Strasburg No. 475 back in service after accident

Steam locomotive passes standing passenger cars

RONKS, Pa. — Strasburg Rail Road 4-8-0 No. 475, damaged in a Nov. 2 collision with a piece of track maintenance equipment, is back in operation on the railroad’s trains today (Monday, Nov. 7), Strasburg General Manager Jim Hager reports in a note to Trains News Wire correspondent Dan Cupper. The locomotive suffered damage to […]

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Coming at East Broad Top: the new Colgate Grove

Diesel and open-air passenger car on curve next to picnic aea

SHIRLEYSBURG, Pa. — A new generation of facilities is planned for next summer at East Broad Top Railroad’s time-honored Colgate Grove picnic area, the line’s historic tourist-era turnaround point. Sometime during the coming season, the EBT Foundation Inc. will open two small pavilions and restrooms, along with something that the location never had before, a […]

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MBTA set to meet several FTA deadlines, but still needs dispatchers

Rapid-transit train at station. Governor reacts following more close calls on MBTA.

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority should meet a number of deadlines in November for corrective action ordered by the Federal Transit Administration, MBTA officials told the transit agency’s board on Thursday. But the agency remains short of the number of dispatchers it needs to restore subway cuts that were made in June because […]

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Dousing the hogs

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Keeping hogs wet in summer heat was vital in keeping them healthy during transit in stock cars. This manual twin-handle pump soaks both decks of hogs on Swift Live Stock Express cars in a New York Central train east of Rome, N.Y. S.K. Bolton Jr. photo […]

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Strasburg collision damages No. 475, no one hurt

Steam locomotive passes standing passenger cars

PARADISE, Pa. — Strasburg Rail Road’s 4-8-0 steam engine No. 475 collided with a tracked excavator or “trackhoe” parked on a spur Wednesday morning, Nov. 2, punching a hole in the engine’s smokebox. No injuries resulted and the engine, running light, remained on the track. A combination of a misaligned switch — apparently left open when […]

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MBTA general manager announces resignation

MBTA_Poftak

BOSTON — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Steve Poftak has announced his resignation, effective Jan. 3. The Boston Globe reports the resignation comes nearly a full year ahead of the end of his contract, but will coincide with the arrival of a new governor. It will end four years during which Poftak has led […]

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The Lionel Legacy SD45 is a beast of an engine

Lionel Legacy SD45 front view

About halfway through the Lionel 2021 Volume II catalog we found this post-transition-era workhorse: the EMD SD45. A model previously released by Lionel in 2016, the return of the SD45 is a welcome sight for those who model the early high-horsepower diesel years. A solid seller The prototype was built by the Electro-Motive Division of […]

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DC Metrorail to begin service on Silver Line extension Nov. 15

Detail of DC Metrorail map showing not-yet-complete Silver Line

WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail’s Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport will open Nov. 15, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has announced. The 11.5-mile, six-station extension will open about four years behind schedule, the Washington Post reports, completing a 23-mile line on which construction began in 2009. The Post notes Metro still needs a […]

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