Doug Harrop’s Utah

Sun highlight diesel locomotive exhaust of train in curve

Doug Harrop retired from Union Pacific in 2003. He hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1967 in Arizona. He left the management ranks a decade later to return to Utah to enter engine service out of Ogden. Known for his photographic coverage of Utah, Harrop’s enthusiasm for railroads took him across the continent. He […]

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Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum adds two BL2 locomotives

Blue, gray, and yellow semi-streamlined diesels

NORTH JUDSON, Ind. — The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum will add two rare EMD BL2 locomotives to its collection through a lease with the engines’ private owner. The two locomotives, built in 1949 for Maine’s Bangor & Aroostock Railroad, previously operated on New York’s Saratoga & North Creek Railway. Only 59 of the locomotives were […]

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Digest: Restoration of Illnois Amtrak routes set for July

Amtrak_WSprings_Lassen

Full restoration of state-supported Amtrak routes in Illinois set for July 19 The state of Illinois announced plans to restore all service on its four state-supported Amtrak lines as of July 19 as part of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. The restoration of full schedules on the Chicago-Quincy, Chicago-Carbondale, and Chicago-St. Louis routes in July […]

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U.S. rail traffic remains far above 2020 levels, stable within 2021

Weekly table showing U.S. rail traffic by carloads and intermodal units

WASHINGTON — U.S. railroads continue to show significant traffic increases over pandemic-depressed figures from 2020, according to the latest figures from the Association of American Railroads. Statistics for the week ending May 15 show U.S. railroads moved 242,806 carloads, a 31.6% increase over the corresponding week in 2020, and 291,066 containers and trailers, a 25.6% […]

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Intermodal engineering

Wooden ramp to load trailers and vehicles onto railroad flatcars

Intermodal engineering Wood planks were common for building piggyback ramps. Large planks formed rub rails (well-used judging by the scars) along the edges, with a notch for the flatcar coupler and a steel bridge plate on the right. Classic Trains magazine collection […]

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High speed operator Eurostar survives financial crisis

Blue, gray, and yellow high speed train in station, partially under trainshed

LONDON — Eurostar, the high speed passenger rail operator that runs trains via the Channel Tunnel from London to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, has secured new financial backing from a consortium of banks after months of uncertainty. Since March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic has led to severe cuts in Eurostar service, with often no more […]

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How to make roads stick on your model train layout

Hand gluing a model road on a layout

Hal Miller repairs peeling roadway material on the City Transfer & Terminal, an O gauge layout showcased in Classic Toy Trains articles and videos throughout 2018. With the original adhesive backing now dry and no longer tacky, Hal shows how silicone caulk can be used to affix the roads to the layout for good. […]

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M.T.H. will continue to make trains

Open garage door with moving truck

  Some good news for toy train hobbyists: Mike Wolf might be retiring, but his former company isn’t. A year after M.T.H. Electric Trains’ owner announced his plan to depart the industry, a significant portion of the company is relocating from its Columbia, Md. facility to a new one in Elkridge, Md., while another part […]

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Railfanning Chicago: BNSF’s shoofly (updated)

Amtrak passenger train passes Metra commuter train in view from bridge across tracks.

Trains Senior Editor David Lassen spends much of his free time in the Chicago area. This is the first in a series of Trains.com articles on his favorite rail photography locations. UPDATED Dec. 15, 2021, with removal of shoofly. BNSF Railway’s celebrated “racetrack” — the triple-track mainline of the Chicago Division between downtown Chicago and […]

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