Model railroaders have often espoused the health benefits of the hobby. Now, they have numbers to back up their claims thanks to a new study by Hornby. The U.K.-based model manufacturer and retailer announced the results of a study it commissioned through London-based marketing company Disrupt Insight. The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults in the […]
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Report shows link between manifest train length and derailments caused by train makeup and handling issues
WASHINGTON – Long manifest trains are more likely to derail than their shorter counterparts due to excessive in-train forces – and the number of wrecks related to train makeup and handling issues has increased sharply since U.S. railroads adopted Precision Scheduled Railroading operating models that rely on ever-longer trains, according to a National Academies of […]
Menards Liam’s Frozen Custard Stand
One of the great things about having a model railroad is that you can populate it with things that evoke happy memories. Menards has tapped into this with buildings that touch both the nuts and bolts of railroading (manufacturing firms, oil wells, and power plants), and the lighter side as well with hobby shops, cow […]
Getting the shot: Ian Hapsias
Photographer Ian Hapsias Pennsylvania photographer Ian Hapsias took an interest in United States Gypsum Corporation’s narrow-gauge railroad years before he would make the 2,300-mile trek to Plaster City to visit the 20-mile industrial railroad. In-between shooting old signals and Pittsburgh’s industrial scenes, Hapsias was mapping out his game plan to visit USG. “I would spend […]
Alaska by Rail outing Day 9 — The Alaska Railroad shops
Welcome aboard the Trains–Special Interest Tours 2024 Alaska by Rail outing. Please join us as we travel on the Alaska Railroad for 9 days from Sept. 8 to 17, heading south from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska. No train travel today, just our bus Pendleton with driver John for a 45 minute run from Girdwood back […]
Hearing focuses on turning around the rail industry’s growth problem
WASHINGTON – The first day of the Surface Transportation Board’s unprecedented hearing focusing on growth in the rail industry – or, more precisely, the lack of it – allowed the Class I railroads to tout their successes. But the rail executives had to wait for an analyst panel that outlined the breadth and depth of […]
News & Products for the week of September 16th 2024
News & Products for the week of September 16th 2024 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of September 16th […]
Analysis: What a work stoppage at East, Gulf coast ports means for CSX, NS
Class I railroads’ intermodal volumes have been strong this year, but the growing threat of an East Coast ports work stoppage risks upending supply chains just as the freight industry was normalizing. East Coast Class I railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern are keeping an eye on the potential for a widespread strike at […]
CN blames unplanned CPKC trackwork for June congestion in Directional Running Zone
When Canadian National reported disappointing second quarter results in July – partly due to congestion related to trackwork in the Directional Running Zone it shares with Canadian Pacific Kansas City in British Columbia – executives were vague on why some of the maintenance of way work in the country’s most important corridor was unplanned. At […]
The farmer’s frying pan
Four decades later, I still chuckle when I think about the grouchy old farmer who jumped on my locomotive at a central Iowa grade crossing, cast iron fry pan in hand, and cussed me out like he was a drunken sailor! It was summer 1979. I had been a qualified Chicago & North Western Railway […]
Updated Grafton & Upton paint scheme introduced
NORTH GRAFTON, Mass. — The Grafton & Upton paint scheme has been yellow and black ever since its first diesels – two General Electric 44-tonners – arrived on the property in 1946. Those colors carried over to an Alco S4 switcher, and earlier in this century on an eclectic roster of older EMD road-switchers […]
Alaska by Rail Day 8 — Seeking sunshine, sea lions
Welcome aboard the Trains–Special Interest Tours 2024 Alaska by Rail adventure. Please join us as we travel on the Alaska Railroad for 9 days from Sept. 8 to 17, heading south from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska. There was a beautiful sunrise in southern Alaska this morning — and we got to see it! Yes, after […]
