CHICAGO — Norfolk Southern’s effort to expand its 47th Street Yard on Chicago’s South Side has finally cleared a regulatory hurdle from the Chicago City Council. The Chicago Tribune reports that the council voted today (Wednesday, Feb. 1) to approve the land deal necessary for the railroad to expand the yard southward by adding intermodal […]
The lost art of soldering was once an important skill for model railroaders. Until the mid-1970s, knowing how to solder was essential for anyone who wanted to scratchbuild or detail locomotives and cars or assemble sheet-metal structures. By 1980, new adhesives came into use, including two-part epoxies, the various cyanoacrylate adhesives (CA), and effective contact […]
How do you blow up a decoder? Fail to isolate the motor, creating a dead short. Various older locomotives used the chassis as part of the power pathway to one of the motor brushes, making the chassis is electrically live. This can be easily fixed with insulating tape placed under the motor and plastic or […]
News & Products for the week of January 30th 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. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of January 30th 2023. […]
7 tips for installing decoders: I don’t know about you, but I have far less hobby time than I would like, so I need to spend what time I do have wisely. Installing Digital Command Control (DCC) decoders isn’t one of those projects I look forward to doing, but it’s a necessary task for operating […]
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain will receive $367 million in state funding to complete electrification of its San Francisco-San Jose main line, the commuter rail operator announced Tuesday. The funds will come from the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, and prevents diversion of operation funding that Caltrain had identified as a possible source […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific reported strong fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday and expects to see volume growth this year despite economic uncertainty. The railway’s earnings call was a sideshow to the main event: The pending Surface Transportation Board decision on the proposed CP-Kansas City Southern merger. “We finished the year with the people, capacity […]
PENINSULA, Ohio — The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is set to resume its regular operations this Friday, Feb. 3, ending a lengthy disruption caused by erosion adjacent to its right-of-way along the Cuyahoga River. The railroad announced the resumption on its Facebook page, beginning with Friday night’s Cleveland Dinner & Event train. Scenic excursions through […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is planning to begin publishing information on areas on its rapid-transit network with speed restrictions because of track and other issues, the Boston Globe reports — a change from a prior stance of non-disclosure that led to sharp criticism during hearings by U.S. senators last year. MBTA spokesman […]
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Beginning today (Wednesday, Feb. 1) Metrolink and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority are offering a special $1 rond-trip fare on the new Arrow rail service between San Bernardino and Redlands, Calif. The fare, available through March 5, is available only for fares with origins and destinations between two of the […]
Lehigh Valley locomotives were known by the road’s early Cornell red and black paint scheme. Later, units carried gray-and-yellow and white-and-black colors. The Lehigh Valley dieselized with EMD FTs and F3s and Alco FAs (the last steam ran in 1951), and remained a prolific Alco customer through the 1960s. For a small railroad, the LV […]
The EMD NW3 locomotive was the builder’s first entry into the eventually lucrative road switcher category, although it was intended as a passenger terminal switcher. Locomotive builders can be inconsistent when it comes to aesthetics. EMD, which on one hand could create stylish, wind-splitting passenger units would, if the situation warranted, produce some […]
