Confidential Close Call reporting basics A New Jersey Transit train zips northward from Atlantic City to New York’s Penn Station on Jan. 23, 2010. If the crew were to err, they could report the close call and be part of a bigger program to improve safety, rather than be punished. Dennis A. Livesay photograph Confidential […]
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Positive Train Control: Beyond the basics
Positive Train Control Tick, tock. U.S. railroads have collectively spent decades and billions of dollars on positive train control research. Tick. Public outcry after a 2008 commuter crash that killed 25 people — a crash that a Federal safety panel says PTC could have prevented — pushed Congress to act. Tock. With a Congressional deadline […]
Where the steel hits the road
Intelligent Grade Crossings will warn motorists and trains that approach is imminent. Federal Railroad Administration Train crews and motorists may have the ability to “see” one another earlier than ever thanks to “Intelligent Grade Crossings” currently under development through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development Office. Since the dawn of railroading, one of the […]
All the way with Santa Fe
Name: Peter Atonna Railroad Name: Seligman and Paulden Lines Location: Paulden, AZ Scale: O Theme: Railroading through the Southwest Description: The arrival of Lionel’s new hybrid Santa Fe Mikado triggered an idea to do a video featuring all Santa Fe trains. We start at downtown Chicago at Union Station (I know, a bit far from […]
In Memoriam: Bill (William) Miller 1939-2018
Bill Miller demonstrates a swing bridge on he and his wife’s Colorado & Southern Ohio Creek extension for the article in Great Model Railroads 2009. Noted narrow gauge modeler Bill Miller died in Hagerstown, Md., on Jan. 29. He was 78 years old. Bill and his wife, Mary, both National Model Railroad Association Master Model […]
Getting a legacy on track
Name: Alan Caddell Railroad Name: Suzette Lee Line Scale: O Theme: Mixed industrial Description: Selected scenes from a day on the Suzette Lee Line serving Industrial Loop #1. […]
Plans for a passenger shelter
The prototypes for the passenger shelters in these plans originally served the Rochester & Eastern Rapid Transit Ry. This interurban line ran from Rochester, N.Y., to Geneva, N.Y. Models of these compact trackside structures would also work well as flagstop stations on a model railroad. Click on the link to download a PDF of the […]
Scheduling freight trains
Northbound CSX Transportation aggregates train K944 is seen meeting intermodal train Q145 at Opelika, Ala., in 2010. Class I railroads use different kinds of schedules to keep their networks fluid and profitable, even on single-track lines. Frank Orona What time will the train depart? When will it arrive? While most people associate schedules with passenger […]
Ewbank gas-electric locomotive
Gene Mendonca’s painting of Ewbank Electric Transmission Co.’s train. Gene Mendonca Q Can you tell me anything about the Ewbank Electric Transmission Co. that is the subject of a picture I painted from a very old newspaper clipping? – Gene Mendonca, Folsom, Calif. A H.B. Ewbank Jr. built No. 333, a 75-foot-long gas-electric locomotive with […]
Getting a legacy on track
Name: Alan Caddell Railroad Name: Suzette Lee Line Scale: O Theme: Mixed industrial Description: Selected scenes from a day on the Suzette Lee Line serving Industrial Loop #1. […]
David McLean’s HO scale model railroad
Take a tour of David McLean’s HO scale 5 x 10 tabletop model railroad. He used a GoPro camera. […]
Extreme Trains at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum – The Oil Cans
The January 2018 Extreme Trains event at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum starred the Southern Pacific “Oil Cans.” This was the famous train that hauled crude oil from Shell Oil Company’s Belridge field to its refinery near Carson, California. […]