A boxcar built by the tens of thousands for dozens of North American railroads has been released in new paint schemes and road numbers by Atlas O. Part of Atlas’ Steam Era Classics series, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) 1937 40-foot boxcar was first issued in 2004. The model features free-rolling trucks with blackened […]
The layout at a glance Name: Eagle River Lines Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 17 x 17 feet Prototype: freelanced Locale: Detroit area Era: 1950s Style: around-the-walls Mainline run: 55 feet Minimum radius: 36” (main), 24” (branch) Minimum turnout: no. 8 (main), no. 6 (spurs and branch) Maximum grade: 2 percent Benchwork: sectional Height: 42”-46” Roadbed: […]
The 20th Century Limited was the top train of New York Central’s (NYC) Great Steel Fleet. The train made its 16-hour trip between Chicago and New York City overnight, with trains arriving in the opposite city at 8 a.m., ready for the new day’s business. Inaugurated in 1902, the Century became a streamliner in 1938. […]
It’s a good time to be an Amtrak modeler. Rapido’s new Horizon passenger cars are here to fill out your contemporary medium-distance trains. Amtrak started its existence with a hand-me-down fleet of passenger cars and locomotives. In 1988, Amtrak ordered its first new short-haul cars, initially referred to as Amfleet III (Amfleet II came in […]
From a “back-in-the-day” perspective, I think the most exotic locomotive Lionel fielded during the postwar era was the GG1 electric. Before you counter with the scale Hudson, F3, or even the GP7, I would suggest that for many years in the late 1940s and ’50s any kid could go down to the local depot and […]
With the real thing in the background, New York Central President Alfred Perlman accepts a model of an RS11 from Alco Products Vice President W. A. Callison in June 1957. NYC bought nine of the 1,800 h.p. road-switchers. Alco […]
Dallas City Council approves $1.7 billion ‘D2’ subway project The Dallas City Council has approved building a new light rail route through downtown including a subway section with three underground stations. WFAA-TV reports the council also said it would support Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s effort to obtain an $800 million Federal Transit Administration grant to […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Anticipating rail travel demand comes with dual challenges: incur costs running trains with initial low patronage, or risk not providing enough options to build revenue and transportation relevance. Amtrak will begin restoring daily departures for its long-distance trains in late May, after receiving directives and $1.7 billion from Congress [see “As Amtrak […]
Judge grants Cascades train 501 engineer partial summary judgment in suit against Amtrak A judge in Washington state has ruled that Amtrak is strictly liable for the fatal 2017 derailment of an Amtrak Cascades train in DuPont, Wash., meaning a trial later this year over a claim by the train’s engineer will only be to […]
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has posted new timetables effective March 29, as well as improved technology to help riders know about seat availability on trains. The timetables announced Wednesday restore the weekday levels of service that had been in place Jan. 25 through March 5. The railroad reduced weekday service as […]
WASHINGTON — The weekly U.S. rail traffic figures from the Association of American Railroad are entering a period where year-to-year comparisons will be skewed because, at this point a year ago, the U.S. economy began to deal with widespread pandemic-related shutdowns, triggering significant reductions in rail traffic. With that in mind, the figures for the […]
Fires disrupt service on Northeast Corridor, Hartford Line Amtrak service on the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston has been disrupted this morning by fire department activity earlier this morning in Providence, R.I., that has affected overhead power lines. WJAR-TV reports a locomotive fire on an MBTA train in one of the underground approaches […]
