Model Railroader magazine’s associate editor Bryson Sleppy shares his technique for installing an LED kit into a modern, HO scale passenger car that did not come factory-equipped with lights. Even better, Bryson adds an NCE Light-it DCC decoder he’ll use to toggle the interior illumination on/off. Be sure to follow the exclusive In The Workshop […]
Type of Train: Freight
UP’s Coast Line again shut down by storm damage
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — For the second time this winter, Amtrak has been forced to halt Coast Starlight service for an extended period in the wake of weather-related damages to Union Pacific’s Coast Line. Following a fierce winter storm that made landfall on Friday, March 10, a 74-year-old earthen levee along the Pajaro River in Monterey […]
First run of Santa Fe’s Super C
Santa Fe FP45’s 100 and 102 race west of Gallup, N.Mex., with the inaugural run of the road’s premium piggyback train the Super C on January 18, 1968. Road Foreman of Engines Jack Elwood is at the throttle; he wrote about the trip in Classic Trains‘ Special Edition No. 7, Fast Trains. ATSF photo […]
CPKC’s first new trains will handle cross-border perishables shipments
NEW YORK — The first new Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains will be a pair of hotshots that link Chicago with Texas and Mexico City, hauling Midwestern meat southbound and Mexican-grown fruits and vegetables northbound. CPKC can begin offering single-line service as early as April 14, the date that Canadian Pacific will gain control of […]
Add interior lights to a passenger car
Model Railroader magazine’s associate editor Bryson Sleppy shares his technique for installing an LED kit into a modern, HO scale passenger car that did not come factory-equipped with lights. Even better, Bryson adds an NCE Light-it DCC decoder he’ll use to toggle the interior illumination on/off. Be sure to follow the exclusive In The Workshop […]
When refrigerated freight cars break down
Refrigerated freight cars Progress can give us good, time-saving machinery and concepts our forefathers could have never dreamed of. In the right circumstances, progress allows us to do things quicker, faster, more efficiently, and at a better price point. But it is not necessarily more soul stirring. Diesel-electrics are great to watch hauling long trains […]
Widow sues Norfolk Southern over death of conductor trainee in 2022 Alabama accident
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The widow of a Norfolk Southern trainee killed last year when struck by debris in a locomotive cab has sued the railroad, the news site Al.com reports. Sherita Fields filed suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court earlier this year over the death of Walter James Griffin III, 43. Griffin was killed in […]
BNSF train derails in Arizona
TOPOCK, Ariz. — Derailed cars of BNSF Railway train that derailed Wednesday night were carrying corn syrup, the railroad reports, correcting initial reports from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office that hazardous materials were on board. CNN reports that BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent told the news network that the derailment occurred about 7:40 p.m. near the […]
Reading & Northern makes marketing changes
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern has announced two changes in its marketing department, promoting James Raffa to senior vice president-petrochemicals and minerals, and naming Rian Nemeroff senior vice president-consumer products. Raffa, who rejoined R&N two years ago, was instrumental in developing a Marcellus Shale transload terminal in Tunkhannock, Pa. The railroad handled more […]
U.S. rail traffic slump continues
WASHINGTON — U.S. railroads experienced their biggest single-week traffic drop of the year, compared to the comparable week in 2022, with overall traffic down 7.6% for the week ending March 11, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Intermodal traffic — at 229,383 containers and trailers, down 13% from the corresponding week in […]
Canadian government to help fund Winnipeg-area rail industrial park
ROSSER, Manitoba — The Canadian government will contribute up to C$18 million toward development of a rail-served industrial park near Winnipeg, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced Wednesday. Funds for the CentrePort Canada project will help pay for an additional switch connecting to the adjacent Canadian Pacific main line, several kilometers of track within the park, […]
Conditions placed on CP-KCS merger designed to ensure competition, smooth operations
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators imposed a number of conditions on the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, including a novel way of enforcing the railways’ promise to not tamper with current interchanges. Nearly all of the conditions were proposed by CP and KCS themselves as part of the Surface Transportation Board’s merger review […]