Dave Wendt’s Norfolk & Western in HO scale

Watch trains steaming through the builder’s depiction of coal operations in Virginia and West Virginia in the 1950s. On this layout, mirrors and a cathedral ceiling make the mid-sized HO scale (1:87.1) layout feel much larger! To learn even more about the builder and layout details, be sure to read the July 2023 issue of […]

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Norfolk Southern and unions team up to focus on safety improvements

Norfolk Southern logo

ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern and the 12 unions that represent the railroad’s employees have agreed to work more closely together to improve safety. “Today, national labor leaders and Norfolk Southern management are committing to work together to enhance rail safety for our people and the communities we serve,” they announced in a letter to employees […]

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Michigan Senate advances bill for grade separation fund

Crew members work at railroad crossing gates

LANSING, Mich. – Many states have attempted to address long delays at grade crossings by passing legislation to limit how long a train can hold up traffic. But the Michigan legislature is moving to adopt a different approach: eliminate the crossings altogether. The Michigan Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would create a permanent […]

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Work in progress to upgrade BNSF’s old Sandpoint bridge

Train on bridge, with work in progress on adjacent bridge

SANDPOINT, Idaho — With BNSF Railway  and Montana Rail Link trains now using the new 4,873-foot long Lake Pend Oreille bridge opened in late November 2022 outside Sandpoint, Idaho, the adjacent bridge opened by Northern Pacific in 1904 is undergoing reconstruction. BNSF says the work involves “replacing all 59 of the remaining original 1904 bridge […]

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Tacoma Rail ends service to Frederickson, Wash.

Red and white contemporary diesel locomotive. Tacoma Rail Ends Service to Frederickson Washington

Another little piece of the Milwaukee Road is fading away in Tacoma, Wash. Tacoma Rail aka Tacoma Municipal Belt Line Railway consisted of three divisions. The Tidelands Division, the Mountain Division and the Capitol Division, now known as the Lakewood Division. The Capitol Division included lines in the Olympia, Wash., area and industries in South […]

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Owner of Beech Mountain Railroad prepares to close mine

Blue Alco end-cab switcher moves hopper cars in forested area

ALEXANDER, W.Va. — The Carter-Roag Coal Co. plans to close its Morgan Camp mine, the last coal mine in Randolph County, W.Va., as well as the Star Bridge coal preparation plant, likely spelling the end of the company’s Beech Mountain Railroad. Local news reports say Carter-Roag, a subsidiary of United Coal Co., announced last week […]

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Norfolk Southern debuts new emissions report tool for customers

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has launched a Rail Emissions Report tool that, in an industry first, uses fuel burn data directly from locomotives. “Fuel burn can be applied to each shipment based on the weight as it travels across the Norfolk Southern network,” a railroad spokeswoman says. “Combining fuel burn with other estimates for yard […]

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