Workers protest after employee death at Canadian railcar plant

National Steel Car logo

HAMILTON, Ontario — Workers at a railcar manufacturing plant in Hamilton staged a protest on Thursday, seeking a police investigation after the third workplace death at the factory in 21 months. The CBC reports members of United Steelworkers Local 7135 led the rally outside the National Steel Car plant in response to Monday’s death of […]

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NYC subway ‘nostalgia rides’ return

Green vintage subway cars in operation

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York Transit Museum is offering true trips into the past, bringing back vintage subway car rides after a two-year, pandemic-related absence. Three “Nostalgia Ride” trips are scheduled, featuring rides on routes of the MTA’s three predecessor lines, some of the on the exact lines those subway systems […]

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RailPulse, Railinc agreement will boost development of car-monitoring telematics

Logo of RailPulse consortium

RailPulse, the consortium effort to develop a remote monitoring system for freight railcars, has entered a 10-year agreement with Railinc Corp. to develop, maintain, and operate RailPulse’s technology platform. RailPulse says the agreement with Railinc, the rail-data affiliate of the Association of American Railroads, will allow it to deploy its monitoring system later this year. […]

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View from a boxcar door

Model figure inside of boxcar

View from a boxcar door Name: Ray Wheeler Railroad Name: Jericho & Mt. Zion Railway Location: Lynnwood, WA Scale: G scale Theme: Tourist railroad with freight operations in the modern era Description: “From A Boxcar Door” – Safety Film – Riding in an open boxcar on a J&MtZ extra freight train. (An unsafe practice!)  Music […]

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Non railroad freight car uses: a mysterious Mopac hopper

Black and white photo of a railroad hopper made into a truck.

I hope the main picture here demonstrating non railroad freight car uses is sufficiently absurd to indicate why I selected this for an article. In case it is not: A former Missouri Pacific hopper, shorn of trucks and belly gear, modified with sheet metal or plate steel, no doubt, and masquerading as a semi-truck trailer […]

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DC Metrorail will return some 7000-series cars to service

Logo of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission

WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail will return 64 of its long-sidelined 7000-series railcars to service this summer as it continues work to automate wheel inspections that would allow use of all 748 of the Kawasaki-built cars, easing the agency’s equipment shortage. The Washington Post reports the independent Washington Metrorail Safety Commission will accept Metro’s plan for […]

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Amtrak invites press to inspect new-generation Acela

High speed trainset at station platform

PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak opened a second-generation Acela high-speed trainset for press inspection Monday at 30th Street Station, giving a look at the interiors of the first-class, business-class, and café cars that will make up 28 160-mph trainsets projected to enter service between Boston, New York, and Washington late next year. Parked at an underground boarding […]

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San Diego Trolley equipment finds new life in Argentina

SAN DIEGO — Metropolitan Transit System is donating up to 39 second-generation light rail vehicles to Mendoza, Argentina, as it makes way for a new order of trolleys. The Siemens SD100 vehicles, which began entering service in 1995, will become part of the Metrotranvia Mendoza light rail fleet. “As MTS modernizes its Trolley fleet, we […]

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