It’s been more than a decade since Lou Sassi photographed my HO scale White River Division for a feature in the March 2009 Model Railroader. A lot has changed since then. The track plan has been altered to better view and photograph scenes. I also eliminated the duckunder. Now a point-to-point layout, there’s a yard […]
Norfolk Southern is inspecting all of its nearly 1,000 wayside hotbox detectors in the wake of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that safety investigators say was caused by a wheel bearing failure. NS also has confirmed that detectors in the East Palestine area were all operating properly when merchandise train 32N rolled […]
Regulators should not impose new safety regulations until the National Transportation Safety Board determines what caused the fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train that was carrying hazardous materials through East Palestine, Ohio, rail industry leaders said today. Their remarks came just hours after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Department of Transportation would adopt […]
Class I railroads Class I railroads: If you’re in your car watching a long 100-car freight train roll over a grade crossing, chances are good that the train belongs to one of the Class I systems. The Class Is operate 70% of the total track miles in the U.S., employ 73% of the labor force, […]
For years now riding VIA Rail’s Canadian has been more about the experience than arriving on time. A lot more, in fact. Even your boarding pass for VIA’s flagship warns that you shouldn’t book same-day connections at your destination. But things seem to be changing. As part of its effort to run its freights closer […]
KITCHENER, Ontario — The woman injured in a 2019 grade crossing accident, cited last week by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada as a sign of issues with Ontario oversight of rail safety, filed a lawsuit last year seeking more than C$3 million as a result of the incident, the CBC reports. Jenna Armstrong and […]
The Canadian customs agent checks your passport and gives you a puzzled look when you explain that you just landed in Vancouver so that you can head to Toronto tomorrow. The poor young chap cannot wrap his head around the concept of taking VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian 2,800 miles simply for the fun of it. […]
An N scale General Motors Diesel Division GP40-2W from Atlas recently toured our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy State Line Route layout. Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno talk about the features on the locomotive and take it for a tour of the “Mini Myrt.” Paint schemes on the four-axle road unit […]
WASHINGTON — Responding to filings from the host railroads involved, Amtrak has argued against “adversarial, party-driven litigation” or mediation in its request for the Surface Transportation Board to investigate poor timekeeping by the Sunset Limited, and urged the board to open that investigation immediately. In a Feb. 3 filing, the passenger carrier argues that such […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked the Surface Transportation Board to order mediation in response to Amtrak’s request for an investigation into its handling of the Sunset Limited, and says the current Sunset schedule is the root cause of the train’s problems. In a Friday filing with the STB, UP asserts that the Sunset schedule […]
MONTREAL — When it comes right down to it, railroading is not a complicated business, Canadian National Chief Operating Officer Ed Harris says. It’s all about sticking to a schedule, following the operating plan no matter what, and running safely. Harris, who served as CN’s operations boss from 2005 to 2007, was named COO on […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National met all of its financial targets for 2022, but the railway issued a cautious outlook for this year with the expectation of a mild recession and soft traffic volumes. “Without a doubt we are in an uncertain economic time,” CEO Tracy Robinson told investors and analysts on CN’s earnings call on […]
