UNION, Ill. — Under leaden skies, rainwater pools on the walkway of Progress Rail EMDX SD70ACe-T4 demonstrator No. 7723. On the passenger platform at the Illinois Railway Museum, a much earlier product of Electro-Motive Division rolls to a stop with the museum’s caboose train. Its rain-soaked carbody shining, SD24 No. 504, built in 1959 for […]
Amtrak inherited a menagerie of power at startup in 1971, but what were the oldest Amtrak locomotives? During the period leading up to the advent of Amtrak in May 1971, it wasn’t uncommon to see passenger train equipment, both locomotives and cars, of significant seniority. Regarding what came behind the locomotives, heavyweight (typically pre-World […]
20 Amtrak locomotives featured in Model Railroader As we celebrate Amtrak week at Trains.com, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at 20 Amtrak locomotives featured in Model Railroader magazine over the past two decades. As I was compiling this list, I was surprised just how many Amtrak models were produced […]
Siemens ACS-64 Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $459 Era: 2020s+ Manufacturer: Bachmann Trains, 1400 E. Erie Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19124; 215-533-1600; bachmanntrains.com Features: Dual-mode TCS WOWSound decoder Keep-Alive capacitor Light-emitting diode lighting, including flashing ditch lights and directional marker lights and headlights Voice-guided Audio Assist Die-cast metal frame Mappable light functions Selector switch for choice between […]
Amtrak Acela II Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Train set, $799; separate-sale cars, $139 Era: 2020s+ Manufacturer: Bachmann Trains, 1400 E. Erie Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19124; 215-533-1600; bachmanntrains.com Set features Powered (analog control with speaker) and non-powered (functioning lights) locomotives Additional locomotive features include die-cast metal chassis; working, directional light-emitting-diode (LED) headlights and marker lights; and […]
CHICAGO — More than a year after requesting proposals for the project, Metra’s board of directors has approved a plan to convert at least three of its oldest F40PH-3 locomotives, and as many as six, to battery power. Progress Rail will perform the conversions at its Patterson, Ga., facility, with delivery of the initial order […]
Amtrak electric locomotives went through a period of uncertainty early in the passenger railroad’s existence. Not long after its inception, Amtrak began to focus on the fact that its non-Metroliner passenger service in the “Northeast Corridor” would require a replacement for the stalwart GG1 electrics that hauled its “conventional” trains over the electrified […]
Book: Atlas Electric Locomotives Price: $35 Publisher: SilverLake Images LLC, available from Ron’s Books, P.O. Box 714, Harrison, NY 10528; 914-967-7541; ronsbooks.com Atlas Electric Locomotives Manufacturers’ Catalog features: 100-page softcover reproduction of an Atlas Car & Manufacturing Co. catalog Looks at advantages of electric storage battery locomotives Features information on drive mechanism and other components Includes […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s has specially wrapped one of its ACS64 electric locomotives to promote a National Geographic exhibit on King Tut in Boston and Washington. This is not the first time Amtrak and King Tut have been linked. An Amtrak Cascades F59PHI was wrapped to promote a King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center […]
The new book “Pittsburgh: Streetcar City” looks at the Steel City’s rail transit. Pittsburgh’s trolley system rose to fame as one of the last operations to use original PCC cars in the U.S. Beyond the equipment, however, Pittsburgh’s system offered a smorgasbord of variety: incline elevators, operation on public streets and private rights-of-way, tunnels, bridges, […]
A trio of the Virginian Railway’s original box-cab electrics rolls downgrade with a freight at Oakdale, W.Va., in September 1953. The road electrified its main line between Mullens, W.Va., and Roanoke, Va., in the mid-1920s. Richard J. Cook photo […]
PARIS — A Quebec pension fund which has been active in Canadian rail infrastructure projects is reportedly the front-runner to purchase a Paris-based locomotive leasing firm. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and a possible alternative purchaser, U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan, both outbid potential French purchasers for leasing firm Akiem. The transaction […]
