which sold earlier this year, puts its streak on the line for being named Best Excursion Railroad and Best Excursion Railroad Theme Train. TSR has won both categories each year since the Gold Rail Awards began in 2009.

Blackwell encourages readers to vote, and to write in candidates if they don’t see one they like.

“It is an election year,” he said, “so hopefully our readers will stay in the spirit and we’ll have great turnout in this year’s Gold Rail Awards competition. Last year, we had a significant number of write-ins, and we encourage folks to pencil in their vote if those nominated aren’t the best choice in their minds.”

Seven manufacturers were nominated for Best New Model Railroad Product.

They are: Athearn GP7/9 HO Locomotive, ExactRail P-S 5344 Cu. Ft. HO Box Car, InterMountain N R-70-20 Refrigerator Car, Kato N MAXI-1 Well Cars, Woodland Scenics Tidy Track System, Walthers HO Santa Fe El Capitan F7 & Passenger Set and Rapido’s HO Canadian Complete Trainset.

See last year’s winners here.

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.

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."

2012 Gold Rail Awards to determine best of the best in model railroading, rail enthusiasm

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Coal Stragglers

Record Turnout

Spirit of St. Louis

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