High speed rail headlines from Trains News Wire News: Wisconsin legislature funds ‘Hiawatha’ projects, July 19, 2011 News: House passes bill to rescind high speed rail funds, July 18, 2011 News: California may bypass Tehachapis on high speed rail route, May 5, 2011 News: Illinois wins Florida high speed rail money, May 5, 2011 News: […]
Type of Train: Passenger/Transit
Turbine power all the way

High speed in New England in the 1970s meant these turbine-powered trainsets built by United Aircraft, which sprinted between Boston and New York from 1969 to 1976. The two Turbotrains (Amtrak later bought a third set from VIA Rail Canada) achieved the route’s best-ever timings — 3 hours and 48 minutes between Boston and New […]
Talgo speed comparison

Talgo’s pendular suspension lowers the carbody’s center of gravity and relocates its center of rotation, all enabling Talgo cars to take curves faster without causing excessive passenger discomfort due to the centrifugal force. Q How much faster would a Talgo-like train be than a conventional single level or bilevel (Superliner) over the same stretch of […]
California Zephyr tragedy recalls 1999 truck crash NEWSWIRE
RENO, Nev. — At 11:19 a.m. Pacific Time Friday, a tractor-trailer gravel truck traveling at a high rate of speed on U.S. 95 at Ocala, Nev., about 70 miles east of Reno, barreled into the side of the westbound California Zephyr. The truck struck the left-hand side of the Zephyr behind the two locomotives and […]
Athearn N scale Electro-Motive Division F59PHI passenger locomotive

Athearn N scale Electro-Motive Division F59PHI passenger locomotive An N scale EMD F59PHI passenger locomotive was introduced by Athearn eight years ago. (We reviewed it in our April 2003 issue.) Athearn makes a number of improvements in its new release of this sharp-looking streamlined engine, the most notable of which is a SoundTraxx Digital Command […]
Video: Kato N scale Union Pacific City of Los Angeles
Watch as four powered Kato N scale E9 diesels lead the 11-car Union Pacific City of Los Angeles. We ran the N scale passenger train on our Salt Lake Route model railroad. […]
Video: Kato N scale Union Pacific City of Los Angeles
Watch as four powered Kato N scale E9 diesels lead the 11-car Union Pacific City of Los Angeles. We ran the N scale passenger train on our Salt Lake Route model railroad. […]
Kato N scale City of Los Angeles

Kato N scale City of Los Angeles I watched the sleek yellow Kato City of Los Angeles snake through the desert scenery of our N scale Salt Lake Route layout. A great thing about N scale is that you can run full-length name passenger trains on a modest-size layout. A great thing about this Kato […]
Walthers HO scale Budd 21-roomette sleeper

Walthers HO scale Budd 21-roomette sleeper The Pennsylvania RR’s streamlined Broadway Limited is the latest name passenger train released by Walthers. The first car in the series is this well-detailed HO scale Budd 21-roomette sleeper. The prototype. Inaugurated in 1912, the Broadway Limited was the premier passenger train of the Pennsylvania RR. Running between New […]
Ride ‘Em While You Can

Eastern trip, April 20–26 PC No. 66, Chicago–Cincinnati, April 20 PC E7 4211 (ex-PRR), PRR B60 baggage car, PC coach 2926 (ex-PRR) N&W No. 4, Pocahontas, Cincinnati–Roanoke, April 20–21 N&W GP9’s 508/501, 4 head-end cars, coach 532, dome coach 1610, sleeper Buchanan County; diner 493 added at Williamson, W.Va. (train left Roanoke with GP9’s 519/517, […]
Willamette bound

Amtrak train 301, a Seattle-Eugene, Ore., Cascades Service train, kicks up snow as it zips through East Olympia, Wash., on Nov. 23, 2010. F59PH No. 468 is pulling the distinctive Talgo equipment that serves passengers in the corridor. Jeffrey T. Schultz photo […]
Engineer convicted in fatal Swiss crash NEWSWIRE
ZURICH, Switzerland — The engineer that was operating the Glacier Express when it crashed last summer has been convicted of negligence and homicide, Swiss Info has reported. One Japanese tourist died in the crash and 40 were injured. Investigators say the crash occurred at a point where the line’s speed limit jumps from 22 mph […]