News & products for the week of November 11, 2021

Hostler 2100.

Electronics/controls Hostler 2100 AC throttle. Six versions (three each for standard use and display operations). Features speed, direction, whistle/horn, and bell controls; light-emitting-diode indicators for power, track, and overload; and electronic overload protection with auto-reset. Speed response contains a fixed momentum. Requires appropriate AC input power. Panel measures 7-1/2” x 4-1/2” x 2” and has […]

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News photo: Alco returns to operation in Spain

Green and gold streamlined locomotive at station

CASTEJON DE EBRO, Spain — One of the oldest surviving Alco World Series locomotives has been returned to passenger service. Locomotive No. 1603, one of 17 FPD5/DL500A models built by Alco in the U.S. and delivered to Spanish Railways (RENFE) in 1955, is operating after an overhaul completing a 17-year restoration project. The locomotive has […]

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Skip Lichter, steam locomotive owner, dies

Man sitting next to steam locomotive

GARIBALDI, Ore. — One of private preservation’s most effective individuals, steam locomotive owner Roland “Skip” Lichter, has died. The owner of Polson Lumber Co. 2-8-2 No. 2, long based in Wisconsin and relocated to Oregon in 2017, died Wednesday. Lichter bought the locomotive in 1982 and ran it at Wisconsin’s Mid-Continent Railway Museum until it […]

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Meet the modeler: Lou Sassi

Man in cab of steam locomotive

What was your first train set (or locomotive)? My first train set was a Lionel steam engine and freight car set my father brought home from his workplace. He was the manager of the “National Auto Store” in Saratoga Springs, New York. National Auto was a chain of (12 or so) stores in upstate New […]

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Norfolk Southern opens new headquarters

Office building at night

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has opened its new headquarters building in Atlanta following a Wednesday ceremony featuring Gov. Brian Kemp, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, NS employees, and city civic and business leaders. The 750,000-square-foot building is on a 3.4-acre campus in Tech Square, featuring two glass towers connected with a campus-style hub; […]

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CSX offers scorching response to Amtrak request to compel cooperation

Station platform, with tracks running under building

WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s request for cooperation from CSX has received a harsh response from the freight railroad. A CSX filing with the Surface Transportation Board says the passenger railroad is seeking “unrestrained access” to the route of proposed service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and wants “a blank check to perform whatever work it […]

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Union Pacific sees international intermodal congestion easing

Four yellow locomotives on train climbing hill

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s international intermodal traffic between the congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and inland terminals is approaching normal levels despite the ongoing backlog of ships waiting to dock at North America’s busiest port complex. “We are essentially normal in our international supply chain on Union Pacific from ports to intermodal […]

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Amtrak trains to return to Point Defiance Bypass on Nov. 18

Amtrak_Bypass_Lassen

SEATTLE — Almost four years after the derailment that halted its use, Amtrak trains will return to the Point Defiance bypass south of Tacoma, Wash., on Thursday, Nov. 18. Initially, eight trains — the Amtrak Cascades service and the Coast Starlight — will use the 14.5-mile inland route, which parallels Interstate 5. It departs from […]

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