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CLEVELAND — Alco PA No. 190 continues its journey east to its new home with Genesee Valley Transportation in Scranton Pa. On Monday, May 15, it was photographed in downtown Cleveland on the former Nickel Plate (now Norfolk Southern) main line, crossing the Cuyahoga, River. The locomotive was restored by preservationist Doyle McCormack and acquired […]
News & Products for the week of May 15th 2023 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 May 15th 2023. […]
Well, this isn’t a pretty picture. From 2013 to 2022 U.S. industrial production eked out 3% growth, overall economic output increased 57%, and truck tonnage grew 26%. Yet volume on the big four U.S. railroads increased by an average of just 2% for the decade — a figure that mercifully does not include coal traffic. […]
Restored Alco PA No. 190, after a week-long pause at Chicago’s Clearing Yard on its cross-country move from Portland, Ore., has resumed its trip to its new home with Genesee Valley Transportation. Photographer Bruce Stahl caught No. 190 eastbound Friday on a Norfolk Southern train west of South Bend, Ind., trailing four NS and BSNF […]
The next time you watch a quartet of six-motor diesels go grinding past with an 11,000-ton unit coal train, consider that all that horsepower is being transmitted through the train by a mere 11-inch-high chunk of steel at the end of each car. This simple little device – the “knuckle” – is the key part […]
WASHINGTON – Amtrak has reached a settlement in principle with two freight customers in Pennsylvania who had asked federal regulators to prevent the loss of rail service during a six-week track project. Amtrak told federal regulators on May 10 that it had reached a confidential settlement with Esbenshade and the Wenger Group, which operate feed […]
End-of-train devices replaced cabooses that, not so long ago, train watchers almost everywhere could count on as a final point of interest at the end of each freight train. The distinctive little cars housed crew members who would observe the cars ahead for defects, process the train’s paperwork, operate track switches, monitor the air-brake system […]
WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved a significantly revised version of the Railway Safety Act today (Wednesday, May 10), advancing the bill to the full Senate. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the bill, introduced in the wake of the Feb. 3 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, passed by a 16-11 margin, a […]
Steam excursions in the United States are like taking center stage. Star-studded locomotives arrived with some staying while others received curtain calls. Of those that have taken their final bow, here are five former U.S. steam excursion locomotives that left an impact. Grand Trunk Western No. 5629 Excursion service 1959-1973: The class K-4a, 4-6-2 No. […]
Given a choice, railroads will always follow a straight, level path. Trains use less energy, speeds are higher, and there’s less wear on equipment when railroads can build on an arrow-straight line. But land rises and falls, obstacles must be avoided, and this requires grades to compensate for changes in elevation and curves to reorient […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Dan Cupper: It was a 10-page cover feature for January 1984, detailing Conrail’s E8-model passenger locomotive No. 4022, used for powering the road’s office-car fleet on inspection tours. At the time, I was working as a reporter for the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News newspapers and had written a full-page […]
Wabtec’s Fort Worth plant FORT WORTH, Texas — In October 2022, following my attendance at the Railway Supply Institute Expo and Technical Conference, I also had a chance to visit Wabtec’s locomotive assembly plant in Fort Worth. My visit happened to fall on the day Canadian National accepted the first of a series of 50 […]
