SEATTLE – Sound Transit will receive a $154 million loan to finance the South Sounder Access Improvement Project, including construction of new parking garages at three Sounder commuter rail stations: Puyallup, Sumner, and Auburn, Wash. The loan comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program created in 1998 to […]
COOS BAY, Ore. – Coos Bay Rail Line has completed construction of a new bridge over Coalbank Slough and has opened it to rail traffic. The project included the dismantling and disposal of the old bridge structure and replacing it with a new fixed span bridge. The former bridge structure was a non-operating deck-plate girder, […]
In this episode, our host intentionally works his way between a rock and a hard place! The tough stuff starts when he discovers a flaw in his operating scheme. With a remedy in place, David starts into the scenery. As he shares here, installing the foreground rock wall scenery is an easy lift when using […]
In this episode, our host intentionally works his way between a rock and a hard place! The tough stuff starts when he discovers a flaw in his operating scheme. With a remedy in place, David starts into the scenery. As he shares here, installing the foreground rock wall scenery is an easy lift when using […]
SEATTLE — Amtrak Cascades between Seattle and Portland, Ore., remain suspended through Friday, April 14, while BNSF Railway crews clear a mudslide that has kept passenger trains from operating since Tuesday. Portland-Eugene, Ore., and Seattle-Vancouver, B.C., trains have continued to operate, while the Coast Starlight to and from Los Angeles has been turning at Portland. […]
After unloading at Seattle Union Station, the Milwaukee Road’s Olympian Hiawatha was towed south behind steam, backward and with diesels still attached, to a wye, where the train was turned to head for its ultimate destination, Tacoma. Eastbound, the process was reversed. In this late-1940s scene, 2-8-0 No. 1225 does the honors. Stuart B. Hertz photo […]
By Greg Privette Vacationing near the Olympic mountains of Washington state birthed a vision for my new HO scale layout. Logging was the industry and Shelton, Wash., was home to the last logging railroad in the United States. Old-growth timbers harvested near Camp 5 were delivered by the Simpson Railroad to Shelton starting around the […]
Host David Popp promises to show you the easiest way you’ll ever see to install a Tortoise by Circuitron Switch Motor! Plus, you’ll also see simple techniques for attaching feeder wires, soldering rail joints, and even painting the track for a more realistic appearance. Let’s get started! Curious about alternative installation solutions? Be sure to […]
Host David Popp promises to show you the easiest way you’ll ever see to install a Tortoise by Circuitron Switch Motor! Plus, you’ll also see simple techniques for attaching feeder wires, soldering rail joints, and even painting the track for a more realistic appearance. Let’s get started! Curious about alternative installation solutions? Be sure to […]
ANACORTES, Wash. — BNSF Railway violated terms of an easement agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community by running 100-car trains of crude oil across the Swinomish reservation in Anacortes for years, a federal judge ruled Monday. The Seattle Times reports that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said in a written order Monday that […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has reached an agreement with General Committee 953 of the SMART-TD union to maintain two-person crews, the railroad announced, confirming an earlier report by the North Platte Telegraph. General Committee 953 covers workers in a 13-state area on the Union Pacific and four short lines, and in its current form […]
ANACORTES, Wash. — An improperly aligned derail was responsible for the derailment of a BNSF Railway train on the Swinomish Reservation last week, a Federal Railroad Administration representative told a local National Public Radio station. KUOW radio reports the derail, which is mean to keep trains from proceeding when a swing bridge over a portion […]
