Jack Burgess’ Yosemite Valley Railroad in HO scale | Jack Burgess, a dedicated model railroad enthusiast, has masterfully recreated the Yosemite Valley Railroad, an iconic prototype railroad that operated in central California until 1947. Over the course of 31 years, Jack poured his heart into crafting an intricate and historically significant model railroad, capturing the […]
Type of Train: Freight
British Columbia ports strike ends with tentative agreement
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Workers have returned to work at British Columbia ports after their union and employers reached a tentative agreement on Thursday, ending a 13-day strike. The two sides accepted terms drafted by a federal mediator on Thursday morning, about 10 minutes before a deadline set by Canadian labor minister Seamus O’Regan, according […]
Cincinnati Southern sale to go to voters in November
CINCINNATI — Voters will have their say on the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway on Nov. 7. WXIX-TV reports that Thursday, the railway board of trustees voted unanimously to place the proposed sale of the line from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn., on the ballot. If a majority of voters approve, the nation’s only municipally […]
Michigan approves legislation for grade crossing separation fund
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan has enacted legislation creating a program within the state’s Department of Transportation to fund grade crossing separation projects. Michigan Public Radio reports the legislation prioritizes projects closer to locations such as schools, trauma treatment facilities, and manufacturing sites. It would require local governments to cover matching funds covering up to 20% […]
Weekly U.S. rail figures remain down
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 8, 2023, was down 5.1% compared to the same week a year earlier, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. The total of 407,843 carloads and intermodal units included 197,086 carloads, down 2.3% from the corresponding week in 2022, while the 210,757 containers […]
Vermont Rail System recovers from flood damage
Vermont Rail System was hit as hard as its namesake state by storms early this week, but the company is beginning to get a handle on the damage. “I am feeling better today than I did yesterday,” president Selden Houghton said in a a telephone interview today (July 12) with Trains News Wire. VRS received […]
Transcontinental Railroad: Building track
Transcontinental Railroad Workers who built the first Transcontinental Railroad, by hand, in the late 1860s labored through grueling heat, biting winter cold, snow, attacks from Native American tribes, and long, long work days. Learn how they did it with this excerpt from one of Trains’ DVD’s, Journey To Promontory, available from the Kalmbach Hobby Store. […]
Icing station on the Erie
At an icing station on the Erie Railroad, crushed ice is dumped into refrigerator cars from a cart on the upper level through a funnel that rides on tracks at the platform edge. Erie Railroad photo […]
UP coal train derails in Wyoming
BILL, Wyo. — Twenty-one cars of a Union Pacific coal train derailed today (July 10), blocking UP’s route to ship coal out of the Powder River Basin. Cowboy State Daily reports the derailment occurred about 6:30 a.m. approximately 4 miles southeast of Lusk, Wyo., which is 130 miles north of Cheyenne. No injuries were reported. […]
Metro-North to restore some Hudson Line service Tuesday; Amtrak still halted (updated)
NEW YORK — Some Metro-North service will resume on the Hudson line on Tuesday, July 11, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced this afternoon (July 10). At least one train per hour will operate between Peekskill and Grand Central Terminal. This extends service two stations farther north than was available today, when damage from heavy rains […]
News & Products for the week of July 10th 2023
News & Products for the week of July 10th 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 July 10th 2023. […]
CPKC-CSX deal over Meridian & Bigbee shortcut finally realizes Mike Haverty’s vision: Analysis
The agreement Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX Transportation reached last month to create a new corridor linking the Southeast with Texas and Mexico via Meridian, Miss., is not a new idea: More than two decades ago Kansas City Southern CEO Mike Haverty sought to tie his cross-border railroad to CSX by having the companies […]