What was your first byline in Trains? Doug Riddell: My first byline in Trains appeared in the February 2000 issue: “A dose of perspective” (Readers Platform). I’d just run into a retired Chesapeake & Ohio conductor, Gilly Parker, who shared a story with me. He’d worked passenger service between Richmond and Newport News in the early […]
You may have heard the term “zinc pest,” or maybe “zinc rot” or “zamak pest,” but what is zinc pest? And how does it affect toy trains? In the earlier days of toy train manufacturing, trains and their parts were diecast with alloy metals, made from zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and copper. It was an inexpensive […]
Design a toy train layout — O, S, or Standard/Wide gauge — it requires above all making one fundamental decision. Each operator must decide what sort of look he or she wants the layout to have. To be specific, each modeler has to figure out the extent to which the layout, regardless of size or […]
France’s 1949 Merci Train left a legacy of European rail equipment displays throughout the U.S. During the period around World War I and II a number of European railroads utilized a small boxcar — small by American standards. The cars rode on four wheels and carried all of 20 tons. In France, such […]
The Athearn HO scale EMD SW1500 pays a visit to the Jones Island section of our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy staff layout. Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno discusses the features on the end-cab switcher, which is being offered with light-emitting-diode lighting and a SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound decoder for the first time. In addition, he […]
Q: I have a tight HO scale helix with a grade of 3%. My smaller steam engines have a hard time pulling more than two or three cars up the grade. I know the standard answers: increase engine weight, add a second engine, apply Bullfrog Snot to the drivers, make sure car trucks roll smoothly. […]
Wabash locomotives were distinctive in both steam and diesel eras. After depending on more than 150 2-8-2s for freights that succeeded typical smaller types, Wabash in 1930 received 50 handsome 4-8-2s and 4-8-4s (25 each) from Baldwin. Perhaps more remembered were seven 4-6-4 Hudsons, rebuilt at Decatur from unsuccessful three-cylinder Mikados in the […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak Midwest state-supported services have taken another weather-related hit, with cancellations today through Monday for a trains on a number of routes. In an update posted at 9 a.m. today (Saturday, Jan. 20), Amtrak announced these trains have been cancelled in their entirety: Lincoln Service (Chicago-St. Louis) — Today, Sunday, and Monday: Trains […]
Forces outside the control of shipping firms have caused these companies to move containers from ships to trains around the globe in recent weeks. While drought has spurred the move on the 47-mile Panama Canal Railway [see “Maersk shifts some container traffic …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 11, 2024], the ongoing conflict in the Middle […]
SACRAMENTO — The CEO of California’s high speed rail project has tendered his resignation, but will stay on while the agency finds a successor. The Fresno Bee reports Brian Kelly, head of the California High-Speed Rail Authority since 2018, announced his departure on Thursday, submitting his resignation to the board’s chairperson, Fresno developer Tom Richards. […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — J. Mark MacKeigan has been reappointed to the Canadian Transportation Agency, while Marisa Eva Victor has been newly appointed to the regulatory body, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced. MacKeigan was reappointed for a four-year term, effective Nov. 28, 2023. He rejoined the agency in 2018 after having previously served as a member […]
WASHINGTON —The Surface Transportation Board has called for Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile, Ala., to provide “detailed information regarding the status of the implementation of the settlement agreement” agreed to in November 2022 to allow Amtrak service to begin between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. — and scheduled a February hearing […]
