MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS

Like the doodlebugs before them and the RDC (Rail Diesel Car) after them, the Rio Grande Southern's Galloping Geese were a cheap way to provide passenger service. Cobbled together in the early 1930s by a railroad on the verge of bankruptcy, the Geese replaced steam-powered passenger trains and enabled the RGS to provide passenger and tourist service in the Colorado Rockies until it closed in 1952. The poor condition of RGS track gave the Motors, as they were officially called, the galloping gait that prompted their nickname. Goose No. 4 was constructed in 1931 with a 1926 Pierce-Arrow engine and car body for passengers, and a homebuilt box in the back for mail and express freight. After World War II, she received a new Wayne school bus body and a war surplus GMC engine, and her freight body was converted to provide additional tourist seating. She survives today on display in Telluride, Colorado. To view a photo gallery of the six passenger Geese and one work Goose, go to www.gallopinggoose.org.

For 2007, the Galloping Goose returns to the RailKing line in RGS livery and three new paint schemes. With the extraordinary sounds and slow-speed capabilities of Proto-Sound 2.0, you can recreate the honk of the Goose's horn and its daily struggle to lift a train that weighed 10 tons, fully loaded, over the Rockies with only an ancient, clattering automobile engine.