New York open-gangway subway cars make debut

View along length of open-gangway subway train

NEW YORK — New York City Transit’s first R211T open-gangway subway cars entered service on Thursday, operating on the C line between Washington Heights and East New York, following an inaugural ride featuring Gov. Kathy Hochul and Metropolitan Transportation Authority and elected officials. Hochul also announced that 1,000 of the city’s subway cars are now […]

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Private car ‘Loretto’ moves to new home at Colebrookdale Railroad

Vintage private car prepared for move

BOYERTOWN, Pa. — The former private car of steel magnate Charles Schwab, the 1917 Pullman-built solarium-sleeper Loretto, arrived Wednesday, Jan. 31, at its new home, the Colebrookdale Railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania. It concluded a circuitous 2-day, 250-mile highway journey from the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, Pa., which had owned it for 48 years. The […]

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News & Products for the week of January 29th 2024

A model caboose in a red paint scheme with a black roof

News & Products for the week of January 29th 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 January 29th […]

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Second CRRC trainset enters service on MBTA’s Red Line

Rapid transit trainset in factory

BOSTON — A second trainset of equipment built by China’s CRRC has begun running on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Red Line — three years after the first such train entered operation, the website Streetsblog Mass reports. The second trainset entered service earlier this month, an MBTA spokesman confirmed to the website. The first had […]

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Friendship and gratitude: Europe’s Merci Train

Gray, four-wheel boxcar from France’s Merci train gift to the U.S.

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 […]

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Piggybacked auto carriers

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Transporting finished automobiles in boxcars was inefficient, causing railroads to lose business to highway carriers. Before the development of two- and three-level auto rack cars, railroads tried piggybacking highway trailers loaded with autos on flatcars. Here, a pair of carriers rides an 85-foot car in 1960. J. David Ingles collection […]

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PFE mechanical reefer

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A Pacific Fruit Express mechanical car stands out among Santa Fe and PFE 40-foot ice-bunker cars in this early 1960s train. Mechanical cars were developed for frozen goods but began hauling more fresh produce by the 1960s, eventually pushing ice cars out of service in the 1970s. J. David Ingles collection […]

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American Flyer Mr. Peanut boxcar No. 24068

white Mr. Peanut model boxcar

According to a document saved by Maury H. Romer, who supervised production of the postwar S gauge line, the A.C. Gilbert Co. intended to make a No. 24068 Mr. Peanut boxcar in 1962. It received a five-digit catalog number on Sept. 7, 1961. For unknown reasons, the project was abandoned after two prototypes were created. […]

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Lionel postwar No. 3562 barrel cars and blister packs

John Truckenbrod and Roger Carp with a small set of red wooden barrels.

Transcripted from the CTT video series Truck’s Toy Trains. Trains.com members can watch it here.  The Lionel Corp. released its first operating barrel car in 1954, which was two years after it brought out the No. 362 barrel loader. Contents of the box included the car and an insert that held a box of barrels […]

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New Acelas pass computer modeling test, New York Times reports

High speed trainsets in yard

WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s new Acela trainsets have finally cleared a computer-modeling hurdle that has stalled testing, the New York Times reports. The trains passed computer modeling tests on the 14th try and have been cleared by the Federal Railroad Administration to begin test runs between Washington and Boston, Amtrak officials told the Times on Friday. […]

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