MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended the sudden shutdown of Maya Train operations at a Friday press conference, saying the suspension of operation on the existing portion of the looping 965-mile route was necessary for ongoing tests of track and equipment. Trains on the 298-mile segment between Cancún and Campeche, which […]
Model Railroader’s favorite products of 2023: As 2023 draws to a close, and we look forward to a new year, Model Railroader‘s Cody Grivno and Bryson Sleppy take a look back at some of their favorite model railroad products of 2023. Tangent Scale Models HO scale Burlington Northern International Car Co. wide-vision cabooses For […]
This adventure started in 1947 at the early age of 5 years old, when Dad unpacked the Lionel train set he’d purchased downtown. We lived in Newark, N.J., on the top floor of a “triple decker” on the north side. My father had a good job as a supervisor at Forster Engineering Company, a firm […]
You know it’s been a big news year when the first merger of Class I railroads in more than two decades — and likely the last — is judged the No. 3 story of 2023. In a typical year, Canadian Pacific’s $31 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern would have topped the headlines. The Surface […]
CHICAGO — Martin J. Oberman isn’t ready to retire just yet. That much was clear from his impassioned talk at a recent Northwestern University Transportation Center gathering. Sharing the bill with the group’s annual holiday luncheon keynote speaker, veteran transportation analyst Anthony B. Hatch, the Surface Transportation Board chairman announced his decision in November to […]
CANCUN, Mexico — Mexico’s two-week-old Maya Train abruptly announced it was temporarily suspending service for four days on Thursday, announcing the move on social media less than an hour before the suspension took effect. A post on the social media site X, posted at 10:15 a.m., said that the suspension was effective at 11 a.m. […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak touted across-the-board gains compared with 2022 in each of its three business units in its recap of results for fiscal 2023. But less equipment available for long-distance trains triggered near constant sellouts on portions of those routes throughout the year. As a result, ridership and revenue growth for the inter-regional segment was […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm will receive her full salary for 2024 after departing on Jan. 12 and has agreed to provide “on-call services” as a consultant next year, the Seattle Times reports, but the transit agency has not released the full agreement covering her departure. The Sound Transit board’s motion setting the […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic continued its year-end surge, with traffic for the week ending Dec. 23 up 24.2% over the same week in 2022. According to statistics from the Association of American Railroads, traffic for the week was 486,787 carloads and intermodal units. That included 230,946 carloads, up 23.7%, and 255,841 containers and trailers, […]
HO scale Electro-Motive Corp. FT diesels The Electro-Motive Corp. (EMC) FT is one of three new products from Rapido Trains. Road names include Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (freight and passenger schemes); Boston & Maine (maroon); Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (gray); Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (gray and maroon); Great Northern (as-delivered scheme); Milwaukee Road (as-delivered […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — It was a breakout year for the East Broad Top narrow-gauge line in central Pennsylvania, already the Cinderella story of American steam railroads. Since its opening in 1873 as a 33-mile-long, common-carrier coal and ore line based in Rockhill Furnace, Pa., EBT has been shut down twice and rescued twice. In […]
MT. SHASTA, Calif. — One person was killed in a shooting by a police officer on Amtrak’s southbound Coast Starlight early on Christmas morning, the Mt. Shasta Police Department confirmed Tuesday evening. The officer involved and another person were injured the police department said in a press release on Facebook. The department had previously reported […]
