WASHINGTON — Class I railroads are taking several steps to improve their wayside detection systems — including installing an additional 1,000 hot bearing detectors this year — in the aftermath of the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The Association of American Railroads announced a multi-step safety plan this morning, a day […]
We are exploring ideas on streamlining steam locomotives. During the deepest darkest days of the Great Depression — the economic shock that impacted most of the world from 1929 to 1939 — industrial and political leaders sought out new products, services, and events. They were looking for a means to create jobs, increase sales, and […]
Installing sensors on freight cars is the only way to prevent another disastrous derailment like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, a wheel bearing expert says. Constantine Tarawneh, a mechanical engineering professor who heads the University Transportation Center for Railway Safety at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, […]
News & Products for the week of March 6th 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 March 6th 2023. […]
What is your history with Trains? Carl Swanson: I hired on with Kalmbach twenty-five years ago after previous stints with another publisher where I was editor of Passenger Train Journal and RailNews magazines. In 1999, I became an associate editor with Trains Magazine. For a lifelong railfan, and long-time reader of Trains, this was a dream […]
SEATTLE — Beginning Monday, March 6, Amtrak adds a morning departure from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Portland, Ore., and drops in a mid-afternoon northbound frequency from Portland that departs Seattle at 7 p.m. and arrives into the Canadian city at 11 p.m. Including the Seattle-Los Angeles Coast Starlight, this will increase the number of Seattle-Portland […]
WASHINGTON — All seven Class I railroads will join a Federal Railroad Administration voluntary safety reporting program at the urging of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. In the wake of the disastrous Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Buttigieg wrote the CEOs of the seven major systems on Monday and asked them to […]
If you’ve ever tried to run a big locomotive around a small radius curve of track, you probably realized that the minimum recommended track radius is still too small for a lot of rolling stock. Long-wheelbase steam locomotives, in particular, have trouble staying on the rails when the curve is too sharp. Model railroad manufacturers […]
Q: I want to run six-axle power and trains of 15 cars or so around a return loop without any tight curves to it. What would be the recommended curve radius I should use, and how much space for a loop of track do I need? – Mike Bailey A: The flippant answer is, how […]
Burlington Zephyr 9900 left a shiny legacy on North American railroading that’s still evident today. Zephyr! It’s a name in the world of American passenger trains that dates from 1934 and is still in use by Amtrak. Its pronunciation even has a fast sound to it. Let’s do what Classic Trains does best: […]
The Alco C855 locomotives is a locomotive that Union Pacific should have never considered purchasing. The railroad’s operating department had always favored big motive power to move its mainline trains; just look at its 4-12-2 Union Pacifics, 4-6-6-4 Challengers, and 4-8-8-4 Big Boys in steam days. That philosophy carried over to a fleet […]
Chicago & North Western 0-6-0 2624 passes the busy C&NW-MILW-PRR junction at Western Avenue, Chicago, with a Union Pacific sleeping car bound for North Western Station, where it will join a train for the West Coast. The Pullman had arrived at Grand Central Station or La Salle Street Station on a B&O or NYC train […]
