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WASHINGTON — The parties involved in the fight over Amtrak Gulf Coast service want to make one more effort to settle the matter without resuming their hearing before the Surface Transportation Board. Just five days after the STB issued its schedule for additional hearings, and indicated it could vote on a resolution as soon as […]
The Lionel Disney Frozen II train set is a great way to make new memories. But let’s look at some old ones first. When you think back, what was the impetus that got you into this hobby of model trains? Usually, those stories begin with a family member, perhaps grandparent, dad, uncle, or brother that […]
Wall-mounted billboard three-pack Scale: N (1:160) Price: $17.98 Era: 1920s to present Manufacturer: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218; 414-527-0770; walthers.com Wall-mounted billboard three-pack features: Newly tooled Parts to build three complete billboards Models a billboard without any lights Printed color signs Release date: Winter 2023 News & Products is a regular feature of Trains.com […]
LAREDO, Texas — With simultaneous ceremonies in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Kansas City Southern marked the start of construction on a second span of the International Railway Bridge across the Rio Grande. KCS CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer led the ceremony in Laredo on Monday, Oct. 31, while KCS de Mexico President Oscar del Cuento hosted […]
Switchers are resilient: Less than 4% of Electro Motive Division SW- and MP-series switching locomotives manufactured between 1966 and 1987 remain in use on Class I railroads today. Of the more than 2,900 locomotives built in those 20 years, TRAINS calculates less than 12 SW and approximately 100 MP switchers still earn revenue for Class […]
WASHINGTON —The Federal Railroad Administration has launched a website for comments leading to an evaluation of long-distance service Amtrak had previously discontinued, as well as its two current triweekly routes, the New Orleans-Los Angeles Sunset Limited and the New York-Washington-Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago Cardinal. The “Amtrak Daily Long-distance Service Study” site, which began operation Oct. 28, now only […]
WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail’s Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport will open Nov. 15, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has announced. The 11.5-mile, six-station extension will open about four years behind schedule, the Washington Post reports, completing a 23-mile line on which construction began in 2009. The Post notes Metro still needs a […]
OTTAWA — More than 50 parties have made initial inquiries regarding the High Frequency Rail project, the plan to build a passenger-only right-of-way for VIA Rail Canada’s Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City corridor, Transport Canada said Monday in announcing the next step in the government’s procurement process to develop that corridor. The initial step, the Request for Expressions […]
STEILACOOM, Wash. — Efforts to save Steilacoom’s 1914 Northern Pacific depot, which remains largely intact though closed since 1972, are being revived, KIRO Radio reports, after having been dormant since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Current owner BNSF Railway has been prepared to donate the building for several years, says Gus Melonas, a retired BNSF […]
Meet Seth Puffer What was your first train set (or locomotive)? My parents started me out (like many I suppose) with a 2-rail Lionel set when I was four or five. I was thrilled! My first HO scale layout was a few years later. I still have the shell from the locomotive that came with the set. My […]
WASHINGTON — Clearly displaying frustration that it is still dealing with the matter, the Surface Transportation Board has asked Amtrak and Canadian National to address errors and omissions in filings on their long-running dispute over a new operating agreement. The disagreement dates to 2013, but its most recent history includes a 2019 interim decision sending […]
One of the hobby’s most influential contributors, W. Allen McClelland, died at age 88 on October 28, 2022, following a massive stroke the previous day. He had been his usual ebullient self to the very end. I had the privilege of knowing and working with Allen beginning in 1970, and along with Doug Gurin and […]
