Bicentennial Santa Fe locomotive to be displayed in Kansas City

Red, white, and blue diesel

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Santa Fe No. 5704, the SD45-2 locomotive cosmetically restored to its bicentennial paint scheme, will be displayed at Union Station Kansas City June 14-19 to coincide with the convention of the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society on those dates in Overland Park, Kan. The locomotive, which has been donated […]

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Meet John Ciesla

Man standing in front of layout

What was your first train set (or locomotive)? Meet John Ciesla: I grew up with my father’s prewar American Flyer trains. These were the famous S scale, O gauge trains that came out in the late 1930s. With the advent of WWII, new cars and locomotives were nonexistent, but he still managed to find a […]

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Sound Transit committee recommends Timm as new CEO

Woman with short hair and black coat

SEATTLE — Julie Timm, currently CEO of the Greater Richmond (Va.) Transit Co., has been recommended by a selection committee for the CEO position of Sound Transit. The full Sound Transit board will vote on the nomination June 23, after the board’s committee made its recommendation last week. Timm was selected from a group of […]

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Stories working as a railroad fireman

  Working as a railroad fireman: It was the end of summer. Billy, Wimpy, and I had finished cleaning up after the last threshing job and watched Mr. Hedrick slowly drive the rig out to the road and head west to the winter storage building behind his blacksmith shop. The rig consisted of a Huber […]

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Electro-Motive history: From upstart to undisputed champ

Yellow and green diesel locomotive among industrial building

  Electro-Motive history: Steam was king, its supremacy uncontested, in 1922 when Harold L. Hamilton and associates rented office space at 17th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio, for their fledgling Electro-Motive Engineering Co. Established to design, market, and maintain gas-electric railcars for light-density passenger service, the modest enterprise could hardly be considered a threat to […]

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American Z Line June 2022 locomotive announcements

blue and white locomotive

American Z Line June 2022 locomotive announcements Scale: Z (1:220) Price: Contact manufacturer Era: Nickel Plate Road Alco PA-1, December 1947 to November 1961; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Electro-Motive Division SW1000, 1966 to 1970 Manufacturer: American Z Line, 6142 Northcliff Blvd., Dublin, OH 43016, 614-764-1703, americanzline.com EMD SW1000 features: AutoLatch couplers Directional light-emitting-diode lighting Blackened […]

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Atlas O 40-foot General American Transportation Corp. Airslide covered hopper

blue colored hopper

40-foot General American Transportation Corp. Airslide covered hopper Scale: O (1:48) Price: $79.95 (undecorated, $74.95) Era: 1953 to 1980s+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Atlas O, 378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ 07205, 908-687-0880, shop.atlasrr.com 40-foot General American Transportation Corp. Airslide covered hopper features: See-through running boards and brake wheel platform Separate, factory-applied grab irons and […]

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90200 isn’t just any former locomotive

Passenger train about to pass over water on a bridge in a city landscape.

CHICAGO—Non-powered control unit 90200 isn’t just any former locomotive that lost its prime mover and traction motors when converted to a glorified baggage car with cab controls. Seen here outside Amtrak’s Chicago locomotive shop on June 2, 2022, coupled to an Illinois-owned Siemens SC-44 Charger, the carbody once was number 200. It is the first […]

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