LocoFi 2 WiFi module for model railroads

Small digital components with wires.

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 […]

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Meet the Modeler: Tony Koester

Midwestern scene on a model railroad

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 […]

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Oregon excursion operator to add steam locomotive

Logo for Santiam Excursion Trains

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 […]

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Biden executive order prods STB to examine rail access, competition

Surface Transportation Board logo

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 […]

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Canadian government stops train operations through area of B.C. fire

Transport Canada logo

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 […]

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Judge again blocks closure of UP car shop in Palestine, Texas

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

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 […]

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Kansas City Southern discloses other merger suitors

Logos for Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Kansas City Southern

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 […]

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