Wabtec locomotive remanufacturing program completes 1,000th unit

Two black locomotives, one weathered, the other new and shiny

FORT WORTH, Texas — Wabtec has reached a milestone, completing its 1,000th remanufactured locomotive at plants in Fort Worth; Erie, Pa.; and Contagem, Brazil, since the program’s start in 2015. Norfolk Southern has received 500 of the locomotives since contracting with Wabtec to take 1990s-vintage, 4,000-hp, D.C. traction GE Dash 9 locomotives and rebuild them into […]

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Locomotive horns are important safety features

Blue air horn on locomotive in service

Locomotive horn introduction Locomotive horns are safety appliances installed on locomotives and used to warn both the public and railroad employees. Outside of special areas, such as quiet zones, trains are required to sound their horn before occupying one of the approximately quarter-million public and private railroad crossings in the U.S. Horns used on new […]

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Menards Santa Fe O gauge locomotive

Menards O gauge Santa Fe F3 model ¾ view top and side

Menards Santa Fe O gauge locomotive program is underway. Asking some 200 people to take a chance on this new product is bold. To request they test it on their layouts and report what the maker got right — and more importantly, wrong — takes even more guts. It is something I’ve never heard of […]

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Bob’s Train Box Episode 72

CTT editor Hal Miller and Bob Keller on the set of Bob's Train Box

On this episode of Bob’s Train Box, Bob and CTT editor Hal Miller have a look at Menards’ new O gauge Santa Fe F3 locomotive and find a lot to like about it when they run it on a layout! Bob also examines the visual advantage of controlling trains using apps on tablets and smartphones […]

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Bob’s Train Box Episode 72

CTT editor Hal Miller and Bob Keller on the set of Bob's Train Box

On this episode of Bob’s Train Box, Bob and CTT editor Hal Miller have a look at Menards’ new O gauge Santa Fe F3 locomotive and find a lot to like about it when they run it on a layout! Bob also examines the visual advantage of controlling trains using apps on tablets and smartphones […]

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Don Colangelo, Genesee Valley’s ‘Alco doc,’ retires

Man with hard hat in blue shirt, standing in front of shop building

SCRANTON, Pa. — Don Colangelo, the Genesee Valley Transportation vice president, mechanical, who gained renown as the “Alco doc” for keeping the company’s fleet of American Locomotive Co. diesels healthy, is retiring this month. Colangelo spent some four decades in railroad, more than 25 of those with Genesee Valley, which saw its fleet of Alco […]

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BL2 diesel locomotive: An EMD diesel that didn’t.

Red and yellow semi-streamlined diesel locomotive

The BL2 was a mistake at diesel locomotive leader EMD EMD’s BL2 diesel locomotive was a mistake of historic proportions. During the 1930s and ’40s — when diesel-locomotive sales grew from smoldering embers to white-hot inferno — Electro-Motive Corp. (after 1940, General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division) seemingly could do no wrong. With the technical and marketing […]

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Norfolk Southern outlook brightens after record second quarter

Black locomotives lead train through curve

NORFOLK, Va. — Buoyed by strong volume and revenue growth, Norfolk Southern lifted its outlook for the year as it reported record second-quarter financial results on Wednesday. “We are even more confident about growth for the balance of this year,” CEO Jim Squires told investors and analysts on the railroad’s earnings call. The railroad now […]

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Shortline savior

Red-and-white diesel switcher locomotives in a road crossing

Shortline savior North Carolina’s Laurinburg & Southern was a GE 70-tonner bastion in the Southeast. A pair works Dixie Guano in Laurinburg in September 1984. The GE small locomotive line enabled great savings for short lines that adopted them, keeping some of them running for years longer than if powered by steam. Jim Wrinn photo […]

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Detail a diesel on a budget, Ep. 47

From adding grab irons to installing hood details to painting the parts, Cody Grivno shares how he finished his HO scale Atlas Trainmasters EMD GP38-2 diesel locomotive without breaking the bank. Watch all the steps detailed in this video, and then read the story in the September 2021 issue of Model Railroader magazine. […]

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Detail a diesel on a budget, Ep. 47

From adding grab irons to installing hood details to painting the parts, Cody Grivno shares how he finished his HO scale Atlas Trainmasters EMD GP38-2 diesel locomotive without breaking the bank. Watch all the steps detailed in this video, and then read the story in the September 2021 issue of Model Railroader magazine. […]

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