RDC trips scheduled on Reading & Northern NEWSWIRE

RDCs

Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. – The Reading & Northern Railroad, through its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway operation, will offer a number of RDC fan trips over its lines during the summer months. This marks the first use of the silver Budd-built cars in 15 years. Nos. 9166 and 9168 have been overhauled […]

Read More…

Accucraft passenger cars

accucraft_passenger1

Marc Horovitz 1:32 scale, gauge-1 passenger cars Accucraft 33268 Central Avenue Union City CA 94587 Price: $340 ea.; $2,040/set of six Website: www.accucraft.com Set of six mostly metal streamlined passenger cars; plastic floor and underbody; smooth sides; glazed windows; metal trucks; full interiors; soft plastic or rubber diaphragms; set includes baggage car, coach (2), diner, […]

Read More…

Amtrak’s printed timetable days are finished NEWSWIRE

AmtrakTimetable

Amtrak’s last printed time table. Bob Johnston WASHINGTON — Although it will continue to be available as a downloadable file from Amtrak’s website, the national timetable with every train on every route at every station — and all of the Amtrak Thruway bus connections — will no longer be printed. In a statement released this […]

Read More…

Prince, W.Va., loses Amtrak station agent NEWSWIRE

IMG_21222

An empty coal train rolls by the 1946-built Prince, W.Va., station while three passengers wait for the arrival of Amtrak Cardinal No. 51 in Prince in February 2012. Chase Gunnoe PRINCE, W.Va. — A popular train station among railroad enthusiasts in southern West Virginia will no longer be staffed by an Amtrak ticket agent, the […]

Read More…

VIA reverses decision on ‘Park’ car access NEWSWIRE

Prestige2

A Prestige class “Park” car brings up the rear of a westbound Canadian in November 2014, at Jasper, Alberta. Bob Johnston Passengers relax in the Park car’s bullet lounge. VIA Rail Canada briefly restricted access to Canadian passengers who paid for service less than the railroad’s top, Prestige, class. Bob Johnston VANCOUVER, B.C. — VIA […]

Read More…

GO, west

  A former GO Transit locomotive that once plied freezing-cold rails near Toronto, Ontario, cozies next to palm trees in Riverside, Calif., in October 2013. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]

Read More…

VIA sets new rules for ‘Park’ car access NEWSWIRE

YohoPark

‘Yoho Park’ brings up the markers on the eastbound ‘Canadian’ at Fenwood, Saskachewan, in December 2012. Thomas R. Schultz TORONTO – In an apparent effort to mediate access to its popular Park-series observation cars on its famed Canadian, VIA Rail Canada has announced new rules for passengers traveling in two sleeping-car classes. Travelers in Prestige […]

Read More…

Popular railroad plates

TRNAT0114_01

This Chicago Railroad Fair plate commemorates the 1949 industry gathering in Chicago. It is popular, but worth less than $50. Two photos, Peter Smith Q I have been given a nice dining-type plate commemorating the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair. It is cream-colored with red-brown single-color images of seven period locomotives (for example: Minnetonka, Tom Thumb, […]

Read More…

White Pass & Yukon travel options

IMG_1222

Cruise passengers’ Summit train departs from Skagway’s Broadway dock in 2015. Five photos, Bob Johnston “Narrow Gauge History, Ready to Ride” on pages 40-47 of Trains Magazine’s May 2016 issue explores the 85-car treasure trove of 3-foot gauge passenger cars that Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon Route deploys during its summer excursion season. The most […]

Read More…

PRR’s first passenger diesel

20160318

Pennsylvania E7A 5901, one of the units constituting the big road’s first passenger diesel, teams up with an E7B and another E7A on a “Blue Ribbon” limited departing Chicago. This historic unit is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. PRR photo […]

Read More…