X Train plans January 2014 start-up NEWSWIRE

LAS VEGAS – During a conference call with investors and interested parties today, Michael Barron, president and CEO of X Train, announced company plans to begin passenger service between Fullerton, Calif., and Las Vegas on January 4, 2014. A special inaugural trip will run Dec. 31, 2013. The train will operate non-stop between the Amtrak/Metrolink […]

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How I photographed a long-distance train ride

FULL SCREEN Roger Varland Threading the maze of girders and other tracks while coming off the MacArthur Bridge into St. Louis. FULL SCREEN Roger Varland The sun is about gone as the Texas Eagle readies for points south at St. Louis. FULL SCREEN Roger Varland Union Pacific signal upgrades watch over a waiting Texas Eagle […]

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Intermodal crane at work

Ever wonder how the UPS and FedEx Ground packages you ship travel across the country? They go by train. And in the December 2012 issue of Trains magazine, we take you inside one of the top railroad intermodal yards for FedEx and UPS Ground shipments: BNSF Railway’s Willow Springs terminal outside Chicago. We spent 24 hours inside […]

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Intermodal crane at work

Ever wonder how the UPS and FedEx Ground packages you ship travel across the country? They go by train. And in the December 2012 issue of Trains magazine, we take you inside one of the top railroad intermodal yards for FedEx and UPS Ground shipments: BNSF Railway’s Willow Springs terminal outside Chicago. We spent 24 […]

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iHobby Expo show report

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale Alco C-424 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Alco C-424 and C-425 diesel locomotives. New paint schemes. C-424 Phase II: Erie Mining (one road number); Springfield Terminal (Guilford scheme); and Toledo, Peoria & Western (two numbers). C-424 Phase III: Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Morristown & Erie (two numbers). C-425 […]

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New products for October 4, 2012

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division F7 diesel locomotive. New paint scheme: Great Northern (Big Sky Blue). Five-pole skew-wound motor with flywheels, prototype-specific details, and McHenry knuckle couplers. A unit only (freight): Direct-current model, $169.98; with SoundTraxx Digital Command Control sound decoder, $269.98. A-B set (freight or passenger): DC model, $309.98; with SoundTraxx DCC sound decoder, […]

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Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale 50-foot Berwick boxcar

Atlas Model Railroad Co. HO scale 50-foot Berwick boxcar Price: $28.95 (undecorated, $24.95) ManufacturerAtlas Model Railroad Co.378 Florence Ave.Hillside, NJ 07205www.atlasrr.com Comments: Atlas has added the Berwick Forge & Fabricating 50-foot boxcar to its Master Line of ready-to-run rolling stock. The model, originally offered as a kit by Branchline Trains, features factory-installed wire grab irons, […]

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2012 National Train Show preliminary report

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD70ACe diesel locomotive in Norfolk Southern heritage schemes. Central RR of New Jersey; Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; Erie; Illinois Terminal; New York Central; Norfolk Southern no. 1030 (1982 and 2012 number boards); Penn Central; Reading Co.; Savannah & Atlanta; Virginian Ry.; and Wabash. New m.u. receptacles, turbocharger compartment doors on […]

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Kato N scale Maxi-Stack I

Kato N scale Maxi-Stack I Magnets help keep the N scale containers in place on the Kato cars. Price: $150 ManufacturerKato USA Inc.100 Remington Rd.Schaumburg, IL 60173katousa.com Era: 1988 to present Comments: This N scale Gunderson Maxi-Stack I from Kato USA features a level of detail once found only on intermodal cars in larger scales. […]

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Norfolk Southern heritage: then and now

FULL SCREEN Top, photo courtesy of Norfolk Southern Corp.; bottom, Robert Palmer photo Top: The first NS heritage unit, ES44AC No. 8098, poses in Conrail blue at Altoona Shops on March 15, 2012. Bottom: Conrail SD60 6702, GP40-2 3220, and an unidentified GE lead a Philadelphia-to-Bethlehem iron ore train out of Black Rock Tunnel near […]

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John Walker Barriger III: He Healed Railroads Using Pictures

FULL SCREEN Photograph by John Walker Barriger III. Courtesy of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis. A westbound, steam-powered freight train on the Santa Fe Railway framed by the front window of an early diesel locomotive at Matfield Green, Kansas, circa 1940. The diesel, […]

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