BEAUMONT, Texas — The National Transportation Safety Board will focus on switching procedures for contract rail switching operator PSC Group and refinery facility upkeep as it continues its investigation into a fatality at the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, on Oct. 28, 2022, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report released today (Wednesday, Dec. 7). The […]
HAMILTON, Ontario — After 68 years of service, National Steel Car’s venerable GE centercab switchers will soon be replaced by former Korail EMD SW1001s from National Railway Equipment. Freight car manufacturer National Steel Car has received three locomotives. Delivered as NREX 2109, 2114, and 2118, and are now numbered 8504, 8604, and 8704, all three […]
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has placed tickets for its 2023 season on sale, launching a 15% off holiday sale that runs through Dec. 31. “Last year, we released tickets earlier than ever and our fans were delighted,” railroad president Scott Gibbs said in a press release. “… It makes for a very meaningful […]
SHIRLEYSBURG, Pa. — A new generation of facilities is planned for next summer at East Broad Top Railroad’s time-honored Colgate Grove picnic area, the line’s historic tourist-era turnaround point. Sometime during the coming season, the EBT Foundation Inc. will open two small pavilions and restrooms, along with something that the location never had before, a […]
Switchers are resilient: Less than 4% of Electro Motive Division SW- and MP-series switching locomotives manufactured between 1966 and 1987 remain in use on Class I railroads today. Of the more than 2,900 locomotives built in those 20 years, TRAINS calculates less than 12 SW and approximately 100 MP switchers still earn revenue for Class […]
After months of preparations, Swiss meter gauge rail company Rhätische Bahn/Rhaetian Railway (RhB) set a new world record for the longest passenger train Saturday, Oct. 29, with a 100-car special train, formed of 25 identical electric multiple-unit trainsets. The train ran on the world-famous UNESCO World Heritage ‘Albula/Bernina’ route from Preda to Bergün via its […]
BEAUMONT, Texas — A 66-year-old Beaumont man has died in what is being described as “a railcar accident” at an ExxonMobil plant in Beaumont on Friday. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said it has ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death for Richard Garza, a contractor at the plant. No other information […]
On the 3-foot-gauge East Broad Top, Reading Company boxcar 102395 — transferred to narrow-gauge trucks at the PRR-EBT interchange at Mount Union, Pa. — rides between an EBT 2-8-2 Mikado and hopper car. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
PORTLAND, Maine — When Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad’s GE diesel No. 1 came up lame last week, the railroad’s close relationship with the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum proved its value. Without another locomotive, Maine Narrow Gauge annulled its trains on Tuesday. Learning of the problem, the WW&F offered its Plymouth diesel No. 52 […]
ROBERTSDALE, Pa. – “Little more, little more . . . Mush, you huskies! Ho!” With that chant, Gene Tucker urged his four-man volunteer crew at the narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad to squeeze a 60-pound rail into alignment just enough to slip a J-shaped “hook bar” into place to force the track gauge back […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa.—The East Broad Top Railroad notched another first during the Oct. 7-9 annual gathering of its friends auxiliary group, carrying passengers on a mile of narrow gauge main line that’s been out of service for 66 years. As part of the Fall Reunion of the 1,777-member nonprofit Friends of the East Broad Top, EBT […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – Friends of the East Broad Top volunteers wrapped up a week’s worth of labor on Friday, Sept. 23, the group’s second week of concentrated effort this year. The crew ranged between 10 and 20 people, working in close coordination with the railroad’s own full-time employees, according to Andy Van Scyoc, Friends […]
