DUNKIRK, Md. – The Surface Transportation Board’s reciprocal switching rule for inadequate rail service is a “missed opportunity,” the National Industrial Transportation League says. The final rule, adopted last week, is designed to incentivize Class I railroads to maintain service levels or face the possibility that a sole-served shipper in a terminal area will seek […]
HENDERSON, Ky. — Railmark Industrial Railway Inc. will operate and develop an 11-mile rail line at an industrial park in Mississippi’s Tishomingo County, the company announced today. The line, which interchanges with Norfolk Southern and a barge port on the Tenn-Tom Waterway, was built in 1982 for NASA. Railmark plans to restore and upgrade the infrastructure, […]
CHICAGO — Metra will open its newest station, and expand service on its Union Pacific North Line — which includes that station, Peterson/Ridge — on Monday, May 20, the commuter rail operator has announced. Peterson/Ridge is in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Groundbreaking was held in November 2021, on what at the time was projected to be […]
LOS ANGELES — The board overseeing Los Angeles International Airport has approved an additional $200 million in funding for the airport people mover under construction, addressing disputes with the builder that have slowed the project. The news site LAist reports the money approved by the board of airport commissioners pushes the overall budget for the […]
WASHINGTON — Neil Moyer has been appointed director of the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Passenger Rail, STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman announced Monday. The office, established in October 2022, is responsible for investigating and analyzing issues regarding Amtrak on-time performance. Moyer has coordinated the STB’s responsibilities in this area since mid-2021, assisted the board […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Michael Sawyer: A photo featured as the cover of the September 1980 issue. It was a silhouette of the train order signal at Blaine, Wash., on Burlington Northern’s Bellingham Subdivision at the Canadian border. I was a member of the crew that had arrived by taxi to dog […]
MOBILE, Ala. — The City of Mobile’s Board of Zoning Adjustment today unanimously approved the special zoning exception requested by Amtrak for a temporary station platform and adjacent parking in Mobile, a necessary step forward in the slow-moving effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service between Mobile and New Orleans. CSX and the Port of […]
BENSENVILLE, Ill. — Canadian Pacific No. 2816 and the ‘Final Spike Steam Tour’ have reached Chicago. Well, technically, Bensenville, Ill., the home of CPKC’s yard west of the city and adjacent to O’Hare Airport. That’s where the locomotive is laying over after its two-day trip from St. Paul, Minn., prior to Wednesday’s display in Franklin […]
News & Products for the week of May 6th 2024 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 May 6th […]
Lionel’s postwar 44-ton diesels may be the most overlooked O gauge locomotives of the era. Collectors focus, instead, on the firm’s models of F3 cab units by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and the Train Master road diesels made by Fairbanks-Morse. Operators also like those powerful diesels as well as the big and small […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway’s first-quarter earnings and revenue declined despite a 7% increase in freight volume. Quarterly operating income declined 7%, to $1.72 billion, as revenue declined 6%, to $5.66 billion, BNSF and its parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. The railway’s operating ratio was 69.5%, up 1.1 points from a year […]
Meet John Morrison How did I get started in the hobby? I’ve been a model railroader as long as I can remember. As a little kid, I would tie all my wheeled toys together with string, pull them around the house and call it a “train.” I grew up in Sydney, Australia and couldn’t afford […]
