TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen at the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway have ratified a five-year agreement, their first since joining the union last year, the BLET has announced. The agreement, ratified Nov. 21 and announced this week, establishes such work rules as a seniority roster, grievance procedures, […]
Trains.com staff set out to prove they could build out a layout one square foot at a time! Now that most of their T-Trak modules are completed, it’s due time to have some fun running trains around Model Railroader magazine’s latest project layout, the N scale (1:160) “Colorado Plains”, as featured in the January 2025 […]
GREELEYVILLE, S.C. — Thirty-six cars of an empty CSX coal train derailed early this morning near Greeleyville in Williamsburg County, S.C., WPDE-TV reports. No injuries resulted, the railroad told the station. The derailment occurred about 3:10 a.m. The Williamsburg County Sheriff’s Department said the derailment occurred when the train encountered a section of track that […]
WASHINGTON — Likely because of the difference in where the Thanksgiving holiday falls this year, weekly U.S. rail traffic shows a major volume increase for the week ending Nov. 23, 2024. Total weekly traffic was 520,798 carloads and intermodal units, a 25.6% increase over the same week last year — when Thanksgiving was on Nov. […]
MONTREAL — In a move similar to Amtrak’s efforts to address issues with host railroads with the Surface Transportation Board, VIA Rail Canada has asked the Canadian Transportation Agency to impose a new track access agreement with Canadian National Railway. But VIA’s filing, made in June 2023, has gone nowhere, the Canadian Press reports, in […]
FARMINGTON, N.M. — Studies are in progress or will be launched for a proposed rail line to connect the Four Corners region of New Mexico to BNSF’s Southern Transcon main line, which would restore a rail connection to Farmington lost when the Denver & Rio Grande Western abandoned its narrow gauge line to the community […]
President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada could have a chilling impact on cross-border rail traffic, which has been one of the few sources of volume growth for North American Class I railroads. Trump announced the plans last night in a social media post, saying that he […]
ERWIN, Tenn. — A federal judge has denied a request for a temporary restraining order that would have stopped CSX repair work on the former Clinchfield Railroad line through the Nolichucky River gorge. WJHL-TV reports Judge Martin Reidinger of U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina said some developments since outdoor groups […]
MONTREAL — Members of Canadian labor union Unifor have voted to authorize a strike against Canadian National Railway if a new contract agreement is not reached by Jan. 1, 2025. Unifor said in a press release that members of the two groups representing CN workers — Council 4000 and Local 100 — had voted 97% […]
News & Products for the week of November 25th 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 November 25th […]
NEW YORK — If current Class I railroad volume growth efforts don’t bear fruit, railroads will either have to turn to transcontinental mergers or try to shrink themselves to prosperity. That’s the conclusion Oliver Wyman consultant Adriene Bailey has reached after examining trends of declining traffic and anemic revenue growth as railroads continue to lose […]
ARLINGTON, Va. — The bargaining organization for U.S. Class I railroads has announced a fourth tentative national labor agreement, this time with the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers. The National Carriers Conference Committee announced the deal today (Monday, Nov. 25). It joins earlier deals with the Transportation Communications Union, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, and […]
