A Talgo car body on a flatbed truck headed from Seattle to Milwaukee, Wis., for repairs. J. Johnson The Talgo trainset stayed mostly upright and did not jackknife when train 502 derailed on July 2, 2017, thanks to the semi-permanent couplings and steering linkage, shown here between the first and second units behind the locomotive. […]
Read More…
Amtrak ACS64 No. 627 shortly after it crashed into a maintenance-of-way backhoe that was fouling a track on the Northeast Corridor near Chester, Pa., in April 2016. National Transportation Safety Board WASHINGTON — If Amtrak had deployed a familiar device that trips “stop” signals, it could have avoided an accident at Chester, Pa., on April […]
Read More…
A cosmetically restored Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2700 as it now appears in Dennison, Ohio. Jason Johnson Workers install boiler jacketing on C&O No. 2700. Jason Johnson DENNISON, Ohio — The first example of Chesapeake & Ohio’s fleet of 2-8-4s has been cosmetically restored by the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum. C&O No. 2700 was […]
Read More…
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – A former BNSF Railway employee in Oregon has been convicted of murdering a supervisor in 2014, the Herald and News reports. James Forshee, 62, was convicted of murder last week in the April 2014 shooting death of Emery Connor, 42, at BNSF’s yard in Klamath Falls. After a week of testimony […]
Read More…
CHICAGO – General Electric announced plans on Monday to focus on three core industries – aviation, power, and healthcare – leading to the sale of its GE Transportation division and its locomotive product line within two years, the Chicago Tribune reports. “Today, GE announced that it will divest the Transportation business from its portfolio. The […]
Read More…
Various preserved motive power is seen at the Illinois Railway Museum at Union in July 2005. Michael Karlik UNION, Ill. – The Illinois Railway Museum has retired the last of its land acquisition mortgages, a move that museum staff says makes the operation debt-free for the first time in 50 years. Communications director Frank Hicks […]
Read More…
The team from Athearn Trains visited the Model Railroader offices before Trainfest 2017 to show us a pre-production sample of the company’s latest HO scale model, Union Pacific’s “Spirit of the Union Pacific” SD70ACe diesel locomotive. The Genesis series model, scheduled for release in June 2018, will feature vinyl m.u. hoses, light-emitting-diode headlights and ditch […]
Read More…
Athearn HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD40T-2 diesel locomotive HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SD40T-2 diesel locomotive. Denver & Rio Grande Western, Southern Pacific (six road numbers), St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt), and Union Pacific. Four numbers per scheme unless noted. Denver & Rio Grande Western version features 88” nose with protruding Gyralite. All models have […]
Read More…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Caltrans announced Wednesday that Sumitomo Corp. of Americas along with Siemens will be fulfilling a $371 million multi-state contract for new railcars to be used throughout California and the Midwest. The newly finalized contract will supply 137 single-level passenger railcars, 49 to Caltrans and 88 to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The […]
Read More…
A map for the Point Defiance, Wash., bypass project. Washington State Department of Transportation SEATTLE — The end of 2017 is bringing some significant changes to rail passenger traffic on the busy Interstate 5 corridor between Portland and Seattle. After nearly a decade of studies and construction, the $181.2 million dollar Point Defiance Bypass Route […]
Read More…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Half-a-billion dollars in unanswered questions remain now that California officials are working with a new builder on a floundering, years-old passenger car order. California Department of Transportation — Caltrans — officials say in a Wednesday news release that German railroad equipment manufacturer Siemens will build 137 single-level coaches in its Sacramento shops […]
Read More…
Woss, British Columbia Google Maps WOSS, British Columbia — Western Forest Products announced Tuesday that Vancouver Island’s Englewood Railway, the last logging railroad in North America, is closed for good. The decision to close the logging railroad on the north end of Vancouver Island comes six months after three Englewood employees were killed when a […]
Read More…