WASHINGTON — No surprise, railroads and shippers are sharply divided on the issue of allowing railroad customers with connections to only one railroad to choose an alternative carrier. Shippers call it “captive switching.” “Forced switching” is the term the railroads uses. Both sides shared their views on July 25 before an informal Surface Transportation Board […]
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Steel Dynamics, Inc. has donated $3,000 to the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society Inc. for Project 358, an effort to restore the society’s 1950s diesel locomotive, Nickel Plate Road No. 358. The funds will be allocated toward electrical cable, paint, generators or other locomotive parts in need of refurbishment. One of […]
Big Steam is Back Kalmbach Publishing, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Approx. 90 minutes kalmbachhobbystore.com In Spring 2009, Union Pacific’s never-retired 4-8-4 No. 844 visited Nevada, California, and Utah on its “Western Heritage Tour.” This event provided ample evidence, as if any was needed, of the appeal of “Big Steam,” loosely defined as the […]
Canadian National unit sand train U75081-18 passes by the Metra station in Antioch, Ill. Powering the train is rebuilt AC44C6M No. 4016, formerly Norfolk Southern C40-9 No. 8849. Trailing the rebuilt locomotive is C44-9W No. 8276, and SD70M-2s Nos. 2661 and 8942. Video by Chris Guss TRAINS: Rick Johnson Railroads are enjoying a resurgence in […]
HO scale freight cars Assorted freight car kits. Rock Island 40-foot steel boxcar in green and Boxcar Red (single car, $17.98; two-pack, $34.98). 36-foot double-sheathed boxcar with straight underframe and steel or wood ends (painted Boxcar Red with 1940s-style data, Mineral Red with early style data, and Oxide Red with early style data), $17.98 each. […]
InterMountain N scale SD40-2 Our review sample features a split die-cast metal frame and ESU LokSound decoder. The metal contacts were bent down to make better electrical contact. A newly tooled N scale SD40-2 with a detail level that rivals larger scale models joins the InterMountain Ry. roster. For the most part the 1:160-proportion model […]
Amtrak’s southbound ‘Saluki’ rolls past the Canadian National yard into Champaign, Ill., in Feb., 2015. Bob Johnston ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a U.S. Surface Transportation Board attempt to provide metrics which measure host railroad on-time performance. The action follows a U.S. Supreme Court finding that […]
Ron Batory joined Conrail in 1998, 15 months before the big railroad was split between CSX and Norfolk Southern, to oversee the Shared Assets operation. Fred W. Frailey WASHINGTON – The Trump White House Monday announced Ronald L. Batory of New Jersey to be the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Department of Transportation. Batory […]
HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD50 diesel locomotive. Chessie System (Baltimore & Ohio reporting marks), Chicago & North Western, CSX (gray and blue in one number, Chessie System patchout in three numbers), Erie Lackawanna (fictional paint scheme, three numbers), Norfolk Southern, Northern Pacific (fictional paint scheme, three numbers), and Union Pacific. Four numbers per scheme […]
Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 is seen at the North Carolina Transportation Museum prior to its departure for Roanoke in May 2015. Officials with the Virginia Museum of Transportation say they’d like to work with Amtrak to take the locomotive on excursions on passenger routes in the East. David J. Stewart ROANOKE, Va. — […]
The Bucyrus Railcar team in August 2016. Brian Schmidt BUCYRUS, Ohio – Bucyrus Railcar Repair LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathcart Rail Holdings, has expanded its flagship Bucyrus repair facility by acquiring the adjacent facility and assets of the former American & Ohio Locomotive Crane Co. American & Ohio recently relocated operations to Duluth, Minn., […]
Two Canadian Pacific trains, with motive power from CP, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern, meet near Oconomowoc, Wis., in November 2014. Brian Schmidt Q It is common to see a train from one railroad which is powered, partially or fully, by locomotives from another railroad. Why does this happen so frequently and how is the […]
