Introducing the LocoFi 2 WiFi LocoFi 2 WiFi module: Not to be confused with Digital Command Control, LocoFi, developed by WiFi Model Railroad, uses a Wi-Fi signal and virtual throttles to run trains. Each locomotive is equipped with a module that transmits a unique Wi-Fi signal. Aside from a source of clean direct current or […]
What was your first train set (or locomotive)? I got a Lionel O-27 train set powered by a 2-6-4 when I was all of three years old. Dad had just come home from the Army and times were tough, but little Tony really wanted a train for Christmas. Dad kept checking at the post office […]
LEBANON, Ore. — Santiam Excursion Trains, which operates on the Albany & Eastern Railroad in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, has announced it will begin operating with a steam locomotive this fall. Coming to the tourist operation will be Santa Maria Valley No. 205, a 2-6-2 built by Baldwin in 1924. Retired and placed on display in […]
LEEDS, England — British freight operator Freightliner, owned by Genesee & Wyoming since 2015, has secured funding from the British government to convert a diesel locomotive to operate with hydrogen and biogas fuel. Funds for the conversion of one of Freightliner’s fleet of 113 EMD built Class 66 locomotives come from a British government First […]
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday afternoon that encourages the Surface Transportation Board to adopt rail regulatory reforms that shippers have long sought to promote competition. Among the potential changes sure to rile freight railroads: Rules that would permit reciprocal switching for captive shippers and removal of so-called bottleneck restrictions that […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian government has shut down Canadian National and Canadian Pacific operations through the area hit by a wildfire that devastated the town of Lytton, British Columbia. An order issued by Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra, effective as of 12:01 a.m. PDT today, required both railroads to halt train movements except for emergency […]
PALESTINE, Texas — A Texas judge has again ruled that Union Pacific must continue employment of workers at its Palestine, Texas, car shop, which the railroad had planned to close last month. The Palestine Herald-Press reports Judge Michael Davis of the 369th Judicial District Court in Rusk, Texas, must continue to observe a 1955 judgment […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern was indeed the pretty girl at the dance. KCS was pursued by at least two other suitors besides Canadian Pacific and Canadian National – including an unnamed Class I system that was interested in acquiring only part of the cross-border railroad — during the lengthy process leading to […]
WASHINGTON — One victim was found to be intoxicated while moving outside of a yard walkway was a factor in the death of another, and according to National Transportation Safety Board reports on fatal accidents on CSX Transportation in 2019 and the Port Authority Transit Corp. in 2020. In the first incident, on April 13, […]
EDMONTON, Alberta — A major Canadian construction firm has announced formation of a partnership to pursue construction of an Edmonton-Calgary high speed rail line, an estimated $C9 billion, seven-to-nine year project. The CBC reports Mississauga, Ontario, firm EllisDon announced the project to connect the two cities via Red Deer, Alta., with a line to be built […]
TORONTO — The Canada Infrastructure Bank and governments of Canada and Quebec will provide some C$55 million to modernize the remote Tshiuetin railway, Canada’s first Indigenous owned and operated rail operation. The infrastructure bank will provide $50 million in a long-term, fully repayable loan, while Quebec will provide $5 million, repayable in two years. Transport […]
PORT HURON, Mich. — The former treasurer of the Port Huron & Detroit Railroad Historical Society has been sentenced to 93 days in jail for theft of funds from the organization, the Port Huron Times Herald reports. Steve Harvey of Mount Vernon, Ohio, pleaded guilty to larceny less than $200, reduced from embezzlement between $1,000 […]
