SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The inescapable topic of artificial intelligence was, well, inescapable at last week’s Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting, making it one of the few topics to regularly elbow its way onto the event’s otherwise merger-dominated agenda. Speakers throughout the two-day conference talked about the ways AI is already used in a […]
TRENTON, N.J. — Outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill regulating hazardous-material trains in the state, one of more than 120 bills he approved on his final morning in office. Mikie Sherrill was sworn into office as the state’s new governor later in the day. The bill (A4460/S3389) passed by […]
WASHINGTON — Loss of electrical power and propulsion because of generator issues, and a failure to fully address earlier electrical problems, led a ship to collide with a BNSF taconite loading facility, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report on the July 24, 2024, incident in Superior, Wis. The collision damaged five […]
News & Products for the week of January 20th 2026 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 January 20th, 2026. […]
Welcome back to the East Troy Industrial Park—this episode focuses on station scenery and track maintenance. Watch as we repair an overlooked gap in the rails using a custom-filed piece of track and soldering techniques. Then, follow the construction of a museum depot platform using stained strip wood and styrene. Finally, see how we prep […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — While the CEOs of BNSF, CPKC, and Union Pacific squared off on the pros and cons of the UP-Norfolk Southern merger at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting, the fourth Class I representative on the agenda — Janet Drysdale, Canadian National chief commercial officer, took another path. Mostly. “I will not […]
INDIANAPOLIS — Derrick Wright has been named president and CEO of the Indiana Rail Road, the railroad’s board of directors announced last week. The appointment was effective Jan. 16. Wright joined the railroad as vice president of operations and mechanical, coming from the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, where he was chief operating officer. He […]
A long string of stock cars is tucked in behind Santa Fe 2-8-2 No. 4085 on train 44, the Perishable Express, near Henrietta, Mo., in 1946. Behind the stock cars are 33 refrigerator cars. Robert R. Malinoski photo […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — If there’s a white whale that railroads have long hunted, it’s the goal of converting truck traffic to rail. It’s a centerpiece of Union Pacific’s effort to show public benefits to its merger with Norfolk Southern, but the goal is hardly a new one. Janet Drysdale, Canadian National’s chief commercial officer, said […]
TOPEKA, Kan. — Ten rail infrastructure projects will receive a total of $11.2 million in funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Rail Service Improvement Program, the state announced last week. The projects awarded were selected from 20 applications seeking a total of more than $33.5 million in funding. The projects also will receive more […]
WASHINGTON — Other railroads were not the only parties welcoming the Surface Transportation Board’s decision to reject the initial application for the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. Shipper groups also voiced their approval. The board, citing three areas in which it said the almost 7,000-page application was incomplete, rejected the UP-NS application on Friday, Jan. 16 […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today issued a setback to Union Pacific’s effort to acquire Norfolk Southern, rejecting the railroads’ merger application as incomplete — although that move offers little clue to the eventual prospects for the first transcontinental merger. The decision will slow the merger process, requiring the two railroads to rework three […]
