Custom-decorated refrigerator cars from Three Notch Rail

White boxcar with orange "Sun Belt System" logo on it

Custom-decorated refrigerator cars Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $50 + shipping Manufacturer: Produced by InterMountain Railway Co., available from Three Notch Rail, HOI@hotmail.com, threenotchrail.blogspot.com Features: Based on Pacific Car & Foundry R-70-15 prototype Etched-metal side screens and roofwalk supports 33” InterMountain metal wheelsets Metal knuckle couplers Minimum radius: 22” Release Date: Available now Road name: Sun […]

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STB establishes office to probe Amtrak delays on host railroads (updated)

Amtrak train reaches grade crossing

WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board has created a passenger rail office that will be responsible for investigating and analyzing Amtrak on-time performance on host railroads. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 authorizes the STB to investigate the causes of substandard passenger rail on-time performance, to identify mitigating measures, and, under specified […]

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Parties to keep talking in effort to iron out Amtrak Gulf Coast dispute

Passenger train with theater car at rear stopped at station

WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday granted a request from all parties involved to extend by 14 days the board-sponsored mediation regarding Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service. Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority will continue to talk through Oct. 25. All parties agreed that “an […]

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SMART Mechanical Division members ratify contract agreement

SMART-TD union logo

WASHINGTON – The membership of the SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART MD) has voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the U.S. Class I railroads, the union announced on Wednesday. The contract passed with 54% of the rank and file voting in favor of the deal. The ratified contract includes historic wage increases, […]

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Athearn 200-ton crane and boom car set

Yellow and black crane train car and brown flatcar

200-ton crane and boom car Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $94.99 Era: 1960s+ to 1980s+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: Rotating boom Boom and blocks raise and lower Flatcar with boom support arms Machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry knuckle couplers Injection-molded […]

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BNSF ordered to pay $228 million in suit over fingerprint data

BNSF Railway logo

CHICAGO — BNSF Railway has been ordered to pay $228 million in a federal class-action lawsuit after a jury found that the railroad violated Illinois state law by collecting employee fingerprints without prior consent. The decision is the first in a case involving the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, the first law passed by a […]

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Weekly U.S. carload, intermodal volume remains down

Weekly table showing U.S. carload rail traffic by commodity type, plus overall intermodal figuresd

WASHINGTON — Carload and intermodal traffic remain below 2021 levels in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Oct. 8, overall traffic of 494,413 carloads and intermodal units represented a 2.4% drop from the same week a year earlier. That figure included 232,930 carloads, down 2.8%, and 261,483 […]

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Bangor & Aroostook locomotives remembered

Six red, gray, and black diesel Bangor Aroostook locomotives on train in wilderness

Let’s celebrate the variety and color of Bangor & Aroostook locomotives! The Bangor & Aroostook didn’t purchase its first diesels (EMD F3s) until 1947, but dieselization then came quickly, with the last steam operations in 1949. The railroad kept its older diesels in good shape for a long time, supplanting them with GP38s in the […]

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OmniTRAX finalizes deal for San Luis & Rio Grande

Locomotive at station

DENVER — OmniTRAX has completed an agreement to purchase the assets of the bankrupt San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, which will become the company’s 26th short line. Bankruptcy trustee William Brandt had said last month that the company had signed an agreement in principle to purchase the 155-mile Colorado railroad, a former Denver & […]

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50-foot Superior plug-door boxcar from Athearn

Drawing of yellow boxcar with brown ends

50-foot Superior plug-door boxcar Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $37.99 Era: 1971+ to late 2000s+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: Separate, factory-installed brake wheel and ladders 70-ton roller bearing trucks 33” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry knuckle couplers Injection-molded plastic body […]

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