SILVIS, Ill. – Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA) has restored two diesels to service and is continuing work on its two Union Pacific steam locomotives, 4-6-6-4 “Challenger” No. 3985 and 2-10-2 No. 5511 at its former Rock Island shop complex in Silvis. On Aug. 26 crews fired up Union Pacific “Centennial” No. 6936 for […]
WASHINGTON – Shippers who suffer from inadequate railroad service would be able to gain access to a second carrier under a new reciprocal switching rule that the Surface Transportation Board proposed today. The board unanimously voted to approve the 51-page notice of proposed rulemaking, which it said would provide a streamlined path for access to […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern has invested $8 million in DrayNow as part of a joint venture to improve the intermodal drayage experience for truckers and customers. DrayNow’s app for mobile devices provides customers with real-time shipment tracking and connects small fleet owner-operators with brokers who need first- and last-mile drayage service – in much the […]
CHICAGO — Eastbound California Zephyr passengers crossing eastern Nevada late Sunday suffered the same fate as an estimated 70,000 Burning Man Festival attendees 100 miles north of Reno over Labor Day weekend: they couldn’t go anywhere. Heavy rains had turned festival grounds into a highly-publicized sea of mud, making all roads impassable. Further east, debris […]
Second of two parts Part one of this report appeared Tuesday, Sept. 5 EFFINGHAM, Ill. —The latest round of tests investigating ways to ensure trains always activate track circuits — the process known as “shunt” — involves shunt-enhancing antennas mounted on both trucks of a state-owned locomotive in Amtrak service in California. Here’s how the […]
In late August 2023, Atlas announced that it is entering the Z scale freight car market. The company’s debut car will be the Evans 53-foot double-plug-door boxcar, which it also offers in N, HO, and O scales. The Master Line model is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2024. Road names in the […]
News & Products for the week of September 5th 2023 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of September 5th […]
WASHINGTON — Five of the seven Class I railroads operating in the U.S. last year were revenue adequate in 2022, the Surface Transportation Board said today. Being revenue adequate means a railroads achieved a rate of return equal to or greater than the board’s calculation of the average cost of capital to the freight rail […]
Mind-blowing facts — cabooses Cabin, cabin car, waycar, brake van, van, crummy, crum box, birdcage, boneshaker, brain box, shack, shanty, parlor, hack, zoo, or caboose, regardless of what you name the car that concluded American freight trains from the 1830s until the mid-1980s, it remains a railroading icon. The first caboose can be traced to […]
First of two parts EFFINGHAM, Ill, —What happens when electrical current connected with signal systems doesn’t reliably travel from one rail to another when a train passes? Dispatchers “lose” the train — it disappears from their screens — and warning lights don’t flash or gates don’t lower at highway crossings as the train approaches. The […]
The Atlas HO scale EMD GP40 is back for another run, this time with ditch lights on select road names. Join Model Railroader senior editor Cody Grivno as he points out the features on the four-axle road switcher, demonstrates some of the light and sound features, and switches cars on the Jones Island section of […]
The Atlas HO scale EMD GP40 is back for another run, this time with ditch lights on select road names. Join Model Railroader senior editor Cody Grivno as he points out the features on the four-axle road switcher, demonstrates some of the light and sound features, and switches cars on the Jones Island section of […]
