Voting concludes for 2016 Gold Rail Awards; winners to be announced in Jan/Feb issue
December 11, 2016 / Updated December 30, 2016
News
Cowcatcher Magazine readers again let their voices be heard, this time in record numbers.
More voters than ever participated in the magazine’s 8th Annual Gold Rail Awards, which determines the best of the best in model railroading and rail enthusiasm in the Southwest and Midwest. Voting ended Dec. 9; results will be announced in the January/February 2017 issue.
Up for grabs are 13 awards in 12 categories for nominees as chosen by Cowcatcher staff and readers. Also, a Gold Rail Achievement Award will be given to a person, group or operation that has made a significant contribution or achievement to the rail landscape.
Subscribers who provided the Cowcatcher an email address were eligible to vote electronically. Other readers voted online.
This year’s competition featured some returning champions and a few new faces. Last year, a broad swath of winners from eight states were crowned. Some longtime winners retained their titles, and some new ones took the gold.
2016 NOMINEES
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.
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.
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."
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!
