What’s behind today’s intermodal equipment

Intermodal equipment If you’re trackside, odds are you’re going to see an intermodal train. Intermodal made up 49% of the 34 million units of freight carried by U.S. railroads last year, more than four times higher than coal, the next largest commodity. Odds are that intermodal train will mostly have railcars owned by TTX, a […]

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Five prestigious Burlington Zephyrs

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, commonly known as the Burlington Route, had many Zephyrs. But out of all the streamlined trainsets and services famously named after the Greek God of the West Wind, which of the five where considered the most prestigious?   Pioneer Zephyr   Rolled out on April 7, 1934, by the […]

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News & Products for the week of March 18th 2024

News & Products for the week of March 18th 2024   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 March 18th […]

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Rapido Trains announces US tour

Rapido Trains has announced a tour across the continental United States. The tour, which began on March 17th at the California Southern Model Railroad Club in Los Angeles, will make stops at model railroad clubs, rail museums, and hobby shops from California to Michigan en route to Rapido Trains headquarters in Toronto. Per a statement […]

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Class I railroad news nuggets too interesting to ignore

Notes from presentations by Class I railroad officials today (March 13) at the 2024 J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference: Football fever on Union Pacific In January and February, Union Pacific’s unionized railroaders used half of the eight new sick days that have been allotted for the year, CEO Jim Vena says. “On top of that for […]

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News & Products for the week of March 11th 2024

News & Products for the week of March 11th 2024   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 March 11th […]

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STB passenger advisory committee has no shortage of nominees

WASHINGTON — When the Surface Transportation Board names the members of its first Rail Passenger Advisory Committee, it will be worth remembering that the competition for places among the panels 18 voting members was fiercer for some seats than for others. As outlined in the January call for nominations, the panel has a very specific […]

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Classic Toy Trains March 2024 new products

Locomotives and rolling stock Burlington Northern (1991 scheme), Montana Rail Link (blue 2009 scheme), TTX (gray patchout with TOFX reporting marks, yellow-and-black as-delivered scheme, and yellow-and-black with Forward Thinking patch), and York Rail (brown) are the new paint schemes on the Atlas O Premier line Gunderson 50-foot high-cube boxcar. The paper-hauling boxcar, priced at $79.95, […]

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UP announces $3.4 billion capital plan for 2024

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific plans to spend $3.4 billion on capital projects in 2024, the railroad announced Wednesday, with more than half of that going to basic infrastructure upgrades and replacement, such as rail, ties, and ballast. The $1.9 billion for infrastructure represents approximately 56% of the capital plan. Another $600 million is budgeted […]

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A railroad study in snow

A railroad study in snow On Jan. 15, 1885, Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, a farmer from Jericho, Vt., became the first person to successfully photograph a single snow crystal — a snowflake. Bentley, in his study of snow, went on to capture images of more than 5,000 individual snowflakes, finding that, in fact, no two were […]

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CPKC joins RailPulse telematics coalition

CALGARY, Alberta – Canadian Pacific Kansas City has become the third Class I railroad to join the RailPulse freight car telematics joint venture. “We are pleased to be a part of RailPulse and to contribute to accelerating adoption of railcar telemetry in North America,” CPKC Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks said in a statement today. […]

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