Accurail HO scale freight car kits

Drawing of brown boxcar with white "Soo Line" lettering

HO scale freight car kits Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: See individual cars below Era: Varies depending on car type Manufacturer: Accurail, P.O. Box 278, Elburn, IL 60119; 630-365-1173; accurail.com Features: Injection-molded plastic construction Plastic wheelsets Solid-or roller-bearing trucks as appropriate Steel weight(s) Screws for trucks and draft-gear box covers Accumate couplers with modeler-installed trip pins […]

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Senator introduces bill to address common-carrier rules

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced a bill this week seeking to better define railroads’ common-carrier rules and establishing criteria for the Surface Transportation Board to consider when assessing complaints about service issues, as well as a timeline to do so. Baldwin says in a press release that the “Reliable Rail Service Act,” introduced […]

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Weekly rail traffic figure take another dip

Weekly table showing U.S. carload traffic by commodity type plus intermodal totals

WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic showed another significant drop for the week ending Sept. 24, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. Total volume for the week was 489,111 carloads and intermodal units, a 4.4% decrease from the same week in 2021. Since the figures for the week ending Sept. 3 showed […]

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CP and KCS tout and defend their merger on first day of regulatory hearings

Container train under overhead signals

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday’s first day of public hearings regarding their proposed merger, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern sought to blunt criticism of their $31 billion combination by preemptively addressing concerns raised by other Class I railroads, Chicago-area commuter railroad Metra, and lineside communities in the Midwest. Merger opponents — including Metra and communities […]

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Electrical workers ratify contract with railroads

Logo of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which includes lighting bolts held by a fist

ARLINGTON, Va. — A third union has ratified its tentative agreement with freight railroads, the bargaining group representing the railroads has announced. The National Carriers’ Conference Committee announced the ratification by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents almost 4,000 rail workers. The margin by which the contract was ratified was not announced. “The […]

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Clinton, Iowa, approves agreement with Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific Railway beaver logo

CLINTON, Iowa — Clinton’s city council has unanimously approved a $1 million agreement with Canadian Pacific to address impacts of its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern, KWQC-TV reports. Under the agreement passed Tuesday night, the city will receive the funds if the Surface Transportation Board approves the first merger of two Class I railroads […]

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Amtrak extends storm cancellations for Silver Star, Auto Train

Passenger train meets commuter train with station in background

WASHINGTON — In a Tuesday evening update to its original advisory, Amtrak has now cancelled all northbound and southbound departures of the New York-Miami Silver Star, and the Lorton, Va.-Sanford, Fla., Auto Train, through Friday because of the approaching Hurricane Ian. Also cancelled is the Saturday, Oct. 1, northbound departure of the Silver Star from […]

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Parties in Amtrak Gulf Coast case granted more time for mediation

Passenger train with theater car at rear stopped at station

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Proceedings on Tuesday granted a request by all parties involved to extend board-sponsored mediation regarding Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service to Oct. 11. The request was granted without additional comment. Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority had filed the […]

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STB hearing on CP-KCS merger begins today

Surface Transportation Board logo

WASHINGTON — Three days of scheduled hearings on the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger — the first combination of two Class I railroads in two decades — will begin this morning (Wednesday, Sept. 28) in the hearing room at the Surface Transportation Board headquarters in Washington, D.C. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT […]

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