Editor Hal Miller previews the July August 2022 issue of Classic Toy Trains! We’ll visit a large club layout in Nassau, N.Y., learn about Lionel’s no. 9141 Burlington Northern gondolas, solve a mystery behind a Marx set, and visit an S gauge layout owned by Tom Barker. Plus, the latest new products, and reviews of […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bob Keller and Classic Toy Trains Editor Hal Miller have a look at the new MTH Trains’ O gauge RailKing Imperial SD70ACe and caboose set. Since the latter is lettered for Canadian Pacific, of course it’s a “van.” This episode also reveals Menard’s new Cripple Creek Switch Tower, and a variety of new books and […]
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 […]
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — With little fanfare, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has turned its Shore Line East commuter service over to Kawasaki M8 electric multiple unit cars, replacing diesel-powered trains using former Virginia Rail Express Mafersa coaches. The EMUs began to cover all trains today (Tuesday, May 24) on the service between New Haven and […]
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 […]
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 […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has removed its newest rapid-transit equipment from service after a car was disabled by braking problems. NBC Boston reports 64 Orange Line cars and six Red Line cars built in Springfield, Mass., by an affiliate of China’s CRRC were pulled from service for inspections “out of an abundance […]
PHILADELPIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority has begun the process of replacing its 40-year-old Kawasaki trolley cars, issuing a request for proposals for 100 new rail vehicles. WHYY reports the agency seeks larger vehicles, with a capacity of 65 as opposed to the current 45, and will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities […]
