Rob Himoto’s Santa Maria Valley Railroad is the quintessential short line success story. His family bought the struggling 13.72-mile independent short line in 2006. Through hard work, they’ve been able to quadruple annual carloadings, diversify the railroad’s traffic base, and improve its track. Himoto is understandably proud of the turnaround and the role the railroad […]
News & Products for the week of May 30th 2023 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of May 30th 2023. […]
CHICAGO — Railroads have to mend frayed relationships with customers, employees, Congress, and regulators, CSX Transportation CEO Joe Hinrichs told a shipper conference last week. “At best we have strained relations with every single key stakeholder except investors. And most of our key stakeholders hate us,” Hinrichs says he told CSX management shortly after becoming […]
Locomotive headlights and class lights Aside from required ditch lights on most locomotives today, extra lights are essentially gone from freight locomotives, but if you look hard enough you can still find traces of the past when additional lights were ordered by railroads. Before the era of locomotive standardization, many railroads chose to equip their […]
CHICAGO — Some Amtrak long-distance and regional trains outside the Northeast Corridor experienced rare detours and extraordinary delays prior to and during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. On most routes, though, trains were operating on time as a result of lighter freight traffic. California Zephyrs rerouted Early Saturday, May 27, a washout on BNSF Railway’s […]
Railroad photography It can be intimidating sometimes, waiting to photograph a train with your camera and the 18-55 mm kit lens, standing next to a fellow fan sporting a monstrous telephoto zoom that in some cases costs more than the car that got you here. That person is going to get a shot you couldn’t […]
Aberdeen Carolina & Western E9A The short line, Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway Company, debuts its rebuilt and repainted former Union Pacific E9A locomotive, No. 103, on an equipment ferry move on May 25. Then E9A leads former Norfolk Southern F9A and F9B locomotives between the company’s headquarters and main shops at Candor, N.C., and […]
SCRANTON, Pa. – Steamtown National Historic Site’s Railfest and Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum’s Arts on Fire is set for June 17. In addition to free admission, there will be no cost for Steamtown’s short train rides. A complimentary shuttle service will be available throughout the day to transport visitors between Steamtown and the Scranton Iron Furnaces. […]
Aberdeen Carolina & Western E9A CANDOR, N.C. – The Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway has debuted its rebuilt and repainted E9A No. 103 on the “NODA Express Maiden Voyage” (NODA is short for Charlotte’s art and entertainment district in North Davidson). The restored locomotive led a special move from the ACW shops in Candor to […]
CHICAGO – Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman told a shipper conference that Class I railroad behavior over the past few years – mass layoffs, crew shortages, and poor service – may require a new approach to regulation. “It may be time to say 2023 is not 1980 and we need to rethink some […]
In the early 1950s, Union Pacific F3 units in A-B-B formation lead freight train 257 west up the nearly 2 percent grade to Reverse, Idaho, on the road’s main line to Portland, Ore.; 107 cars to the rear, two 2-8-8-0s assist the diesels. Henry R. Griffiths Jr. photo […]
The Atlas General Electric U28C and U28CG diesels recently arrived in hobby shops. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features on these newly tooled HO scale six-axle diesels and then operate an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passenger train with the U28CG on our Milwaukee, […]
