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
It’s easy to not see the forest for the trees on a model railroad, so the Colorado Model Railroad Museum won’t mind if visitors focus closely on the towering firs and glowing aspens on the Oregon, California & Eastern Railroad. A panoramic scan is most appropriate now that many of the 28,000 trees are getting a makeover. One of the country’s top model railroad museums, CMRM is refreshing scenery along its Pacific Northwest-based signature HO-scale layout with laborious help from staff and volunteers. For the past year, trees, ground cover and other scenery have been cleaned or replaced on the 15-year-old masterpiece inspired by museum founder David Trussell.
Freight stations and engine service facilities are the most common assets for railroads, and Gene Mangum's HO-scale Mystic Branch is no exception. In the first of a two-part series, Mangum details the many railroad-owned structures on the layout.
Two years after Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern became North America’s first continuous north-south railroad, Union Pacific Railroad Co. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. are working to stitch a seamless east-west transcontinental railroad. Leaders from UP and NS say a seamless railroad devoid of interchanges creates valuable synergies for shippers and the Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad.
Pat Hiatte takes a ride from Chicago to Milwaukee on the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railway's Electroliner. Plus, Kadee Quality Products follows its successful run of the Nickel Plate Road AAR 50-ton flatcar with an undecorated model - see the review. Also, construction on BNSF's bridge over the Missouri River near Bismarck-Mandan, ND, is nearing the halfway point. And more!
