STOCKTON, Calif. — Southward expansion of the Altamont Corridor Express commuter rail service to Merced, Calif., received a key administrative boost Friday, as the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission approved the final environmental report for the new segment. The Modesto Bee reports that the vote concludes an environmental review that began in June 2020. It […]
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Trackside Photos is a showcase for the work of Model Railroader readers. Send your photos (digital images 5 megapixels or larger) to: Model Railroader, Trackside Photos, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612; or upload them to http://fileupload.kalmbach.com/contribute. For our photo submission guidelines, contact associate editor Steven Otte at sotte@kalmbach.com. […]
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How did you get started in the hobby? My earlier memories of model trains go back to first grade. On my way to school, we would pass by the front window of a store that would set up a layout during Christmas time. Later I learned that it was an HO train set, but at […]
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Q: I have some BNSF General Electric Dash-9 and GEVO units that pull my double-stack and trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) trains as well as a BNSF Executive train. My question is, what sort of freight cars would be used with GP18s and SD45s in the mid- to late 1960s? – Jim Rohrbach A: If you’re running Dash-9s and GEVOs, […]
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Introducing the Lionel Super Chief LionChief set The Lionel Super Chief LionChief toy train set is a good-looking small passenger train set in a road name I really like. Lionel’s no. 84719 Santa Fe Super Chief LionChief set has been in the catalog since 2018, and there are good reasons the train maker keeps […]
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PACIFIC JUNCTION, Iowa — Two crew members are reported to have been injured in a Friday morning collision of two BNSF Railway trains at Pacific Junction, about 18 miles south of Omaha, Neb. BNSF reports an empty coal train hit the back of a mixed freight train at about 7 a.m. local time, derailing the […]
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ESCANABA, Mich. — The railfan world was electrified yesterday when the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad was seen moving one of its two Baldwin RF16 “Sharknose” diesels from the E&LS car shop in Escanaba to another shop at the railroad’s headquarters in nearby Wells. Rumors flew this would be the beginning of an effort to […]
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Lionel 6464 boxcars help Lionel Corp. mark 1953 as a turning point. Yes, a year after blazing a new trail with classic streamlined passenger cars, the engineering and sales teams at Lionel fielded near-scale models of a modern flatcar, a triple-dome tank car, and a porthole caboose. Perhaps most important of all, the company […]
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WASHINGTON — Cape May Seashore Lines will replace Conrail as the local freight service provider on 31.68 miles of New Jersey Transit trackage in southern New Jersey on or after Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. CMSL will gain trackage rights over NJ Transit’s Cape May Branch between milepost 27.02 at Winslow Junction, N.J., […]
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WASHINGTON — The use of the Train Approach Warning method to warn track workers of approaching traffic — in a multiple-track location where trains could approach at full speed in either direction — led to a fatal 2019 accident involving Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority workers, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued […]
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WASHINGTON — New rules from the Transportation Security Administration requiring railroads to report cybersecurity breaches and review their vulnerability to online attacks will take effect on Dec. 31. Bloomberg reports the rules will require companies to report hacking incidents within 24 hours, conduct a vulnerability assessment, develop a plan to respond to hacking, and designate […]
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