When I started in this hobby, I chose to model the early 1900s. That was before I knew what models were commercially available in my chosen time frame. (The answer was “not much.”) Since my hobby budget was limited, there was only one manufacturer making car kits appropriate for my era that I could afford. […]
WASHINGTON – The Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO has joined the chorus of organizations asking federal regulators to address Class I railroad service problems. “It is clear that a lack of oversight has allowed Class I railroads to operate in a manner that is harmful to shippers, employees, and the American public, and these […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will start metering traffic on Monday if shippers don’t voluntarily reduce their active freight-car inventories on the railroad, which is bogging down due to a combination of crew and locomotive shortages. “Over the last few weeks, our network has experienced some setbacks – including numerous service interruptions, crew shortages in […]
The Ontario Southland Railway helped keep General Motors plants humming when a bridge clearance issue arose after a track project on Canadian National. CN, which handles the majority of traffic in St. Thomas, Ontario, suffered a line outage on the Talbot Spur when a program to fix track in the St. Thomas yard resulted in […]
BALTIMORE – Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel doesn’t expect a traffic density data issue to delay the overall timeline for regulatory review of the CP-Kansas City Southern merger. The Surface Transportation Board on March 16 suspended its review of the CP-KCS deal pending resolution of a discrepancy in the baseline traffic figures the railroads used […]
BALTIMORE – If you buy a Florida-grown watermelon in the New York City area, there’s a good chance that it rode a CSX Transportation intermodal train from the Sunshine State to the Northeast. CSX has become the largest hauler of Florida watermelons to the Northeast thanks to a year-old experiment dubbed CSX Greenway, a premium […]
WASHINGTON – The trade group representing ethanol producers has told federal regulators that its members are experiencing significant rail service delays and disruptions that could lead to higher gasoline prices. “While we certainly understand that a variety of factors have contributed to these rail disruptions, it is imperative that all possible actions be taken by […]
Conrail passenger trains are probably the least known of all the aspects of the big blue railroad’s operations over time. As Conrail is the Fallen Flag Railroad of the Month for April 2022, please enjoy these Conrail passenger trains images from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail started operations April 1, 1976 taking over […]
BALTIMORE — Autonomous trucks are beginning to roam highways with the blessing of the Department of Transportation, yet the Federal Railroad Administration wants to mandate two-person train crews. Why is the regulatory playing field different for trucks and trains, FRA Administrator Amit Bose was asked at a shippers’ conference on Thursday. “We think having a […]
BALTIMORE – CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern are working to improve their service amid ongoing crew shortages and supply chain disruptions, executives told shippers on Thursday. “We’re aware that it’s been a tough two years. Clearly we haven’t shown our best self,” Farrukh Bezar, CSX’s senior vice president and chief strategy officer, told the North […]
The breakthrough The first Electro-Motive doodlebug motorcar to be delivered went to the Chicago Great Western in August 1924. Right from the first run, founder Hal Hamilton’s expectation that railroads would overload the equipment was confirmed. The gas-electric car and its transmission system had been rated and advertised as being capable of handling a 35-ton […]
“Coast Lines and Valley Freights” is a 348-page, 8 1/2 x 11-inch, hardbound volume with 630 color photos. It will quicken the pulse of any diehard Santa Fe fan. Covering the last three decades of the Santa Fe Railway in California, this superb book is an excellent and magical tribute to the Santa Fe and its […]
