BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has completed work on a section of the Orange Line known as the Tufts Curve, concluding one of the Corrective Action Plans addressing issues raised by the Federal Transit Administration in 2022 and eliminating a long-running speed restriction. The FTA officially closed the corrective plan in writing, confirming […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway is seeking a judicial review of the Surface Transportation Board’s preliminary injunction that orders the railroad to haul more export coal from a Montana mine to tidewater in British Columbia. Last month in a 3-2 decision the STB ordered BNSF to handle 23 trains per month from Navajo Transitional Energy Co.’s […]
CALGARY, Alberta – Mark your calendars for April 2024. That’s when Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2816 will embark on a celebratory tour of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City system from Calgary to Mexico City. The Final Spike Steam Tour will depart Calgary on April 14, the one-year anniversary of the merger of CP and Kansas […]
Track classifications are among the most basic — and essential — operating considerations in railroading, and an army of workers keep watch over the rails. You’ve seen them out there nearly every day in their hi-rail trucks, motoring quietly up and down the main and not-so-main lines of America. Perhaps you’ve waited for them to […]
TOPEKA, Kan. — Union Pacific next month will begin a pilot program in Nebraska that will compare how quickly conductors and truck-based railroaders can respond to problems that trains encounter en route. The railroad disclosed the first of its kind Class I railroad test program Monday during a public hearing on the Kansas Department of […]
WASHINGTON — The California Zephyr, Empire Builder, and Heartland Flyer all had on-time performance under 40% in the second quarter of 2023 according to statistics released today (July 18) by the Federal Railroad Administration. The Zephyr had a customer on-time performance of just 31% for the quarter, while the Builder and Flyer were both at […]
NORTH JUDSON, Ind. — After two years of restoration work using an all-volunteer labor force, the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson is close to beginning operations with one of its two former Bangor & Aroostook Railroad BL2s. BL2s No. 52 and No. 56 came to the museum in June of 2021 after private […]
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. — Nickel Plate Road No. 765 was under steam July 13-15 as the centerpiece of the first Indiana Railcamp in Pleasant Lake. Organized by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society under the Indiana Rail Experience banner, this pilot program hosted 20 campers — ranging between ages 13 and 17 — from the […]
Repairing older N scale handrails: Back in the early days of N scale – the 1970s and ’80s – most N scale diesel locomotives had oversized handrails. In fact, they were often so outlandish we called them stovepipes. N-scalers have always been a clever bunch, and this was just one of the colorful and humorous […]
Baltimore is celebrated as the birthplace of railroading in the United States. However, there’s more to Maryland’s own railroad heritage beyond the major city. From Trains Magazine’s Tourist Trains Guidebook, here are the must-visit tourist railroads, museums, and displays across the Old Line State. Maryland Tourist Railroads and Museums Capital Region National Capital Trolley Museum […]
Running N scale trains too fast: Several years ago the N scale Enthusiast national convention came to town, and I was very pleased that, over the course of one day, four busloads of N scalers from all over the world came to my house to visit my layout. My friends Andy Sperandeo and Gordy Spiering […]
WASHINGTON — Montana Rail Link’s main line will remain severed through the end of July, BNSF Railway told federal regulators last week. The former Northern Pacific route has been shut down since the June 24 bridge collapse and hazardous materials derailment in the Yellowstone River in Reed Point, Mont. Bridge construction began once the last […]
