Greenbrier-Gunderson Multi-Max Autorack Scale: N (1:160) Price: $46.99, single car; 6-11 cars, $44.99 each; or 12+ cars, $41.99 each Era: 2014 to present Manufacturer: ScaleTrains, scaletrains.com Greenbrier-Gunderson Multi-Max Autorack features: Multiple road numbers Four body types: early, intermediate, late, and current Factory-applied metal grab irons, coupler cut levers, and trainline hoses ASF low deck swing […]
Electro-Motive Division SD40-2 Scale: N (1:160) Price: Direct-current model, $149.99; with dual-mode ESU LokSound 5 and Digital Command Control, $249.99 Era: 1972 to 1984 Manufacturer: ScaleTrains, scaletrains.com Features: Directional LED headlights Operating front and rear deck mounted alternating LED ditch lights Body-mounted knuckle couplers (Micro-Trains compatible) Operates on code 55 and 80 rail Paint schemes: […]
An Amtrak Cardinal day trip to Clifton Forge is well within reach! Don’t let Amtrak’s three-day-a-week schedule on the Cardinal route deter you from a scenic Amtrak day trip through the Appalachia Mountains of southern West Virginia and Virginia along CSX Transportation’s route through the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. This passenger rail […]
Electro-Motive Division SD50 diesel locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model, $149.98; with dual-mode ESU sound and Digital Command Control, $209.98. Era: 1984 to present Manufacturer: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218, walthers.com Electro-Motive Division SD50 diesel locomotive features: Upgraded power trucks with HT-C sideframes See-through steps Detailed dynamic brake […]
The U.S. Class I railroads’ recurring crew shortages, related bouts of service problems, and a lack of meaningful volume growth are intertwined. You can lay the blame for all three problems at just one place: Wall Street. BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are in the midst of the mother of all […]
CHICAGO — U.S. railroads may see high demand for coal exports continue as Germany looks to fire up its coal-fired power plants in the months ahead. Germany’s renewed focus on coal is due to its need to conserve natural gas after Russia pulled back its gas exports last week due to European sanctions. Germany had […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Chesapeake & Ohio roundhouse dating to 1927 is facing demolition by CSX Transportation, although nothing is scheduled and a preservation group has been trying to save the building. The Columbus Dispatch reports the brick structure at Parsons Yard on Columbus’ Far South Side, was built as a 27-stall roundhouse but […]
SUMMIT, Ill. — Some projects in Chicago’s CREATE program, which seeks to address rail congestion, bring dramatic changes to the landscape. The Englewood Flyover, the lengthy bridge which raised Metra’s Rock Island District above the Norfolk Southern main line on the city’s South Side, is the classic example. For others, the impact is far more […]
General Electric C30-7 diesel locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model, $239.95; with dual-mode ESU LokSound V5 sound decoder, $349.95 Era: September 1976 to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Rapido Trains Inc., 500 Alden Road, Unit 21, Markham, Ontario L3R 5H5 Canada, 905-474-3314, rapidotrains.com General Electric C30-7 features: Adirondack or Rockwell trucks as appropriate […]
CHICAGO — Higher interest rates may not be significantly pulling back inflationary pressure thus far, but they are cooling down lumber prices, returning them to near pre-pandemic norms in an inadvertent sacrifice of Class I railroad carloads. According to rail carload data, so far this year the country’s seven Class I railroads have hauled approximately […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has selected 25 projects in 13 states to receive railroad trespassing enforcement and suicide prevention grants. A total of $1.96 million of the $2.26 million total in the Railroad Trespassing Enforcement Activities program will fund hourly wages for police to enforce trespass violations at known “hot spots,” where trespassing […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board, making clear its unhappiness with service recovery plans filed by the four largest U.S. Class I railroads, will require those railroads to correct deficiencies in service recovery plans submitted to the board, and to provide additional information on how they plan to improve service and communication with customers. At […]
