Head-end power: Dinner is about to arrive at table 7 in the Southwest Chief’s Superliner dining car. Outside, the late afternoon sun illuminates exhaust blasting skyward as the locomotives up front struggle to maintain speed up the more than 3% grade leading to the top of Raton Pass in New Mexico. Downstairs in the kitchen, […]
Locomotives are the power of railroading and the industries’ most potent and popular symbols. The major types that have been used in North America are steam (now confined to museums, tourist lines, and the occasional excursion), diesel-electric (the standard of the industry), and straight electric (always a tiny minority). Steam locomotives burn coal, oil, or […]
CHICAGO — Some Amtrak long-distance and regional trains outside the Northeast Corridor experienced rare detours and extraordinary delays prior to and during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. On most routes, though, trains were operating on time as a result of lighter freight traffic. California Zephyrs rerouted Early Saturday, May 27, a washout on BNSF Railway’s […]
Railroad photography It can be intimidating sometimes, waiting to photograph a train with your camera and the 18-55 mm kit lens, standing next to a fellow fan sporting a monstrous telephoto zoom that in some cases costs more than the car that got you here. That person is going to get a shot you couldn’t […]
Rockslide detectors Of the myriad things that can foul the right-of-way and potentially derail a train is the unpredictably of falling rocks from lineside cuts and mountain passes. Even with track gangs constantly walking and inspecting, the possibility of a rockslide is a constant nightmare. To combat slides in any form, railroads employ a number […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink commuter rail service will resume Saturday , May 27, through San Clemente, Calif., exactly a month after the start of the latest disruption to passenger rail operations because of a landslide in the south Orange County community. The LOSSAN (Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo) Rail Corridor […]
Aberdeen Carolina & Western E9A The short line, Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway Company, debuts its rebuilt and repainted former Union Pacific E9A locomotive, No. 103, on an equipment ferry move on May 25. Then E9A leads former Norfolk Southern F9A and F9B locomotives between the company’s headquarters and main shops at Candor, N.C., and […]
Kid-friendly garden railroading: We all know that garden railroading is a magical hobby, one that we enjoy sharing with other adult enthusiasts. But have you considered inviting a child to share in the fascination? Kids of any age (and adults too) aren’t given to stand by and idly observe a garden railway. Rather, most would […]
CHICAGO – Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman told a shipper conference that Class I railroad behavior over the past few years – mass layoffs, crew shortages, and poor service – may require a new approach to regulation. “It may be time to say 2023 is not 1980 and we need to rethink some […]
CHICAGO – Union Pacific is suing the Surface Transportation Board because the agency’s approval of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger didn’t fully protect cross-border competition at the Laredo, Texas, gateway or address the potential for congestion in Houston, UP CEO Lance Fritz told a shipper conference today. “In their approval they identified our concerns […]
The Atlas General Electric U28C and U28CG diesels recently arrived in hobby shops. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features on these newly tooled HO scale six-axle diesels and then operate an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passenger train with the U28CG on our Milwaukee, […]
The Atlas General Electric U28C and U28CG diesels recently arrived in hobby shops. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features on these newly tooled HO scale six-axle diesels and then operate an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passenger train with the U28CG on our Milwaukee, […]
