Gulf Mobile and Ohio passenger trains

GP1606011

Gulf Mobile and Ohio passenger trains: The Gulf Mobile and Ohio is Classic Trains’ railroad of the month for July 2022. All this month you’ll find interesting articles detailing the history of the GM&O in text and photographs. Please enjoy this Gulf Mobile and Ohio passenger trains photo gallery, originally published in June 2016 and […]

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Biden names Presidental Emergency Board, preventing rail strike

Man climbing on front steps of orange locomotive

WASHINGTON — Preventing a national rail strike that could have begun Monday, July 18, President Joe Biden has established a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate the ongoing dispute between railroads and workers. Biden will name the members of the three-person board, whose members can not have any financial or other interest in either a rail […]

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Athearn Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive

illustration of Amtrak paint scheme on locomotive

Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model with factory-installed speaker and 21-pin plug, $169.99 Era: Early 1990s+ to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive features: 21-pin plug for Digital Command Control decoder (sold separately) 2,600- or 3,600-gallon fuel tank […]

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Repowering locomotives to meet a railroad’s needs

Color image of a green-painted and unusual cab locomotive.

Repowering locomotives is essential for a railroad to meet its needs. This is installment, number three, on our quest to find mishmashed locomotives, which reinforces the notion that railroaders will do anything and everything necessary to keep the daily routine fluid. Sometimes they ask a builder to create what they need, other times they make […]

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More rail strikes called in Britain

Silver train with blue trim approaches station

LONDON — Britain is bracing for additional rounds of rail strikes after unions announced planned strike dates later this month and in August. The Guardian reports the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) has called strikes for August 18 and 20; those strikes will involve about 40,000 RMT members at infrastructure company […]

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Athearn 40-foot double-door express boxcar

blue with gray stripe boxcar illustration

40-foot double-door express boxcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $36.99 Era: 1940s+ to 1960s+ (varies depending on paint scheme). Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com 40-foot double-door express boxcar features: 33” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry scale couplers Double Youngstown doors Injection-molded plastic body Minimum radius: 18” Separate, factory-applied brake wheel […]

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CP and KCS say their merger should get green light from regulators

Train with red, yellow, and black locomotives

WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — responding to critics, skeptics, and opponents — told federal regulators this week that their proposed merger is in the public interest and should be approved. The railroads, in a three-volume, 4,374-page filing, argued that the first merger of Class I railroads in two decades should sail through […]

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Transportation Secretary to appear before House transportation committee

Logo of House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will appear before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday, June 19, as part of a hearing on implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, committee chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has announced. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. EDT at the Rayburn House Office […]

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Atlas American Car & Foundry 50-foot Precision Design boxcar

brown boxcar illustration

American Car & Foundry 50-foot Precision Design boxcar Scale: N (1:160) Price: $30.95 (undecorated, $23.95) Era: 1972 to present (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Atlas Model Railroad Co., 378 Florence Ave., Hillside, NJ 07205, 908-687-0880, shop.atlasrr.com American Car & Foundry 50-foot Precision Design boxcar features: 70-ton roller-bearing trucks Accumate couplers Die-cast metal underframe Separate brake system Scheduled for […]

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Train derailment disrupts Canadian air travel

Canadian Pacific Railway beaver logo

CALGARY — Wednesday’s derailment of a Canadian Pacific train in Bassano, Alberta, had an unexpected transportation impact— disruption of flight operations in Western Canada, particularly by Canadian airline WestJet. The CBC reports that flights from Calgary International Airport on Thursday were disrupted when a portion of the air navigation system was knocked out by loss […]

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