WASHINGTON — Preventing a national rail strike that could have begun Monday, July 18, President Joe Biden has established a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate the ongoing dispute between railroads and workers. Biden will name the members of the three-person board, whose members can not have any financial or other interest in either a rail […]
Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model with factory-installed speaker and 21-pin plug, $169.99 Era: Early 1990s+ to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive features: 21-pin plug for Digital Command Control decoder (sold separately) 2,600- or 3,600-gallon fuel tank […]
Spring Mills Depot DODX flatcars Editor Eric White takes a look at Spring Mills Depot’s long-awaited heavy-duty military flatcars. These cars were built in the 1980s to carry the Army’s then-new M1 Abrams main battle tanks. […]
LONDON — Britain is bracing for additional rounds of rail strikes after unions announced planned strike dates later this month and in August. The Guardian reports the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) has called strikes for August 18 and 20; those strikes will involve about 40,000 RMT members at infrastructure company […]
40-foot double-door express boxcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $36.99 Era: 1940s+ to 1960s+ (varies depending on paint scheme). Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com 40-foot double-door express boxcar features: 33” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry scale couplers Double Youngstown doors Injection-molded plastic body Minimum radius: 18” Separate, factory-applied brake wheel […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — responding to critics, skeptics, and opponents — told federal regulators this week that their proposed merger is in the public interest and should be approved. The railroads, in a three-volume, 4,374-page filing, argued that the first merger of Class I railroads in two decades should sail through […]
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will appear before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday, June 19, as part of a hearing on implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, committee chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has announced. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. EDT at the Rayburn House Office […]
American Car & Foundry 50-foot Precision Design boxcar Scale: N (1:160) Price: $30.95 (undecorated, $23.95) Era: 1972 to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Atlas Model Railroad Co., 378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ 07205, 908-687-0880, shop.atlasrr.com American Car & Foundry 50-foot Precision Design boxcar features: 70-ton roller-bearing trucks Accumate couplers Die-cast metal underframe Separate brake system Scheduled for […]
CALGARY — Wednesday’s derailment of a Canadian Pacific train in Bassano, Alberta, had an unexpected transportation impact— disruption of flight operations in Western Canada, particularly by Canadian airline WestJet. The CBC reports that flights from Calgary International Airport on Thursday were disrupted when a portion of the air navigation system was knocked out by loss […]
CHICAGO — Class I railroads appreciate moving large volumes of traffic across long routes. There’s efficiency and carload profitability gains by running fewer trains for longer distances on relatively consistent schedules. When this is successful, customers see their shipments make great strides across chunks of a Class I railroad’s network. But some customers’ locations aren’t […]
MADISON, Wis. — The Center for Railroad Photography & Art will offer an online look at its newly acquired collection of the works of rail photography legend Richard Steinheimer on Aug. 2. The event, free but exclusive to CRPA members, will be held on Zoom at 7 p.m. CDT, and will provide the first look […]
REGINA, Saskatchewan — The Canadian government will provide $18.3 million for four rail infrastructure projects in Regina and southern Saskatchewan, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced Thursday. Projects and funding planned include: — C$13.5 million for a grade stabilization project on the Canadian Pacific interchange near Eston, Sask.; Last Mountain Railway, an 85-mile short line between Regina […]
