In memoriam: Robert Weaver

Classic Toy Trains magazine logo

Robert Weaver, who established Quality Craft/Weaver Model Trains with his wife, Shirley, in 1965 and over the next half-century manufactured plastic and brass O gauge two- and three-rail locomotives and rolling stock, died on August 7, 2021, at the age of 93. The Weavers launched their business in Northumberland, Pa., and eventually came to specialize […]

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SMS 0-6-0 returns to steam

Front of steam locomotive

BRIDGEPORT, N.J. — A well-known 1960s and 1970s short line and tourist railroad steam locomotive is back. SMS Rail 0-6-0 No. 9, an Army brat built by Alco in 1942, test-fired Saturday for the first time following a 12-year restoration, just two days shy of when it was taken out of service in 1981. The […]

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New England passenger authority backs CSX acquisition of Pan Am Railways

Passenger train passing through trees

WASHINGTON – The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which sponsors Amtrak’s Downeaster service between Brunswick, Maine, and Boston, says it backs CSX Transportation’s proposed acquisition of Pan Am Railways. Amtrak’s Downeaster uses Pan Am trackage from the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border to Portland, Maine, and on to the passenger service terminus at Brunswick. The passenger […]

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Cipriano becomes interim head of New York City Transit

Logo of Metropolitan Transportation Authority

NEW YORK — Craig Cipriano, who previously oversaw the New York City Transit bus system, has become NYCT’s interim president, succeeding Sarah Feinberg. An MTA press release announced that Janno Lieber, who became acting Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and CEO on July 31, appointed Cipriano to his position. Feinberg stepped down last week after 17 […]

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Norfolk Southern worker dies in accident at Enola shop

Brick shop building with safety signs over doorways

ENOLA, Pa. — A 58-year-old Norfolk Southern employee died after falling into a 40-foot-deep pit at NS’s Enola Yard Diesel Shop at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 4. Cumberland County Coroner Charley Hall confirmed that the victim, Stuart Riggs of Mechanicsburg, Pa., lost his balance and fell to his death when a safety rail gave […]

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Meet the Modeler: Richard Weatherby

Scratchbuilt lumber mill

How did you get started in the hobby? I definitely remember my early years (age 5) with my first tinplate locomotive. My father built what is known locally as “Christmas Garden.” The outside loop was Lionel Standard gauge, while the inner figure eight was a wind-up O gauge passenger train. I am celebrating 75 years […]

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Woman injured in ‘ghost-hunting’ search at Buffalo station

azzy and immense, New York Central’s Buffalo station opened in June 1929. Its site 2 miles from downtown was chosen for operational convenience, not ease of passenger access. Pennsy and TH&B also used it, but Buffalo’s other roads called elsewhere. Amtrak quit the place in 1979; the terminal’s size and location have hampered preservationists’ dogged efforts to reuse it. A portion of a 1929 Walter L. Greene painting shows J-1 Hudson 5200 at the new terminal. NYC

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ghost hunting can apparently be a dangerous activity. The Buffalo News reports a 35-year-old Kenmore, N.Y., woman was injured Saturday night during a ghost-hunting expedition at Buffalo’s landmark Central Terminal railroad station. The woman fell 15 to 20 feet through a substation roof near the back of the station property while exploring […]

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