CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Watco’s newest short line, the Texas Coastal Bend Railroad, is scheduled to begin operation today (Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022), taking over 12 miles of trackage owned by the Port of Corpus Christi along with 8.5 miles of Union Pacific trackage rights. The railroad unveiled two locomotives with the port’s logo at […]
WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has hired a new chief operating officer, replacing the official who resigned in the fallout of the agency’s failure to maintain certification for its train operators. The Washington Post reports Brian Dwyer, whose three decades in public transportation most recently include three years at consulting firm WSP, […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board would get more teeth under a shipper-friendly bill that would reauthorize the agency that regulates freight railroads. The Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, introduced Tuesday, would give regulators more authority to deal with service emergencies, require railroads to include service standards in contracts with customers, and give shippers […]
In this video, Amtrak representative Marc Magliari speaks with Director of Trains.com David Popp in Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall. The pair discuss Charger locomotives, Amtrak schedules, Union Station’s layout and more! Only from Trains.com! […]
40-foot American Car & Foundry boxcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $31.98 (undecorated, $29.98) Era: 1960s to 1980s Manufacturer: Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218; 414-527-0770; walthers.com 40-foot American Car & Foundry boxcar features: Injection-molded plastic 10-panel body Tall ladders on the B (brake wheel) end Short ladders on the A […]
Knoxville Locomotive Works General Electric 25-ton diesel locomotive Scale: Large (1:24) Price: $449.99 Era: Modern Manufacturer: PIKO America, LLC, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego, CA 92120; piko-america.com Knoxville Locomotive Works 25-ton diesel locomotive features: R/C pocket remote with pre-programmed buttons to control speed, direction, horn, and whistle (remote includes CR2025 battery) Powered by […]
Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $869.99 Era: 1940s to present (varies depending on scheme) Manufacturer: Broadway Limited Imports, 9 East Tower Circle, Ormond Beach, FL 32174; 386-673-8900; broadway-limited.com Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive features: Die-cast metal boiler, tender body, and chassis Synchronized puffing smoke with chuff sound […]
OWOSSO, Mich. — The Steam Railroading Institute (SRI) has launched a fundraising campaign for the restoration of Chicago & North Western R-1 class 4-6-0 No. 175, which the museum acquired in 2018 from the Mineral Range Railroad in Ishpeming, Mich. Built in 1908 by American Locomotive Co. at its Schenectady Works, the 175 was one […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Are hump yards making an unlikely comeback? Probably not, although three mothballed humps are once again using gravity to classify freight cars. Union Pacific has reactivated the hump at Davidson Yard in Fort Worth, Texas, to ease the burden on the classification yard at West Colton, Calif., where UP is expanding the […]
A rail line through the small European country of Lithuania has become the site of serious geopolitical wrangling between the Lithuanian government, the European Union, and Russia. The rail line connects the otherwise isolated small Russian region of Kaliningrad with the rest of Russia, via both Lithuania and Russian ally Belarus. Financial and other sanctions […]
ALNA, Maine — Volunteers have been working nearly non-stop for several weeks, finishing a number of last-minute details leading up to the Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022, opening of the Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum’s Mountain Extension and Trout Brook Station. Two special trains will make the first official runs over the three-quarter-mile extension of […]
THETFORD, England — Passenger trains of British operator Greater Anglia were disrupted for about an hour Monday afternoon because of an escaped giant tortoise on the tracks. Yes, you read that correctly. The BBC reports that the animal, about 2½ feet long, had escaped from pet and aquarium store Swallow Aquatics on Sunday. It was […]
