WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board has created a passenger rail office that will be responsible for investigating and analyzing Amtrak on-time performance on host railroads. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 authorizes the STB to investigate the causes of substandard passenger rail on-time performance, to identify mitigating measures, and, under specified […]
FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Members of the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers, which represents 2,400 workers, have ratified their tentative contract agreement with the U.S. Class I railroads. The vote was passed with a 58.7% margin in favor of the contract recommendations made by the Presidential Emergency Board, the union announced on Thursday. “The […]
WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday granted a request from all parties involved to extend by 14 days the board-sponsored mediation regarding Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service. Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority will continue to talk through Oct. 25. All parties agreed that “an […]
WASHINGTON – The membership of the SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART MD) has voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the U.S. Class I railroads, the union announced on Wednesday. The contract passed with 54% of the rank and file voting in favor of the deal. The ratified contract includes historic wage increases, […]
200-ton crane and boom car Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $94.99 Era: 1960s+ to 1980s+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: Rotating boom Boom and blocks raise and lower Flatcar with boom support arms Machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry knuckle couplers Injection-molded […]
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway has been ordered to pay $228 million in a federal class-action lawsuit after a jury found that the railroad violated Illinois state law by collecting employee fingerprints without prior consent. The decision is the first in a case involving the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, the first law passed by a […]
WASHINGTON — Carload and intermodal traffic remain below 2021 levels in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Oct. 8, overall traffic of 494,413 carloads and intermodal units represented a 2.4% drop from the same week a year earlier. That figure included 232,930 carloads, down 2.8%, and 261,483 […]
Let’s celebrate the variety and color of Bangor & Aroostook locomotives! The Bangor & Aroostook didn’t purchase its first diesels (EMD F3s) until 1947, but dieselization then came quickly, with the last steam operations in 1949. The railroad kept its older diesels in good shape for a long time, supplanting them with GP38s in the […]
Many railroads saw their definitive histories written in the mid-20th century. For the Delaware & Hudson, that was Jim Shaughnessy’s, published in 1967. Delaware & Hudson: The Final Years is a 416-page volume that picks up D&H history where the first one leaves off, taking it through the road’s January 1991 acquisition by Canadian Pacific. […]
DENVER — OmniTRAX has completed an agreement to purchase the assets of the bankrupt San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, which will become the company’s 26th short line. Bankruptcy trustee William Brandt had said last month that the company had signed an agreement in principle to purchase the 155-mile Colorado railroad, a former Denver & […]
50-foot Superior plug-door boxcar Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $37.99 Era: 1971+ to late 2000s+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: Separate, factory-installed brake wheel and ladders 70-ton roller bearing trucks 33” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry knuckle couplers Injection-molded plastic body […]
48-foot intermodal containers Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $89.99 Era: 1990s+ Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Features: New road numbers Injection-molded plastic construction Fully assembled Stackable Each container is individually numbered Release date: November 2023 Road names: Conrail (white with “Conrail Mercury” lettering); Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (white with […]
