News column - 14
Briefly noted at press time...
. . .
Jim FitzGerald 1923-2013
Jim FitzGerald, also known as Mr. Ntrak, died October 26, 2013,
in Paso Robles, California. He was a lifelong model railroad
hobbyist and tireless promoter of N scale. Jim was the founder
of the Ntrak Newsletter which he published for more than 40
years. He served in the U. S. Army during World War II. Jim was
retired from the Ames Research Laboratory where he designed
and built specialized instruments for gathering wind tunnel
data. He had been in poor health in recent months and was at
a rehab facility when he passed away. Jim was 90 years of age.
. . .
Arthur Schmidt 1917-2013
A.L. Schmidt, staff photographer for Model Railroader
magazine for more than 40 years (1951-1993) has died in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 96. Although Art spent
much of his professional life photographing items of interest to
model railroaders, his own lifelong hobby was building and fly-
ing radio control model airplanes.
. . .
Athearn
has announced plans to produce Genesis series
GP9 diesels decorated for Boston & Maine, Florida East Coast,
Santa Fe (zebra stripes), and Wabash. The GP9s are scheduled
for release in April along with GP50s decorated for UP (We Will
Deliver), MP, NS, BNSF (wedge scheme), and BN in both orange
and white tiger stripes, and orange and black tiger stripes. Both
locomotives will be available for standard DC operation or with
a DCC decoder and SoundTraxx Tsunami sound.
Athearn ready-to-roll models coming in April include SD45 die-
sels decorated for SP, N&W, MPI, and Erie Lackawanna. Also
SW1500 switchers decorated for Union Railroad, UP, UPY, SP,
Frisco, KCS, and Chicago Short Line. Both HO and N scale ver-
sions of Athearn’s 65’ mill gondolas and articulated Auto-Max
auto carriers are also on the April schedule. For more informa-
tion visit
. . .
Classic Metal Works
is preparing tooling for a 1955 Ford
sedan. Several versions, including a Fairlane Town Sedan,
should be ready for introduction next spring. MRH will have
more information next month including illustrations of the HO
scale models.
. . .
ExactRail
has released another run of its HO scale 60’ PC&F
insulated beer car. The Platinum series model is available deco-
rated for BN, BNSF (small circle cross herald), RBCS, ATSF (large
circle cross herald), ATSF (Gothic reprint), and GVSR-Golden
West Services. Additional details are available at
MRH-Nov 2013
