If you want to fascinate visitors and draw their eyes into your layout, make your layout tell a story. Many modelers put a lot of effort into making their locomotives, track arrangements, and operating schemes as realistic as possible. But not all of us put the same amount of thought into the little plastic people […]
Q: I am in a decision mode as to what’s the best industry for a small shelf layout. I’m considering either lumber or grain. My shelf is 14″ x 6-0″. Also, what freight cars would be needed for each industry? Thanks. — Bill M. A: You didn’t say what scale you’re modeling in, but 14″ […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canada Industrial Relations Board has affirmed the decision by Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to end the work stoppages at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, requiring the railroads to resume operations and to impose binding arbitration between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to resolve new contract […]
WASHINGTON — The union representing Amtrak conductors and assistant conductors announced it had reached a new tentative agreement with the passenger operator for a seven-year contract covering more than 2,100 employees. The agreement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) will include a “substantial general wage increase,” the […]
BOULDER, Colo. — Two crew members were treated at a hospital and released after a BNSF train derailed Thursday night, KDVR-TV reports. The incident was originally reported by Boulder police as a collision of two trains, but BNSF subsequently confirmed a single train was involved. At least one report says the train hit a group […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation announced late today (Friday, Aug. 23) it had reached tentative agreements on new contracts with seven additional unions, after agreeing to pacts with five unions the previous two days. The new contracts shortly after Norfolk Southern and BNSF said they had negotiated similar early contracts with a number of their […]
Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway said late today (Friday, Aug. 23) they had, in partnership, reached tentative, five-year collective bargaining agreements with a number of their unions. The pacts come four months before the opening of the next round of bargaining and cover approximately 30% of NS’s unionized workforce and 15% of BNSF workers. They […]
SAN FRANCISCO — A month before Stadler electric, bilevel multiple-unit trainsets are set to completely transform Caltrain’s 51-mile corridor from downtown San Francisco to San Jose, Calif., commuters are getting their first look at specifics of the schedules to be implemented beginning Sept. 21. Some electric trainsets began operating earlier this month [see “News photos: […]
The labor situation involving Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference remains both active and muddy. Earlier today (Friday, Aug. 23), the TCRC served Canadian National with a 72-hour strike notice, announcing its intent to launch a strike against the railroad at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 26. […]
Rail travel photography Over the course of my half-century of railroad photography I’ve seen technology completely change the ways we make photographs. Even so, when it comes to rail travel photography your eye for images will pay dividends far greater than that provided by the latest and greatest camera. In 1984, two months after graduating […]
PIKO America LLC, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego, CA 92120, announces new products for the fall and holiday season. The Halloween Mini-Mogul (38262) features a detailed 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotive with directional lighting and Halloween graphics. It’s expected in September. Price: $519.99. The O Tannenbaum Transport (38794) features a diecast model of […]
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has taken down its picket lines at Canadian National Railway and will begin returning to work, the union said in a brief statement early today (Friday, Aug. 23). But the union said the work stoppage continues at Canadian Pacific Kansas City pending an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board, […]
