Rene Schweitzer: I’m excited to be sitting in Howard Hitchcock’s office at Lionel Trains’ headquarters. Thank you for meeting me today. Howard Hitchcock: Welcome! I’m glad you were able to make it. RS: You’re nearly halfway through your 125th anniversary celebration. How is it going? What have you heard from your customers? HH: It’s going […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City can send Midwestern grain to export at the ports of Houston and Galveston via haulage rights over Union Pacific south of Beaumont, Texas, the Surface Transportation Board said today. Union Pacific in 2023 had sought to block CPKC’s use of Kansas City Southern’s so-called South End haulage rights, which […]
GOLDEN, Colo. — The Colorado Railroad Museum has unveiled plans to restore ex-Rio Grande Southern narrow-gauge caboose No. 0404, with the goal of having it ready to accompany RGS 4-6-0 No. 20 to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad for special excursions in early 2026 [See “Colorado Railroad Museum, Durango & Silverton announce plans…” […]
Canadian Pacific Kansas City was the fastest-growing railroad in the second quarter, with its overall volume up 6%. CPKC’s industry-leading growth was due to double-digit increases in intermodal (14%), grain (16%), and coal (10%). Union Pacific ranked No. 2 for the quarter, with its volume up 4% overall, led by a 31% increase in coal […]
Lenexa, Kan., resident Tom Manning is a long way from Clinchfield country, but he enjoys modeling the former Appalachian coal-hauling railroad. Paul Dolkos photographed Electro-Motive Division GP38 no. 2007 leading the Nora Turn onto the main line at the train’s namesake station on Tom’s HO scale layout. Model Railroader‘s Photo of the Day features images […]
This scene on Robert Buenzly’s 4½ x 12-foot O gauge layout display reflects his creativity and motivation. He arranged some of the porcelain structures he had purchased around two loops of Lionel FasTrack and then fired up this MTH New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson and Lionel 0-8-0 switcher for his pleasure. Classic Toy Trains’ Photo […]
PITTSBURGH — Wabtec will further expand its digital rail inspection and detection business, announcing today (July 7, 2025) that it will acquire Austrian-based Frauscher Sensor Technology Group for €675 million ($792 million). The acquisition of Frauscher — an international supplier of rail detection, wayside object control, and axle-counting products — comes just days after Wabtec […]
SARDIS, Miss. — Twenty-seven cars of a Grenada Railroad train derailed Sunday (July 6, 2025) in Sardis, Miss., the third significant derailment in the state in three two days. The Oxford Eagle reports the incident occurred Sunday evening and involved cars carrying corn and sulfuric acid, and occurred in a remote location difficult to access. […]
Every time an acquaintance or travel writer returns from Europe and sets foot on American soil, you’ll hear the same refrain: “Oh, if only we had passenger trains like that.” What they mean, of course, is that Amtrak cannot possibly compare. Not on frequency, not on speed, not on equipment, not on stations, not on […]
PORT JERVIS, N.Y. — Operation Toy Train, organizer of special holiday trains across the U.S. to benefit the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots foundation, has announced a 2025 schedule including two new operations. Trains on the Northern Division of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway in central New York and the East […]
MOBILE, Ala. — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a new contract with Terminal Railway-Alabama State Docks, the short line connecting the Port of Mobile to five Class I railroads. The BLET announced Sunday (July 6) that the five-year agreement was ratified on June 26. It runs through 2027 and […]
Walthers HO Gunderson 50-foot boxcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $49.98 Manufacturer: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218; 414-527-0770; walthers.com Walthers HO Gunderson 50-foot boxcar features: 36” metal wheelsets Based on full-size cars that handle paper rolls 10 feet or more in diameter for magazine and newspaper production Body-mounted Proto-Max metal […]
