CHICAGO — Amtrak is seeking more than $200 million in federal funding, along with money from state and local sources, in an attempt to fix a series of long-standing deficiencies, capacity limitations, and how trains from the south and east enter Chicago. The passenger operator is competing for a portion of $5 billion available between […]
Overall on-time performance for the big four U.S. Class I railroads has fallen from a pre-pandemic average of 85% to just 67% in the last week of May 2022, as crew shortages continue to plague rail service. The extent of the service decline was revealed in historic on-time performance data that BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, […]
Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific are teaming up to deliver Hapag-Lloyd international containers from the Port of Virginia to destinations on the West Coast. The new service, said to be a first and dubbed OceaNS Bridge Express, was announced on Wednesday but was launched in April. Importers are struggling with congestion that has caused lengthy […]
Electro-Motive Division GP15-1 and GP15T diesel locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current with 21-pin NEM connector, $219.99; with dual-mode SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 sound decoder, $319.99 Era: 1977+ to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com Electro-Motive Division GP15-1 and GP15T diesel locomotive features: Uncoupling levers Trainline […]
CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Class I railroads are hauling more automotive carloads, a possible sign that the auto sector’s supply chain is improving. Association of American Railroads’ weekly carload report reveals in recent weeks that shipments of motor vehicles and parts are exceeding 2020 and 2021 weekly volumes. This could ease a multi-year carload deficit dragged […]
CLIFTON FORGE, Va. — Volunteers from the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society have completed restoration of one of the railroad’s phone boxes at the C&O Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge. The box, saved in the 1970s by historical society member David Powell as it was being disposed of near Charlottesville, Va., was donated for […]
ALEXANDER, W.Va. — West Virginia’s coal history is a cyclical tale of boom-and-bust periods driven by the world’s appetite for the state’s most abundant fossil fuel. Agility and resiliency have carried coal and its closely linked partner, railroading, through periods of prosperity and dispersity. Today in one of the state’s most rural dwellings is a […]
American Car & Foundry 3,560-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay Center Flow covered hopper Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $33.95 (undecorated, $26.95) Era: 1967 to present (era varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Atlas Model Railroad Co., Inc., 378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ 07205, 908-687-0880, shop.atlasrr.com Features: Weighted, detailed underframe Accumate couplers Roller-bearing trucks with metal wheels Available now Road names: […]
Southern Railway history: The earliest portion of the Southern Railway was the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company, which was chartered in 1828 to build from Charleston, S. C., to Hamburg, S. C., on the north bank of the Savannah River. Its purpose was to bring trade to the port of Charleston from inland […]
Pennsylvania RR class H-43 100-ton three-bay hopper Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $29.95 Era: 1971 to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Bowser Manufacturing Co., Inc., 1302 Jordan Ave., Montoursville, PA 17754, 570-368-2379, bowser-trains.com HO scale 100-ton three-bay hopper features: 36” metal wheelsets Roller-bearing trucks Interior and slope sheet braces Knuckle couplers Pre-orders due May […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Efforts by Class I railroads to hire more engineers and conductors are helping lift workforce numbers from record lows during the coronavirus pandemic. But other forms of railroad employment remain below pre-pandemic numbers, and overall employment is still dramatically lower than it was five years ago. According to the most recent Surface […]
WASHINGTON — The four largest U.S. Class I railroads have told federal regulators that their conductor training programs and hiring pipelines are full as they try to restore service to normal levels amid widespread crew shortages. The railroads’ service recovery plans, submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Friday as required, outlined the steps BNSF […]
