Jim Florio, a former New Jersey congressman and governor credited with a key role in passage of 1980’s Staggers Act, which partially deregulated railroads, has died. He was 85. Florio’s death on Sunday, Sept. 25, was announced on Twitter by law partner Doug Steinhardt. No cause or place of death was given. While the bill […]
WASHINGTON — The parties involved in the dispute over Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service have asked the Surface Transportation Board for a second extension for their current board-sponsored mediation. In a request filed Friday, Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority jointly requested the board extend mediation by […]
Colonial house kit Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $39.98 Manufacturer: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218; 414-527-0770; walthers.com Colonial house features: Injection-molded plastic construction Attached one-car garage with interior wall framing Covered front porch Ornate trim Separate windows and shutters Molded in four colors Measures: 6-3/4” x 5” x 4-3/4” Release date: Winter 2023 […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain has given the public the first look at its new electric multiple-unit trainsets, set to take over commuter rail service between San Francisco and San Jose in 2024. The commuter operator brought two of the new trains, built by Stadler at its plant in Salt Lake City, to its Fourth and […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak says checked baggage service is being dropped this fall from two state-supported routes “due to equipment shortages” — even though the company received 70 new baggage cars as part of its 125-car Viewliner II equipment order from CAF USA in 2014-15. The company now says, however, that a notice posted in at […]
WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation’s use of a weather alert system which did not sufficiently account for extreme rainfall was a contributing factor in a Feb. 13, 2020, derailment and fire caused by a mudslide in Draffin, Ky., the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its final report on the incident. The report, completed in August, […]
JACKSON, Mo. — Tourist operator St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway has repainted its former Pennsylvania Railroad E8, No. 5898, in the classic Pennsy pinstripe livery. The locomotive, built by EMD in La Grange, Ill, in 1951, was purchased from the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad in 1998. Since 2020, the engine has […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s board of directors has approved acquisition of some 70 pieces of property for its proposed King of Prussia Rail Line, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. The agency is also on the verge of purchasing land for a new trolley barn, about 18 months after it was outbid by […]
WASHINGTON — The independent safety agency that oversees the DC Metrorail system says the wheel problems that have sidelined most of Metro’s newest railcars also existed on older cars, and may stem from a track issue the agency was told about in 2015 but never addressed. The Washington Post reports the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission […]
MIAMI — Four people were injured Saturday evening when two CSX freight trains collided near Miami International Airport, WPLG-TV reports. The accident was reported about 7 p.m. near the area of Northwest 15th Street and South Perimeter roads, with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue dispatching more than 25 units, including a hazardous materials team. The four people […]
The Lionel 1926 Cardinals Train Set was offered in the 2021 Lionel Volume I “Big Book.” It’s a top-of-the-line Legacy outfit that features a recently cataloged 4-6-2 USRA Pacific steam locomotive, a combination car, two Pullman coaches, and an observation car. The base set gives you an 98-inch passenger train requiring O-54 curves. Lionel offers […]
BERLIN — The prospects for a number of transformative passenger projects, as well as the potential for more rail electrification, have the CEO of Siemens Mobility in North America upbeat as he considers his company’s future. Marc Buncher heads a company that has grown rapidly in North America, with its Sacramento, Calif., manufacturing site employing […]
