MBTA releases safety plan, faces hiring challenges

Men working on MBTA Orange Line car

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on Monday released a three-year Safety Improvement Plan, gathering together its proposals to address efforts mandated by the Federal Transportation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, and other agencies. That report was released on the same day a study by the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation said the MBTA is facing a […]

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ASLRRA honors Pacific Harbor Line with two awards

Two black and silver locomotives with strings of containers

NEW ORLEANS — Southern California’s Pacific Harbor Line was recipient of two awards Monday — the inaugural Environmental Award and the Veterans Engagement Award — at the American Short Line and Regional Rail Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition. Also, the ASLRRA posthumously awarded its Schlosser Distinguished Service Award to Jack Parliament, retired from the D&I […]

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Intense media focus on derailments belies long-term safety trends

Firefighters watching burning railcars

Why are there so many derailments? Freight train derailments have been in the headlines since the disastrous Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. Some have been spectacular, like the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train caught on video at a grade crossing in Springfield, Ohio.; the fiery derailment of a BNSF Railway […]

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Lionel Sandy Andy Automatic Gravel Loader

Lionel Sandy Andy Gravel Loader box

The Lionel Sandy Andy Automatic Gravel Loader was part of the catalog in the late 1970s. It’s a shame it didn’t last longer because it’s among the most interesting products the company ever made. It’s not neat because of what it does; after all, Lionel produced numerous coal and gravel loading and dumping structures over […]

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Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO

Screen shot of Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO video.

Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO. A modern-era diesel from Bowser Manufacturing Co. Inc. recently visited our HO scale Wisconsin & Southern project layout. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features and operate the Canadian Pacific SD30C-ECO. The Bowser SD30C-ECO is decorated for Canadian Pacific in 12 […]

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Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO

Screen shot of Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO video.

Bowser HO scale SD30C-ECO. A modern-era diesel from Bowser Manufacturing Co. Inc. recently visited our HO scale Wisconsin & Southern project layout. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features and operate the Canadian Pacific SD30C-ECO. The Bowser SD30C-ECO is decorated for Canadian Pacific in 12 […]

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CSX becomes first railroad to reach sick time deal with conductors’ union

Man throwing switch as train with blue and yellow locomotive waits

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation has reached a tentative agreement with the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division B&O union to provide trainmen and conductors with paid sick leave benefits. Pending ratification by SMART-TD B&O members, the agreement will increase the number of CSX operating employees with paid sick leave benefits to more […]

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News & Products for the week of April 3rd 2023

News & Products for the week of April 3rd 2023: An image of a model locomotive

News & Products for the week of April 3rd 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 April 3rd 2023. […]

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Keystone Corridor service resumes

blue and silver passenger train passes brick tower

LANCASTER, Pa.— Amtrak and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train services on the Keystone Line, annulled on Sunday due to storm damage, was resumed late this morning after having been shut down Sunday. Early-morning Amtrak operations between Philadelphia and Harrisburg were annulled earlier today, as was service on SEPTA’s Thorndale and Paoli routes. Service was restored […]

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Last Train Home poems book review

Last Train Home book cover.

Try reading “Last Train Home” on your next rail journey, especially if you don’t normally enjoy poetry. Last Train Home is a compilation of haiku, tanka and rengay poems from authors around the world and has a head of steam going for it. The austere style of the poetry forms means that the best will […]

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Beyond the byline with Kevin Gilliam

North Carolina guy on a train

What was your first byline in Trains? Kevin Gilliam: My first byline was what became a Trains Trackside (previously Trains Presents) five-minute video that was concurrent with the Norfolk Southern 21st Century Steam Program visit to Asheville, N.C., in April 2013. More of those short videos followed, eventually culminating in the first feature-length 611 In Steam […]

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News photos: Conrail Historical Society Museum opens

People gathered inside of boxcar turned into musuem

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — The Conrail Historical Society’s museum and archive center, housed in a retired 86-foot hi-cube auto parts boxcar, opened to the public with ceremonies on Saturday, April 1. The facility, located along the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail, is a collaboration of the society with the rail trail, Shippensburg University, Cumberland Area Economic Development […]

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