WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation late on Dec. 4 made it official, and rescinded a rule that tank trains carrying flammable commodities must be equipped with electronically controlled pneumatic brakes. The decision seemed inevitable after the Federal Railroad and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety administrations reported in mid-October that the added safety benefits of […]
NEW YORK — Kansas City Southern’s latest growth opportunity — shipping gasoline, propane, and other refined petroleum products to Mexico — is beginning to take off as new distribution facilities open on KCS de Mexico lines. The Mexican government ended the state-run oil and gas monopoly in 2013, opening the sector to private investment and […]
MTH 4-6-2 streamlined engine Price: $499.95 (No. 20-20683-1) Min Curve: O-31 Cmd Low: 4.5 smph Cnv Low: 4.8 smph High: 57.9 smph Drawbar pull: 1 lb., 6 oz. Features: A can-style motor, ProtoSound 3.0 command and sound system, smoke unit, coil coupler on tender Current-production road names: Canadian National, Chicago & North Western, New Haven, […]
Union Pacific Big Boy-type 4-8-8-4 No. 4004 as it appeared in a Cheyenne, Wyo., park in 2013. The City of Cheyenne is paying to cosmetically restore the locomotive during 2018. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn CHEYENNE, Wyo. — On Monday, Nov. 27, the Cheyenne City Council approved full funding for the cosmetic restoration of Big Boy No. […]
An aerial view of charred freight train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, following the July 2013 derailment and fire. Transportation Safety Board of Canada SHERBROOKE, Quebec — The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic’s use of one-person crews in the months before the fatal Lac-Mégantic oil train wreck that killed 47 people has become the focus of the criminal […]
NASHVILLE — The Music City has the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Old Opry, great food and impressive 21st century architecture. Many people move to this cultural metropolis every week, which contributes to a regional population of almost 2 million. While not currently served by Amtrak (The Floridian last stopped there in 1979), […]
Stephen Lane is shown posing with his Tuscarora Valley combination baggage-coach car at Rockhill Furnace, Pa. The car is being stored there until it can find a more permanent home. Lawrence Biemiller, Friends of the East Broad Top ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — While operations at the historic narrow-gauge East Broad Top Railroad in central Pennsylvania […]
The Rivet Counter version of the ScaleTrains.com HO scale General Electric ET44 features prototype-specific detailing and an ESU LokSound Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. Senior editor Dana Kawala used two of these superdetailed locomotives to haul a freight train along the main line of the Model Railroader staff’s Milwaukee, Racine & Troy layout. […]
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Technical difficulties brought Metrolink’s plans to unveil a new Tier 4 locomotive to a halt. On Nov. 18, crowds and officials gathered at Metrolink’s Southern California Newhall Station in anticipation of seeing the first locomotive in a $280 million-order from builder Progress Rail. By 5 p.m., some 70 minutes after the […]
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Canadian Pacific’s business train passes through the scenic Wisconsin Dells area in south central Wisconsin this week. The train is just west of Kilbourn siding on CP’s Tomah Subdivision and is passing high above the Wisconsin River. The train is making a round trip from Calgary, Alberta, to Kansas City, Mo., […]
Tesla Semi Tesla Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk says his company’s battery-powered big rig, unveiled last week, will be 20 percent cheaper to operate than diesel trucks and represents “economic suicide for rail.” But reports of rail’s impending death may be exaggerated. “Is this going to be a game-changer? No, not yet anyway,” says […]
HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SDP40F diesel locomotive. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (1985 nose and pilot configuration). Four road numbers. Leslie S3L air horn, illuminated Strato-light beacon, and removed steam generator with blank panels at rear of body. Direct-current model, $219.98; with dual-mode SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound decoder, $309.98. October 2018. Genesis series. Athearn Trains, […]
