Cowcatcher Magazine

08/20/2024

Thanks to the fine folks at Rapido Trains for having Cowcatcher publisher Tim Blackwell on their August stream. See it here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/rfEhXWNr1QdCBmdn/?

07/25/2024

We've done a lot of work on the N-scale Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad. Learn more how a small freelance Northwest Arkansas short line is working with its Class I parent for first- and last-mile service. https://cowcatchermagazine.com/the-whitehurst-pine-ridge-railroad-2/ .

Also, our new Train Order Form for posting shows and events is now live and can be accessed on the home page. Want your show or event to be listed in the Cowcatcher? Just click on Train Order Form on the website and fill in the information.

Check out these and other improvements to our website! www.cowcatchermagazine.com

06/26/2024

The July/August 2024 edition is on its way! This marks our largest issue, and it's loaded with model railroad and railroad news and features. Gordon Preller's N-scale Alpenbahn steals the show. It's an amazing portable layout based in the Swiss Alps. The scenery is stunning!

04/07/2024

From the left, Michelle Kempema, Cynthia Priest and Theresa Goff of Women in Model Railroading are at the Meet n’ Greet today at the Rocky Mountain Train Show. Stop by!

04/06/2024

The Rocky Mountain Train Show is about to open. We’re next to the Meet n’ Greet booth, a new feature at the show. Stop by and see us, and see who’s next door!

04/02/2024

03/05/2024

Our March/April 2024 issue is here! Featured is the new Montana Rail Link now under operation by BNSF Railway, plus how dead rail or battery-powered model railroad operations is becoming easier in smaller scales. And more! Visit www.cowcatchermagazine.com to learn more about this issue!

11/15/2023

The voting has begun on the Cowcatcher's 2024 State of Model Railroading survey. Each year we take the pulse of the model railroad industry, and readers tell us how good a job the hobby is doing. Want to participate? Check out how at https://cowcatchermagazine.com/cowcatcher-state-of-model-railroading-survey/. Look for results in the January/February 2024 issue.

11/13/2023

Our November/December 2023 issue features what some model manufacturers are doing to boost the pulling power of locomotives, including InterMountain Railway's new ET44AC Tier 4 featured on the cover. Also, we Railroad in Focus highlights the Arizona Eastern Railway and how a new yard in New Mexico will help create future growth.

11/04/2023

Visit us at the Oklahoma City Train Show this weekend! We’re across from MacRail and the Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society.

08/27/2023

It’s the final day of the 2023 NMRA National Train Show. Rapido Trains has lots of new products, including these production samples of their upcoming C30-7 diesel in HO. For N-scalers, Rapido has samples of their new NSC 73-foot Centerbeams.

08/26/2023

InterMountain’s new HO Tier 4s were on display at the National Train Show. These models are built to be workhorses and pull long trains with a heavier chassis and stronger motor than the company’s previous release. We’re looking forward to putting them to work.

08/25/2023

The National Train Show is open at the Ga***rd Texan in Grapevine, TX. Crowds are steady and lots to see. Industry veterans Bob Lunde of Lunde Studios, left, and Gale Cousins of Marklin chat moments before the public opening.

08/21/2023

The 2023 Texas Express NMRA National Convention is underway in Grapevine, TX. The Northwest Tarrant & Pacific acquired the official convention car, a Gunderson 5188 covered hopper by ScaleTrains.com. Here TXEX No. 2023 is being shoved to Lars & Long Grain Co. The convention runs through Aug. 26 and is followed by the National Train Show Aug. 25-27.

07/23/2023

The rail fan in the photo at bottom should have waited before taking a picture. This Athearn Blue Box Family Lines 50-foot boxcar is a little appealing after some updating. It was a door prize a couple years ago at a Lone Star Region NMRA convention. A little weathering to represent its age and some Kadee No. 5 couplers brought it into the 2000s on the HO Northwest Tarrant & Pacific. Weathering was a combination of Windsor & Newton Designer Gouache acrylic paint, Badger Weathered Black acrylic, Model Air Sand Yellow acrylic and Weather System Medium Rust chalk. Don’t forget the new MACRail “Fred.”

06/14/2023

Well beyond its useful life on the road, this Santa Fe 1960s trailer seems to be rusting away next to the brewery on the HO Northwest Tarrant & Pacific. The trailer is a weathered model of Rapido Trains' Fruehauf 40-foot Fluted-Side Volume Van released in March. The trailers feature lots of under body detail and are available in a number of roads, including a Northern Pacific refrigerated version. See the non-weathered model at https://rapidotrains.com/catalog/product/view/id/9796/s/ho-40-fruehauf-fluted-side-volume-van-santa-fe-at-sf-f-40688r/category/1145/

02/21/2023

Thanks to Ray Arnott for having the Cowcatcher's own Tim Blackwell on the Around the Layout podcast this week! Hear Tim and Ray talk about the state of model railroading, what many are doing to move the hobby forward and other topics! Listen at

Tim Blackwell, Editor and Publisher of Cowcatcher Magazine, makes his Around The Layout Podcast debut and tells us about his magazine that is entering it's 20th year of publication. Ray and Tim discuss the results of Cowcatcher’s 2023 State of Model Railroading Survey and add their own thoughts on...

01/10/2023

Installation on the downtown scene on the N-scale Whitehurst & Pine Ridge Railroad is under way. The first order of business was building Main Street, where we tried our hand at painting cross walks to protect Texarkana's valued citizens. The streets are in and work will begin on rehabbing the buildings, many of which were on the original W&PRR. For more on the railroad and its ongoing progress, visit https://cowcatchermagazine.com/the-whitehurst-pine-ridge-railroad-2/

01/05/2023

Thanks to our friends at MAC Rail!

Be on the lookout for Cowcatcher Magazine stickers affixed on your next MACRail order!

MACRail is a proud sponsor of this bi-monthly magazine that covers a great variety of prototype, historical, and model railroad news and topics. Take a look at www.cowcatchermagazine.com

12/25/2022

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at the Cowcatcher!

Christmas Eve night in 2021 is fast approaching the Northwest Tarrant & Pacific's MOW train as it returns from maintenance work down the line. The crew will tie up and hurry home in anticipation of old St. Nick's rooftop arrival.

12/18/2022

12/18/2022

A shout out to Colpar's Hobby Town - Aurora and Colpar's Hobby Town - Lakewood for supporting the show!

12/18/2022

The Northwest Tarrant & Pacific upgraded its operating system to Digitrax’s Evolution Express. NT&P Train 1, headed by a consist of Athearn’s GP38-2 (SP No. 4800, released in 2012) and GP39-2 (CSX No. 4316, built in 2022), moves three cars through Norwood. The locomotives consisted well, despite being manufactured 10 years apart. Those Procor covered hoppers were recently released by Rapido Trains.

12/16/2022

Atlas Model Railroad Co. has purchased the HO-scale line of vehicles from River Point Station Fine Scale Models.

Atlas Model Railroad Co. River Point Station Fine Scale HO vehicles N vehicles pickup trucks Ford F-150 Ford F-250 Ford F-350

10/20/2022

Rapido Trains recently announced the second release of its Amtrak NPCU in HO scale. Read more about these models and other new products from other manufacturers on our Product News page

Rapido Announces New Products at Open House UNION, IL — Rapido Trains introduced several products, including two N-scale freight cars, at its second-ever U.S. dealer open house in early October. A pair of HO-scale late-model passenger diesels native to the area were also announced, as well as a hi...

09/01/2022

From his RV in Northern California this summer, Ed Davis recalled some of the (mis)adventures the first time he hopped a freight train on the West Coast as a 19-year-old who showed little fear. Fifty years ago, with nothing but a will to go east, he and his buddy rode whatever trains they could find, not knowing where they might land.

“Our first effort, we ended up in Portland and caught the next train out. It was going up the Columbia Gorge.”

The next morning they awoke in Idaho and asked a friendly guy in the rail yard how they should get to New York. “He said you shouldn’t be riding this way because it’s way too hard to get across the U.S. unless you know what you’re doing,” Davis said. “ ‘You should be going through Canada because there’s really one line going east and west.’ ”

The men backtracked to Oregon and caught a train and a ferry and ended up riding across Canada for 10 days that summer.

After his first encounter, Davis hopped trains every chance he could get while working odd jobs over the next decade.

During that time, he realized he wanted to become a writer and share his experiences riding with railroads' vagabonds. The book, "The Last Professional," practically wrote itself.

He tells the story in the September/October Cowcatcher, available now!

www.cowcatchermagazine.com

08/25/2022

Congratulations to Larry Price and Stacey Walthers Naffah for their hard work in ensuring model railroading's future, and as the recipients of two of the industry's highest honors presented at the National Train Show in St. Louis recently. Price is the latest member of the Model Railroad Industry Division/Hobby Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame. And Naffah was honored as the 2022 recipient of the Bobbye Hall Award, below, presented by MRID president Gale Cousins. https://cowcatchermagazine.com/industry-leaders-on-missions-to-ensure-model-railroadings-future-receive-hmas-top-awards/

07/20/2022

Check out our guide on modern-day freight cars in the July/August 2022 Cowcatcher! More about the Cowcatcher at www.cowcatchermagazine.com .