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Lionel has released their Base3 control system, and CTT unboxes and tests the product. Editor Rene Schweitzer and Contributing Editor Bob Keller offer some tips and tricks for operation, and demonstrate the Polar Express engine on the CT&T in-house layout. Read a review from Chris Montagna about the Base3. Learn more about this system at […]
CHICAGO — The city of Chicago wants Chicago Union Station to provide waiting-room space for Greyhound bus passengers after the expected closure of the city’s Greyhound station in mid-September, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But Amtrak — Union Station’s owner — says it hasn’t been contacted about any such plan and has reservations about the area’s […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain will begin public operation of its electrified trainsets this Sunday, Aug. 11, the news site SFGate reports. Agency spokesman Dan Lieberman told SFGate that “a couple” of the electric trains will be in operation, but that Caltrain has decided against announcing which specific trains will be operating with the new equipment […]
MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada recaps the company’s forward-looking initiatives and financial performance for calendar 2023 in a 30-minute audio recording of its annual public meeting released on Wednesday, Aug. 7. The session is moderated by Jamie Orchard, VIA’s senior advisor of corporate communication, and features board of directors chair Francoise Bertrand, CEO Mario Peloquin, […]
A Norfolk Southern conductor had his lower right leg and lower right arm amputated when run over by a railcar at the company’s Lambert’s Point Yard, the National Transportation Safety Board said in the preliminary report on a July 19 accident in Norfolk, Va. The incident occurred about 12:35 p.m. The conductor was part of […]
BALTIMORE — While through-running operation for MARC and Virginia Railway Express trains beyond Washington, D.C., remains a wish-list items for some passengers and both agencies, the two commuter rail operators are now making it a little easier and less expensive for some riders to make use of both services. A new agreement, announced Thursday and […]
Railroad photography The retro use of film cameras in our hobby has found a hardcore niche. If you can afford the cost of film these days and tamp down the instant gratification of shooting digital to see what you captured seconds later, you can be rewarded images echoing those from photographers past. Waiting to see […]
Atlas Model Railroad Co. has released a new run of Electro-Motive Division (EMD) GP40-2 diesel locomotives in N scale. The model, part of the Master Line, features plastic and die-cast metal construction, a Scale Speed motor, and body-mounted Accumate couplers. Prototype history Between April 1972 and November 1986, EMD built 903 GP40-2 diesel locomotives. The […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak will restore the second train on its state-supported Chicago-Quincy, Ill., route as of this Saturday, Aug. 10, the company announced this evening (Thursday, Aug. 8). Trains Nos. 381 and 382, the Carl Sandburg, had been suspended since July 30 because of a “high shop count,” according to an Amtrak spokesman [see “Amtrak […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena says the railroad has made progress on safety, service, and operations since he became chief executive a year ago — but he’s quick to add that there’s still plenty of room for improvement. The scorecard for Vena’s first year as CEO, which began on Aug. 14, 2023, […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ian Choudri will be the new CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency’s board of directors announced after a closed-session meeting today (Aug. 8, 2024). Choudri, currently senior vice president for consulting firm HNTB, has more than 30 years in transportation, including work on high speed rail projects in France […]
MOUNT UNION, Pa. — East Broad Top Railroad’s last remaining standard-gauge 0-6-0 switcher, a 1923 Baldwin Locomotive Works engine, on Wednesday left the only place it has called home for 101 years aboard a specialized heavy-haul low-boy trailer. The 68-ton locomotive is destined for display at a park in Red Bay, Ala., more than 800 […]
