What has been railroading’s top story in 2021? Today, we begin the process of answering that question, as determined in balloting by the Trains editorial staff, Classic Trains editor Brian Schmidt (who spent most of the year on our staff), and key News Wire contributors. Balloting concluded on Dec. 10. We’ll be recapping stories each […]
ALDERSHOT, Ontario — So spotless you can imagine the smell of fresh paint, a half-dozen freshly rebuilt Wabtec AC44C6M locomotives bound for the Quebec North Shore & Labrador pass through Aldershot, Ont., today (Dec. 21, 2021) on Canadian National train No. 422 today. The units, rebuilt from BNSF C44-9s, will operate on the remote 257-mile […]
Precision Scheduled Railroading has become a target for members of Congress, federal regulators, shippers, and rail labor. Hunter Harrison’s low-cost operating model — in place on all of the Class I railroads except BNSF Railway — has come under criticism as rail traffic has rebounded from pandemic lows. Intermodal terminals faced monumental congestion this summer. […]
Do railroad mergers live up to the hype? It’s a question that’s been rattling around in my head as federal regulators review the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, the first between Class I railroads in two decades. First, the projections. Within three years of the merger, Canadian Pacific Kansas City expects to gain 80,000 carloads […]
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An Amtrak on-board service attendant injured in September’s derailment of the Empire Builder has become the latest to file suit over the accident. The Billings Gazette reports Tarrick Peyton filed suit in U.S. District Court in Great Falls against Amtrak and BNSF Railway for negligence in the Sept. 25 accident that killed […]
FORT MADISON, Iowa — The City of Fort Madison celebrated completion of an almost 14-year effort to restore its downtown passenger station on Friday, Dec. 10, with Southwest Chief service to and from the station to begin this Wednesday, Dec. 15. Work at the downtown facility, built by Santa Fe in 1910, required raising the […]
Product news 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. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of December 9, 2021. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70-series diesel locomotives. SD70M: […]
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, […]
Introduction to Clearing Yard in Chicago Clearing Yard in Chicago often operates at 1.8 mph, slower than the speed at which an average adult walks. Compound that brutally slow pace with the idea that this same portion of railroad connects six of the seven Class I carriers, and you soon get the feeling somebody has […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern today named Alan Shaw as its chief executive officer, effective May 1, when current CEO Jim Squires will retire. Shaw, the railroad’s chief marketing officer, was promoted to president effective today. The NS management team now reports to Shaw, who has been with the railroad for 27 years and has served […]
A California-inspired garden railroad is what you can see in our Morning Glow Railroad. It was developed after watching numerous videos, reading many Garden Railways magazines, then determining the type of garden railroad I wanted to construct. Its theme is based on the type of natural setting that I enjoyed the most, namely a vacation […]
Rapido Trains announced that a FreightCar America AutoFlood III five-bay hopper is the next release in the company’s growing N scale lineup. The modern-era coal hauler is scheduled for release in 2022. The ready-to-run car will feature a die-cast metal frame and floor; full interior rivet and K-member details; Barber S-2 100-ton trucks with metal […]
