AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers did not include funding for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer in a budget bill passed last week, placing the future of the train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City in jeopardy after a year that saw a 11% increase in ridership. The Texas Department of Transportation had sought $3.53 million for the […]
Q: I’m building a layout based on the early Burlington Northern in Idaho. I’ve seen a number of photos of renumbered locomotives and cabooses. Most have white numbers and reporting marks, but I’ve seen a few prototype photos online with the data in black. Did BN have a standard font and size for renumbering equipment, […]
BRUNSWICK, Maine — New short line Cumberland & Knox made its debut last weekend, running its first train over a 56-mile, state-owned former Maine Central branch that hadn’t seen any freight action at all in eight months. The move saw locomotive LTEX 1555, an ex-Canadian Pacific GP9u, pick up 12 covered hoppers from the CSX […]
WASHINGTON — A fire that had been extinguished earlier reignited, leading to smoke-related injuries to five Port Authority Trans-Hudson employees, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report on its investigation into a May 8, 2025, incident in a PATH tunnel in Jersey City, N.J. The report was released today (June 3, 2025). […]
Atlas has continued the slow drip style of releasing their acquired Premier Line toolings from MTH. Over the past two years, their style of regular catalog drops created an almost consistent arrival of models to the market. In their Summer 2024 catalog, they announced today’s spotlight: the Premier GP38-2. A partial shipment of the GP38-2s […]
A northbound freight led by Northern Pacific 2-8-0 no. 60 waits in the siding for a southbound Pacific & Idaho Northern passenger train. The freight train’s crew is on the ground to do a roll-by inspection of the passenger train. Dave Rickaby photographed the scene on Dave Allen’s freelanced HO scale Pacific & Idaho Northern, […]
CHICAGO — Chicago-area transit agencies will begin planning for massive service cuts in the wake of the legislature’s failure to address the region’s funding shortfall — but there could still be a chance to avoid a 40% reduction in service. Legislators could still pass a bill in a special session or a fall veto session […]
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — A worker in a Metrolinx rail yard in Mississauga was killed Monday (June 2) after becoming trapped in a machine at the facility, CityNews Toronto reports. Police were called to the incident about noon. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Additional details have not yet been reported. Canada’s Ministry of […]
DENVER — The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has lost a land-use fight stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic before the Colorado Supreme Court. The court, in a group of decisions announced May 27, upheld a ruling that LaPlata County had the right to regulate the railroad, as the Colorado Public Utilities Commission had previously […]
HORNELL, N.Y. — Rail equipment company Alstom has opened a new facility for producing railcar bodies, expanding its existing manufacturing capacity in Hornell. The 135,000-square-foot Plant 4 will produce stainless steel carbody shells, work previously performed in Brazil. Its first project will be 200 new multilevel commuter cars for Chicago-area operator Metra ordered in 2021 […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Electrified train service to and from San Jose’s Tamien station, the southernmost stop of Caltrain’s electrified route, will be suspended for approximately eight months beginning June 16, the commuter operator has announced. The suspension will accommodate construction for replacement of the bridge over the Guadalupe River, just north of the Tamien […]
Kadee HO scale 50-ton flatcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $54.99 Era: 1942+ (as decorated) Manufacturer: Kadee Quality Products Co., 673 Ave. C, White City, OR 97503; 541-826-3883; kadee.com Kadee HO scale 50-ton flatcar features: 33” ribbed-back metal wheels with raised foundry data mounted on plastic axles Body-mounted Magne-Matic No. 158 scale “whisker” couplers in narrow […]
