URHS unveils U-Boat restoration, shop at open house

Dark blue diesel locomotives with white center stripe outside shop building

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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Lionel postwar GG1 and three passenger cars

locomotiv and passenger car models

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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Caltrain orders battery-electric trainset for trial operation

Red and white electric multiple-unit trainset under dramatic sunset

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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Canada’s Cando Rail to develop battery switcher

Green and gray switching locomotive with extended-height cab

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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Wabtec to build three FLXdrive locomotives for Brazil’s Vale

Rendering of red and gray locomotive

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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Amtrak eras tour: the 1990s

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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