BNSF Railway is now testing Kawasaki’s Locomotive-Mounted Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement System, Kawasaki has announced. The system uses sensors and cameras to provide near-real-time track geometry data for track maintenance planning, Kawasaki says in a press release. Production units of the system have been in use since 2021 and have provided over 500,000 miles of […]
Classic Trains’ series “Diesels that didn’t” explores diesel locomotives that didn’t make it to large-scale production due to a variety of factors. However, some of those diesels made it to mass-production in the scale model world. Let’s take a look at the products offered to those modeling the diesels that didn’t. Electro-Motive Division BL2 HO […]
ELMA, Wash. — Shortline powerhouse Genesee & Wyoming has begun removing older locomotives from its roster as part of a consent decree reached with the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year. Part of the agreement requires G&W to disable or upgrade more than 70 locomotives to address Clean Air Act violations [see “Genesee & Wyoming agrees to […]
CB&Q 9377, a Baldwin VO1000 built in 1944, switches at the road’s brand-new freight house near Chicago in 1958. Burlington Route photo […]
Freight locomotives in passenger service were the exception to the rules. They required passenger cars that were self-contained, the use of separate head-end power generator cars, or some understanding passengers. However, they often offered the best value for the railroads using them who may not have wanted to invest scarce capital in dedicated passenger power […]
LOS ANGELES — Santa Fe No. 5704, the SD45-2 locomotive cosmetically restored to its bicentennial paint scheme, will make its California public debut at Los Angeles Union Station’s Train Festival 2023: A Celebration of Past, Present & Future on September 9-10. The locomotive, which was donated by BNSF to the Southern California Railway Museum in […]
The Electro-Motive Division GP39 diesel locomotive was a 12-cylinder, turbocharged unit without a market. EMD rarely missed when the company introduced a new model, but the announcement of the GP39 turned out to be a sales dud. The few buyers who did take the plunge and roster the locomotive found that, in the right assignment, […]
Union Pacific’s General Electric U50C locomotives were the last double-diesel model to join the roster, beginning in late 1969. They were, however, the least successful of the three production models the railroad acquired. GE built 40 U50C locomotives for UP between September 1969 and January 1971. (Their production dates largely mirrored those of […]
Algoma Central locomotives provided a bit of variety in northern Ontario railroading. For a railroad its size, ACR owned a variety of steam power. The first engines were secondhand, including 11 acquired in 1899: four Lehigh Valley 4-6-0s and seven ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 0-4-0s. ACR’s first new power, four Baldwin 2-8-0s, arrived […]
Metrolink’s lonely F40PH locomotive is one of a dwindling number of F40s. It’s hard to believe once the EMD F40PH was the predominant motive power for Amtrak trains as well as many commuter lines. At Metrolink, No. 800 is today one of a kind. The story starts in the years following the initial hodgepodge of […]
News & Products for the week of July 31st 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 July 31st 2023. […]
OSCEOLA, Wis. — Trains Magazine is sponsoring a two-day photo charter in September featuring vintage diesel locomotives from the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) collection. Trains will run Sept.11-12 out of Osceola on MTM’s Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway, which operates over Canadian National’s 25-mile former Soo Line Dresser Subdivision. Trains will be pulled by […]
