BOONTON, N.J. — With persistent rain canceling both the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey’s annual Museum-for-a-Day event and the town’s street fair, the group quickly shifted on Sunday, Sept. 24, to a no-frills open house, showing off two newly painted historic diesel locomotives in their first public display. Live music and other attractions […]
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LUGANO, Switzerland — You know that feeling when you take friends for the first time to a favorite restaurant or some other place that’s really special to you — and they love it as much as you do? That was the feeling I had today after the first full day of the Trains/Special Interest Tours […]
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My greatest find could also be known as the one that almost got away. This Lionel outfit was sitting on a shelf of a local pawnshop for quite some time, collecting dust with many other items that no one was interested in buying. Enter my wife, who had worked for a large telecommunications company that […]
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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Caltrain has energized the second traction power substation for the electrification of its San Francisco-San Jose main line, another step toward the planned launch of electrified operation in fall 2024. The agency announced the substation, built by Balfour Beatty and its partners had been powered up by Pacific Gas & […]
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NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit and the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey will celebrate 40 years of NJ Transit rail operations the weekend of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, with NJ Transit and the URHS partnering on a special excursion Sept. 30 and the transit agency displaying its heritage locomotives at Hoboken Terminal […]
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SAN MATEO, Calif. — Caltrain will purchase a battery-electric version of the Stadler electric multiple-unit passenger equipment it has purchased for its upcoming electrification, allowing operation beyond the limits of system electrification. The California Transportation Commission has approved the funding for the purchase of a single battery-electric trainset and related maintenance and charging facilities, Caltrain […]
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EDMONTON, Alberta — Cando Rail & Terminals — the Canadian company which operates shortlines, terminals and transload facilities, and handles industrial switching, among a wide variety of rail services — will develop a battery-electric switcher. The company announced Thursday that it plans to retrofit a legacy, non-tier compliant diesel with a lithium-ion propulsion system for […]
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Wabtec has landed the first South American order for FLXdrive battery locomotives, with Brazilian-based, multinational mining and logistics firm Vale placing an order for three of the locomotives. The companies will also collaborate on a study of ammonia as an alternative locomotive fuel. The three locomotives, to be built at Wabtec’s […]
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BOONTON, N.J. — NJ Transit has donated ALP-44M electric locomotive No. 4424 to the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey for preservation, the URHS has announced. The first public display following the donation, made by NJ Transit to commemorate its 40th anniversary, will be Sept. 24 at the URHS Railroad Museum [For A Day] […]
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In recent months, I have dug deep into the archives to find the shortest Amtrak trains of each decade. Since most of us modelers have limited layout space, if we still want to model prototypical passenger consists, these short trains are a perfect fit. Join me on a tour of Amtrak eras, this time exploring […]
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UNION, Ill. — The Illinois Railway Museum, which is marking its 70th anniversary in 2023, celebrated the milestone on Saturday, July 1, with its 70 for 70 Trolley Pagaent, a parade of 70 pieces of electric equipment from the museum’s collection. The event reflects the roots of the museum, which began in 1953 as the […]
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