Book Review: Rails Across New England: 1989-1999 – Volume 2
Without a doubt, Rails Across New England – Volume 2 is a landmark book for fans of New England railroading. You don’t need to read to the end of this review to find that out. Publisher Mike Confalone and noted author and photographer Brian Solomon have come together to present an interesting and varied album of the railroad scene during the last decade of the 20th century. This time, we travel around southern New England, covering Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Book Review: Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars
Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars is an exciting new book from Arcadia Publishing, as part of its “Images of Rail” series. Authored by Jim Walker, a well-known transit historian and former owner of Interurban Press, he is now an archivist for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Book Review: Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana
Arcadia has been publishing a unique series of inexpensive books in their “Images of Rail” series that help bring many otherwise unseen and uncirculated images to light. One of their latest offerings in this series is “Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana” by David E. Longest.

Product Review: Rapido Trains HO Lightweight Coach & E-Series 4-8-4 Sleeper In 2003, new manufacturer Rapido Trains Inc., of Toronto Ontario, Canada joined the ranks of model railroad manufacturers. In recent months, Rapido Trains has answered the demand for something never before produced in the model railroading community: truly accurate passenger cars as built by the Canadian Car & Foundry (CC&F), following plans from the Pullman Company.

Product Review: ESU LokSound V3.5
I've had one Loksound decoder running now for a couple weeks in an American Models E8, S-gauge, converted to DCC from the original AM sound unit. Here are some things I thought may be of general interest for DCC sound people.

Book Review: Through the Corn Belt: The Chicago Great Western Railway
The Chicago Great Western was one of the Midwest’s “granger roads” serving Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Tracing its roots back to 1854 and the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad, the colorful history of the CGW ends in 1968, when it was acquired by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. In this latest offering from Acadia Publishing, author David J. Fiore, Sr. recounts the working history of this line.

Book Review: Alcos Northeast
Did you ever pick up a book and flip page after page saying “Wow!” to yourself in louder and louder tones? That is Alcos Northeast, the latest all-color compilation from the team of Mike Confalone and Joe Posik.

DVD Review: The End of the Line
The Rochester Subway, a single-line underground trolley system, served the city of Rochester and surrounding areas for only about thirty years from 1928 to 1956, yet its memory still lives on today almost 50 years later. The folks at Animatus Studio in Rochester have released The End of the Line, remastering a documentary on the subway originally produced in 1994 as well as adding new features that add up to a one-of-a kind portrait of a one-of-a-kind rail system.

Book Review: Rails Across New England: Volume 1
The railroad scene is constantly changing as the large railroads get larger, short lines grow and retreat, and the national rail map continues to be redrawn. Nowhere has this been truer than in New England.

Book Review: Metro-North’s Hudson Line: Poughkeepsie to Oscawana
Ask any railfan to describe their impression of today’s Metro-North, and they will most likely tell you that they are one of the nation’s business commuter carriers, and that they operate a fleet of similar-looking diesel and electric powered trains out of New York’s Grand Central terminal on three lines. Some are convinced that Metro-North only serves gritty industrial and urban centers, and that the line is akin to a rapid transit operation. Seasoned enthusiasts will tell you there is so much more!

Book Review: New York Westchester & Boston Railway Company: 1906-1946
Most railfans harbor a dirty secret: we are fascinated by complete failure. The only thing that gets the average railfan more excited than live steam is a dead railroad. I’m not thinking about fallen flags that have merely merged of corporate existence, with their rails intact and still carrying traffic--I mean dead, defunct, extinct.

Book Review: Burlington's Zephyrs
From the early days of the Pioneer Zephyr to the final run of the California Zephyr, Karl Zimmermann has captured them all in his latest book, Burlington's Zephyrs. Zimmermann talks about the development of the technology that made the Zephyrs possible.

Book Review: Mid-sized & Manageable Track Plans
If you have been involved in the model railroading scene in the past few years, the name Iain Rice should sound familiar. He has authored several articles in Model Railroader magazine, as well as written a previous book, Small, Smart and Practical Track Plans.

Book Review: Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads
You can't live in the northeast for as long as I have and not hear something about the famed narrow-gauge railroads of Maine. Mostly abandoned and removed by the outbreak of World War II, these highly flexible common-carrier railways proved to be a great way to move freight and passengers to remote locations.

Book Review: Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City
Another volume from Arcadia's Images of Rail series, author Kenneth French outlines each major railroad one by one and reviews the history and development of the passenger and freight terminals in his book Railroads of Hoboken & Jersey City.

Book Review: Delaware & Hudson Passenger Trains: The Final Decade
I often find myself browsing various railroad books on subjects where I have a passing interest, and wouldn't mind learning a little more. Since I am not familiar with the subject matter first-hand, will the book be of value to me years down the road? With this particular book, there was little question!

Book Review: The Portland Company 1846-1982
The latest offering from Arcadia Publishing in their "Images of America" series is The Portland Company: 1846-1982, by David H. Fletcher. The Portland Company, based in Portland, Maine, was founded in 1845 primarily to manufacture steam locomotives and rolling stock for northern New England railroads.

Product Review: Boley HO Seagrave Fire Truck
Boley's new line of emergency response vehicles since their first vehicles hit the market in my area a couple years ago, I new they were here to stay. These detailed models can help you populate your empty HO highways at a reasonable cost.

Product Review: Boley HO Snowplow
Boley's snowplow with the salt spreader is a nice addition to the Boley 1:87 line. This style of plow truck is very similar to the type used by many municipalities and state agencies in North America.

Product Review: Boley HO Ambulance
Boley has done it again with their new ambulance. This model represents a "heavy duty" ambulance or light rescue truck. In today's ever changing fire/rescue scene, departments will try to get more bang for their buck by doing several jobs with one piece of apparatus.

Book Review: Rahway Valley Railroad
Arcadia Publishing has taken their great series of interesting books from local authors one step further with their "Images of Rail" series. Produced in the same format as their other books, such as the "Images of America" series, Donald A. Maxton's Rahway Valley Railroad is a great addition to the line.

Book Review: Connecticut Whistle Stops
This book describes the stations and communities along the former New York, New Haven & Hartford electrified mainline through coastal Connecticut. This route was, and continues to be, heavily used by commuters who work in New York City.