Product news Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, structures, electronics, train sets, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of January 21, 2021. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division FP45 diesel locomotive. Atchison, […]
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Kansas City Southern hasn’t purchased new locomotives since 2014 as the company has had ample power for its traffic levels with coal deliveries down across its core north-south mainline south of Kansas City. The railroad continues to upgrade its existing power, converting six (confirm) GP38-2s and GP40-2s to GP32ECOs using kits supplied from EMD. KCS […]
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Kansas City Southern hasn’t purchased new locomotives since 2014 as the company has had ample power for its traffic levels with coal deliveries down across its core north-south mainline south of Kansas City. The railroad continues to upgrade its existing power, converting six (confirm) GP38-2s and GP40-2s to GP32ECOs using kits supplied from EMD. KCS […]
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Thursday morning rail news: Alghabra becomes Canada’s transport minister, succeeding Garneau (corrected) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shuffled his cabinet, appointing Omar Alghabra as transport minister. Alghabra replaces Marc Garneau, transport minister since 2015, who becomes minister of foreign affairs. Macleans magazine reports Alghabra, a member of parliament from Mississauga, Ontario, first served in […]
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Tuesday afternoon rail news: Contractor says high speed rail agency’s failures are delaying work, leading to layoffs A major contractor in California’s high speed rail project says state failures have resulted in delays that could cause the project to miss a key 2022 federal deadline. The Los Angeles Times reports that construction firm Tutor Perini […]
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Still more Monday morning rail news: Registration deadline approaches for MARS conference, featuring CP, BNSF CEOs The registration deadline is approaching for the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting, to be held online on Jan. 20. The $25 registration fee includes 2021 membership dues; those who register before Jan. 15 will be able to […]
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With several automakers temporarily halting or slowing production of some car models amid a global shortage of semiconductors, it’s only a matter of time before railroads feel the impact in their finished vehicle traffic. Several auto assembly plants across North America are affected by the shortage of computer chips that has been caused, in part, […]
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ATLANTA — The pandemic hurt railroad traffic across the board, but none more than Norfolk Southern. NS volume for 2020 was down nearly 12%, which was twice as much as Eastern rival CSX Transportation and considerably deeper than the industry average of a 7% decline [see “Canadian Pacific leads industry volume for second straight year,” Trains News Wire, […]
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In a year when all of the big Class I railroads lost volume due to the economic impact of the pandemic, Canadian Pacific came out on top. CP’s volume declined 2.2% in 2020, well above the average 6.8% decline of the big six systems, according to a Trains News Wire review of the railroads’ weekly […]
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Product News Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, structures, electronics, train sets, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroad editors have news on for the week of Jan. 7, 2021. HO scale locomotives Norfolk & Western class A 2-6-6-4 […]
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Three freight rail stories that may not have received the attention they deserved: FRA’s new brake rule The Federal Railroad Administration’s new rule extending the time parked freight cars can be left off air will accelerate operational changes that were already under way on the Class I railroads. The long-awaited rule, adopted Dec. 11, will […]
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Perhaps no one has summed up the pandemic’s impact on rail traffic and operations in 2020 better than CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote. “The last six months have truly been surreal,” Foote told investors and analysts on the company’s earnings call in October. “On last quarter’s call we discussed the largest and most rapid sequential […]
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