Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway history remembered

Although the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway employed several nicknames — “Dixie Line,” “Nashville Road,” and “Lookout Mountain Route” among them — to former employees and their families, it will always be “Grandpa’s Road.” James A. Skelton was one of those Grandpas. He was 14 in April 1862, and although the War Between the […]

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Digital Train Inspection: Artificial intelligence boosts safety

Norfolk Southern is installing Digital Train Inspection (DTI) portals at key locations on its 22-state network. Each portal features sensors, stadium lighting, and an array of ultra-high-resolution cameras mounted above, below, and on either side of the rails. As trains pass through the portal — at speeds up to 70 mph — images from the […]

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Federal government issues final rule requiring railroads to provide hazardous-material information to first responders

WASHINGTON — The federal government has issued its final rule requiring railroads to provide real-time electronic information on hazardous material to first responders in the event of a derailment or other incident. The rule from the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is one of many regulatory actions spurred by last year’s […]

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News & Products for the week of June 17th 2024

News & Products for the week of June 17th 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 June 17th 2024. […]

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Railfan Road: Chicago’s Cicero Avenue

Roosevelt Road used to be ‘the’ Chicago railfan road. On less than a mile of viaducts just south of downtown, fans could catch passenger trains to and from many of the great Chicago passenger stations and associated coach yards. But intercity trains now only call at Union Station, and while commuters still roll, several iconic […]

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Amtrak GP40 diesel locomotives

Amtrak GP40 diesel locomotives came in two flavors: eight former GO Transit GP40TCs acquired in October 1988 and 15 straight GP40s leased between May 1991 and June 1993. The 3,000 hp GP40 is a standard bearer of freight motive power in the second half of the 20th century. Introduced by EMD in 1968, the model […]

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