In late August 2023, Atlas announced that it is entering the Z scale freight car market. The company’s debut car will be the Evans 53-foot double-plug-door boxcar, which it also offers in N, HO, and O scales. The Master Line model is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2024. Road names in the […]
Lionel Husky Stack-Cars are now available. For the modern-day modeler, a hole in the market for the better part of the last decade would be the availability of scale intermodal cars. Atlas’s Gunderson well cars are next to impossible to find on the secondhand market, and previous releases by Lionel lacked details. Many were not […]
News & Products for the week of September 5th 2023 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of September 5th […]
HOUSTON – Union Pacific and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are seeking residents’ permission to conduct soil testing on their properties this month as part of the railroad’s ongoing effort to clean up contamination from the former Southern Pacific crosstie treatment plant in the Fifth Ward. The Houston Health Department independently conducted some additional soil […]
Privately owned caboose Welcome to the world of privately owned cabooses. The craving for a cab is a continuing urge for Americans. So, let’s probe this topic deeper. Matt Bumgarner, noted railroad author, publisher, and driving force behind the Southeastern Narrow Gauge and Short Line Museum in Newton, N.C., answers the following questions about his […]
WASHINGTON — Five of the seven Class I railroads operating in the U.S. last year were revenue adequate in 2022, the Surface Transportation Board said today. Being revenue adequate means a railroads achieved a rate of return equal to or greater than the board’s calculation of the average cost of capital to the freight rail […]
As of Sunday, Sept. 3, multiple delays of the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink trains were reported by Amtrak and transit officials over the Labor Day weekend. A variety of causes were to blame including “unforeseen track closures,” signal issues, and police activity due to the death of a man struck by a northbound Coaster train […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have suspended a rule that would have allowed the shipment of liquefied natural gas in railroad tank cars. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, last week said the rule adopted in 2020 would be shelved until whichever comes first: June 30, 2025 or […]
WATERLOO, Ontario — On Sept. 3, heritage operator Waterloo Central Railway (WCR) officially launched their Sunday Dayliner Service with RDC1 No. 9114. The trains are scheduled to operate between the Northfield station in north Waterloo, Ontario, and the town of Elmira on the Waterloo Spur. RDC1 No. 9114 last operated under its own power in […]
Q: Reading Jerry Dziedzic’s essay on “Turning waybills into dollar bills” (August 2023) made me realize that I don’t know anything about how prototype railroads handle the inspection and shopping of freight cars. Are cars sent in for inspection, paint, and maintenance at fixed times, or after a certain number of miles, or only when a […]
Mind-blowing facts — cabooses Cabin, cabin car, waycar, brake van, van, crummy, crum box, birdcage, boneshaker, brain box, shack, shanty, parlor, hack, zoo, or caboose, regardless of what you name the car that concluded American freight trains from the 1830s until the mid-1980s, it remains a railroading icon. The first caboose can be traced to […]
I’m heartened to see Amtrak intends to explore a 200-mph Dallas-Houston passenger rail service in cooperation with Texas Central Partners. Having driven I-45 between the two megacities, I can vouch for its clear need and likely success. Not all of Amtrak’s plans have succeeded as envisioned, unfortunately. One, in particular, comes to mind: the short-lived […]
