MASON, Tenn. — Three cars of grain landed in a creek after a derailment of a CSX Transportation train early Thursday in Mason, WREG-TV reports. The derailment occurred about 4:20 a.m. and involved nine cars in all, according to the Tipton County Sheriff’s Department. No injuries were reported. A CSX representative told WHBQ-TV that no […]
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Baltimore & Ohio heritage locomotive debuts on CSX Transportation
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation has painted an ES44AH in a Baltimore & Ohio heritage livery. The locomotive, previously CSX No. 3059, now is CSX No. 1827 in honor of the year B&O was founded. The locomotive made its debut yesterday on the point of Waycross, Ga.-Birmingham, Ala., manifest train M646-10. Repainting of the unit […]
Help stop my Walthers troop sleeper car derailing
Q: A fellow club member and I just started running the Walthers troop cars on the club layout. We are having problems with the troop sleeper cars derailing on the 36″ curves. Can you suggest a solution to this problem? – Alan Cox A: If those are the only cars having derailing problems on those […]
Keep N scale track clean
Keep N scale track clean: Last summer I finished an extensive scenery project on my N scale layout, cleaned up, went carefully over the track with a Bright Boy rail-cleaning block, did a few more small layout chores, and at last was ready to run a train. For me there’s nothing in this hobby as […]
CPKC launches first Midwest Mexico Express intermodal hotshots
CALGARY, Alberta — CPKC today launched the Mexico Midwest Express premium intermodal service linking Chicago, Kansas City, and Laredo, Texas, with Monterrey and San Luis Potosi in Mexico. A nighttime photo on CPKC’s home page showed train MMX-181 about to break through a CPKC de Mexico banner on its inaugural northbound run. The newly merged […]
Couplers
The next time you watch a quartet of six-motor diesels go grinding past with an 11,000-ton unit coal train, consider that all that horsepower is being transmitted through the train by a mere 11-inch-high chunk of steel at the end of each car. This simple little device – the “knuckle” – is the key part […]
Whistle signals
Before radio communication came into wide use in the 1960s, a locomotive’s whistle was an important tool in conveying information to other employees, both on and off the train, and many signals were on the books. The General Code Of Operating Rules, used by many railroads, contains the following list of whistle signals and their […]
Amtrak reaches settlement with freight customers on Harrisburg Line
WASHINGTON – Amtrak has reached a settlement in principle with two freight customers in Pennsylvania who had asked federal regulators to prevent the loss of rail service during a six-week track project. Amtrak told federal regulators on May 10 that it had reached a confidential settlement with Esbenshade and the Wenger Group, which operate feed […]
Largest 2-6-2 Prairie fleet: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Unsurprisingly, the largest 2-6-2 Prairie fleet operated on the U.S. prairies with the railroad that originated the type. As the railroad industry approached the late 19th century, it became obvious that what had been considered the preferred locomotive — the 4-4-0 American — could no longer provide the horsepower nor the speed necessary […]
Rio Grande Pacific to take over from Watco on Louisiana short line
WASHINGTON – Shortline holding company Rio Grande Pacific will add a fifth railroad to its stable: Bogalusa & Northern Railway in Louisiana. Bogalusa & Northern will acquire trackage rights over a mile of Canadian National’s Bogalusa Subdivision in Bogalusa and Leescreek, La., according to a regulatory filing. Watco’s Bogalusa Bayou Railroad currently holds the trackage […]
UP train was going 35 mph when it hit parked train in April accident in Texas
WASHINGTON — A Union Pacific train was going about 48 mph when it was sent onto a yard track from the main line and 35 mph when it hit a parked train at a yard in Chico, Texas, on April 16, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. Two […]
Man faces felony charge in Tacoma derailment
TACOMA, Wash. — Prosecutors in Pierce County, Wash., have filed a felony charge against a 65-year-old Tacoma man accused with derailing one car of an oil train to derail on Tuesday in Tacoma’s Tideflats industrial area. The Tacoma News Tribune reports the man was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with a felony count of […]