NEW YORK — Catherine Rinaldi, who retired at the end of March as president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad, did not take long to return to a position in public transportation. Rinaldi was named Monday (April 7, 2025) as the first executive vice president for the Gateway Development Commission, the agency overseeing the […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amtrak and BNSF Railway have settled a lawsuit with survivors of the truck driver whose dump truck was struck by the Southwest Chief in June 2022, derailing the train and killing the driver and three passengers. WDAF-TV reports Erin Barton, widow of driver Billy Dean Barton II, and the couple’s five […]
New issues continue to develop while other problem areas are improving, CSX Transportation said in an update today (April 7, 2025) on storm recovery efforts. Also, BNSF has provided an update on one of two weather-related derailments that closed the Thayer South Subdivision in Arkansas. CSX had highlighted three areas as especially problematic in a […]
WASHINGTON — A Hulcher Services employee was seriously injured when he was pinned between a rubber-tire loader and a railcar during a rerailing operation at the Port of Stockton, Calif., the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report released today (April 7, 2025). The incident occurred March 11 at about 3:03 p.m., […]
News & Products for the week of April 7th 2025 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 April 7th, […]
TORONTO — Canadian National train service employees represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will get a 3% annual raise under an arbitrator’s contract decision. Arbitrator William Kaplan released his decision today on the three-year contract, which runs from Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2026. When CN and the TCRC were unable to reach […]
Reach, in model railroading terminology, is how far you can comfortably stick your arm into a scene without damaging the layout. Planning for reach is essential when designing a layout, as eventually you will need to dust, fix, change, or maintain one or more scenic features once it is built. The maximum depth the average […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs has asked train crews to pitch in to help the railroad dig out of congestion. “When I joined CSX, I said it clearly, our front-line railroaders are the ones who create the value our customers pay for,” Hinrichs wrote in a system notice sent to employees on Friday […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway is not hitting the pause button on a pair of trade-dependent intermodal projects in California and Arizona despite the broad tariffs that the Trump administration unveiled on April 2. BNSF is planning to build a $1.5 billion terminal and transload center in Barstow, Calif., to handle international containers. The […]
It’s early morning in the rolling hills of North Carolina. The silence is broken by the shotgun sound of a steam locomotive. The engine, a hulking Baldwin decapod, is panting and straining against a heavy train of building supplies and coal empties, bound for the junction with the Alarka Branch a few miles distant. With […]
The Lionel No. 773 4-6-4 Hudson steam engine and tender from 1950 did much to revive the passion dedicated O gauge modeler Walt Urban Jr. has for toy trains. He reminds us that hobbyists who grew up during the 1950s will remember the annual holiday shopping season as being particularly nostalgic. Like him, many of […]
CHICAGO — Storm-related cancellations will continue today (Monday, April 7) for Amtrak’s Texas Eagle and City of New Orleans, the fourth such day for such disruptions. In posts on the Amtrak Alerts social media feed late Sunday night, the company said today’s departures of the City of New Orleans from Chicago and New Orleans would […]
