CLEWISTON, Fla. – On October 1, Sugar Express 4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 148 will power the first cane train of the season, signaling the official start of the sugarcane harvest. The train will depart 1st Avenue and Florida Avenue NW in Moore Haven at about 9:30 a.m., and pull south through Clewiston over U.S. 27 […]
Jacksonville Terminal Co. (JTC), best known for its magnetically interlocking intermodal freight containers, is expanding its line of cars that carry those containers. The newest offering from the manufacturer is a 53-foot, 17-post National Steel Car double-stack well car in N scale. The cars have die-cast metal bodies, etched stainless steel details, and Micro-Trains Line […]
LOS ANGELES — In an effort to help kick start the Port of Los Angeles’ and Long Beach’s recently announced Accelerate Cargo initiative to expedite freight flows from the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complexes, BNSF Railway will offer a new weekend in-gate incentive at its Los Angeles Hobart and Commerce Intermodal Facilities. Ocean carrier customers […]
The westbound Southwest Chief is 6 minutes late out of Albuquerque, N.M., as you roll toward the junction with BNSF Railway’s Southern Transcon at Dalies. From Roomette 14 you wonder: What will happen to the Chief’s timekeeping when we hit the Gallup Subdivision that carries 80 freights per day? The question is bigger than it […]
Here’s a bold idea: Ask some 200 people to take a chance on a new product, test it on their three-rail layouts, and then report what the maker got right – and more importantly, wrong. It’s something I’ve never heard being done in model railroading. But that’s what Midwest-based home-improvement chain Menards has done, releasing […]
PORTLAND, Maine – Union Pacific is considering joining the Rail Pulse joint venture that is developing a GPS-based, real-time tracking system for freight cars wherever they are on the North American rail network. “Rail Pulse is interesting. We’ve got to make a decision on Rail Pulse pretty soon,” Kenny Rocker, UP’s executive vice president of marketing […]
OSIER, Colo. — Steam excursion trains of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic turned back early today after a fire in the lunch hall at the mid-point of the railroad in Osier, Colo. C&TS Interim President Scott Gibbs says that damage was confined to the bakery portion of the kitchen. He says the railroad turned Thursday’s […]
WASHINGTON — Aligning its health policies with newly established federal mandates, Amtrak is eliminating the ability for employees to opt for weekly COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccinations, effective Nov. 22. In an Employee Advisory issued this week, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn outlined how the company will help facilitate its vaccination requirements and ways in […]
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The 2021 Autumn Colors Express railroad passenger excursions in the New River Gorge have been postponed. “An overwhelming number of customers have expressed concern about this year’s event. The current surge in COVID-19 cases in West Virginia has local hospitals operating at emergency levels, making postponement our best and only option this […]
WASHINGTON — During a presentation to the Rail Passengers Association this week, Amtrak’s Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer, Roger Harris, revealed that beginning some time in October, business class passengers on the Seattle-Los Angeles Coast Starlight will be permitted to purchase food in the train’s dining car. But he also said restoring coach and sleeping […]
Stockcars are among the types of rolling stock some railroads had a lot of. When it was time to move livestock to market, railroads would often make up entire trains of these or string together long blocks of them in their speediest freight trains. Since they were dealing with live animals, it was imperative they […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — High natural gas prices have electric utilities once again relying on railroading’s oldest friend – coal. Natural-gas futures have notched upward to $5.10 per million British thermal units in recent days, reflecting a 95% increase from six months ago when natural gas was $2.61 per million BTUs. This upward trend, which has […]
