Covered wagons center on Indiana for Christmas NEWSWIRE

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The Polar Bear Express, using leased Iowa Pacific Holdings Co. equipment, departs North-bound from Kokomo, Ind., on Sunday, Dec. 16. Steve Smedley KOKOMO, Ind. — If you need a Christmas-time covered wagon fix, central Indiana is the place to go. Two holiday passenger operations there are featuring classic Electro-Motive Division cab units as power. The […]

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New model trains for the week of December 20, 2018

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Trinity 3,230-cubic-foot-capcity pressure differential covered hopper

HO scale locomotives General Electric Dash 9-44CW. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (red-and-silver warbonnet, three road numbers); BC Rail (red, white, and blue and solid blue schemes, two numbers each); BNSF Ry. (Heritage II scheme, three numbers); CSX (yellow, blue, and gray scheme, three numbers); Norfolk Southern (red-and-gray scheme, one number); and Union Pacific (as-delivered […]

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Monon’s first diesel decapitated in trucking accident

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LOGANSPORT, Ind. — The cab of Monon’s first diesel, operational SW1 No. 50, was sheared off in a trucking accident Thursday night less than two miles from where the 76-year-old unit was to be offloaded at the relocated Indiana Transportation Museum. The truck moving the privately-owned unit from Noblesville, Ind., to the museum’s new home […]

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Athearn HO scale SD70ACe with Tsunami2

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Athearn HO scale SD70ACe with Tsunami2 A skew-wound motor with brass flywheels is secured to the center of the die-cast metal frame. Plastic driveshafts power all 12 wheels, which also pick up current. In 1943, employees of the Union Pacific RR agreed to an extra deduction in their paychecks to buy War Bonds during World […]

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Distributed power in the Midwest

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A Norfolk Southern SD70ACe pushes on an empty crude oil train in Toledo, Ohio, in March 2013. Michael D. Harding Q Watching passing freight trains, I’ve seen a locomotive located in the middle or at the end of the train. Are these pusher locomotives being run by remote control by the engineer in the lead […]

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GE delivers first of newly ordered locomotives to Ukraine NEWSWIRE

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A GE-built TE33A locomotive for Ukraine. GE Transportation MELITOPOL, Ukraine — GE Transportation and Ukrainian Railways today celebrated a major accomplishment as the first Evolution Series locomotive entered service in Ukraine, part of an ongoing cooperative effort to comprehensively upgrade the country’s diesel-electric rail fleet. The project goal is to modernize Ukraine’s transportation infrastructure and […]

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New model railroading products for the week of December 13, 2018

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Athearn Trains HO scale EMD SD40T-2 tunnel motor News & Products for the week of December 13, 2018 HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD40T-2 diesel locomotive. Denver & Rio Grande Western, Southern Pacific (speed lettering with D&RGW reporting marks in two road numbers, Roman lettering in four numbers), St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt), and Union […]

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GE’s locomotive command center celebrates 20 years in operation NEWSWIRE

ERIE, Pa. — GE Transportation marked the 20-year anniversary of its best kept secret, the Global Performance Optimization Center. Since opening two decades ago, this “mission control” capability transformed how the rail industry worldwide maintains and manages its locomotive fleet and maintenance resources. “Locomotive monitoring has come a long way since we started the first […]

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