Union Pacific drops Canadian Pacific from EMP intermodal program

Yellow locomotives moving double-stack cars with container crains in background

Union Pacific is booting Canadian Pacific out of the EMP domestic container pool. EMP, which rosters a 44,000-unit fleet of green 53-foot containers, is an interline intermodal partnership between UP and Norfolk Southern. CP, Canadian National, Kansas City Southern, and Florida East Coast also participate in EMP, which allows intermodal marketing companies to book loads […]

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Pacific Car & Foundry B-100-40 boxcar from Rapido Trains

Models of four boxcars with white background

Scale: N (1:160) Price: Single car, $36.95; three-pack, $110.85; and six-pack, $221.70 Era: 1976 to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Rapido Trains Inc., 500 Alden Road, Unit 21, Markham, Ontario L3R 5H5 Canada; 905-474-3314; rapidotrains.com Features Separate, factory-applied uncoupling levers, door latch mechanism, and end ladders Detailed Hydra-Cushion underframe Underbody brake rigging Road-number specific […]

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Kirk Reddie’s N scale Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound layout

Kirk Reddie's N scale Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound layout.

Facts & features Name: Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Scale: N (1:160) Size: 48 x 96 feet Prototypes: Great Northern; Milwaukee Road; Northern Pacific; Pacific Coast RR; Spokane, Portland & Seattle; Tacoma Belt Line; and Union Pacific Locale: Pacific Northwest Era: circa 1950 Style: multi-deck walkaround Mainline run: approx. 1, 250 feet Minimum radius: 12 […]

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Mark Carlson’s HO scale Baraboo Subdivision layout

Mark Carlson's HO scale Baraboo Subdivision layout

Facts & features Name: The Baraboo Subdivision Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 10 x 24 feet Prototype: Chicago & North Western Ry., Madison Division Locale: Baraboo, Wis. Era: variable, from 1956 to 1995 Style: around the walls Mainline run: 38 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: flat Benchwork: 1 x 4 open […]

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St. Louis celebrates reopening of Merchants Bridge

People in ribbon-cutting ceremony

ST. LOUIS — The 133-year-old Merchants Bridge celebrated its official reopening on Thursday, marking completion of a $222 million project to replace the vital structure connecting Missouri and Illinois near downtown St. Louis. The Mississippi River crossing dating to 1889 owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis serves six Class I railroads and […]

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Amtrak long-distance trains set to resume

Passenger train on curve

All Amtrak long-distance trains will apparently resume operations today (Friday, Sept. 16), although the most recent message on the passenger carrier’s website, posted Thursday evening, continues to say only that the company recommends passengers “check their ticket and confirm their train status on Amtrak.com or the Amtrak app.” The passenger operator had cancelled all long-distance […]

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Details emerge of 20-hour meeting that produced labor deal

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — Details of the negotiations that led to a tentative agreement between railroads and unions began emerging Thursday night, with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh saying he kept the two sides in his office for more than five hours at the end of 20 straight hours of talks. “The unions were very persistent on what […]

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Carload Considerations: Lessons from a near strike

Crew member walks across front of locomotive as another train passes on adjacent track

CHICAGO — Class I railroads reached tentative agreements with unions in the early-morning hours of Thursday, Sept. 15, putting to rest uncertainties about the prospect of a widespread work stoppage that could have begun as soon as today (Friday, Sept. 16). In the days leading to Thursday’s tentative agreements, Class I railroads started curtailing certain […]

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First Jim Wrinn Award highlights HeritageRail Alliance meeting

Three people standing on platform, two holding award plaques

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The first presentation of the Jim Wrinn Award for Biggest Railroad Preservation story highlighted the Fall 2022 conference of the HeritageRail Alliance — the first in-person meeting of the organization since 2019 — held Sept. 7-10 in Windsor Locks. Cate Kratville-Wrinn, wife of the late Trains Magazine editor, handed out the […]

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CN updates sustainability data for 2021

Canadian National logo

MONTREAL — Canadian National has released the 2021 data supplement to its sustainability report, providing information on the railroad’s progress in meeting its environmental and other social goals. Among the data released: — The railroad reduced its greenhouse gas emission intensity by 3.3% from 2020 and has reached 15% progress toward its target of a […]

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