Modeling Conrail in the UK The genesis of the Bishopstown Sub is tale that involves a chance encounter and a leap of faith. In 2003 I found myself in Kuwait with the UK Military and one day I found myself in a USAF Headquarters. Walking through an office area I saw a screensaver image of […]
CHANDLER, Ariz. — The Arizona Railway Museum has acquired former Santa Fe hi-level lounge No. 576. The car arrived at the museum last month Six hi-level lounge cars with curved glass roofs were built for Santa Fe by Budd in 1956. They were numbered 575–580 and operated on the all-coach El Capitan streamliner between Chicago […]
Wheel quality keeps rolling: Over the last five years or so, N scalers have shown increased interest in replacement wheelsets. Maybe it’s just because so many more choices have become available. Up until the ’90s, some cars came with less than satisfactory wheels. Often the trucks didn’t roll freely. Sometimes cars would shimmy down the […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte’s entire fleet of 42 light rail vehicles has been restricted to a top speed of 35 mph speed limit and will require replacement of axle bearings as a result of a fault discovered after a May 2022 derailment, the Charlotte Observer reports. Interim Charlotte Area Transit System CEO Brent Cagle told […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit placed its first R211 subway cars into service on Friday, March 10, the first new additions to the New York subway fleet in five years. The Kawasaki-built R211 cars, placed into service on the A Line (8th Avenue Express), are the first in a […]
The photo above shows a pair of HO scale 48-foot intermodal containers that I made using paper, cardstock, and cardboard. If you don’t want white containers, copy or print the drawings found in the link to the pdf below full-size on color paper. I find red or blue paper yields the best looking containers. I […]
The Lionel X6454 Baby Ruth boxcar is one of the most basic freight cars ever made. It looks unassuming and familiar, but it’s among the toughest postwar cars to find and own. Lionel cataloged this 9¼-inch model only in 1948. It was one of three new single-door boxcars introduced that year, all of them designated […]
LEXINGTON, N.C. — Siemens Mobility officials announced Tuesday on a media call with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose that they intend to construct a $220 million passenger railcar manufacturing facility designed to complement the company’s existing Sacramento, Calif., plant. Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of parent company Siemens AG, […]
Installing sensors on freight cars is the only way to prevent another disastrous derailment like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, a wheel bearing expert says. Constantine Tarawneh, a mechanical engineering professor who heads the University Transportation Center for Railway Safety at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, […]
East Broad Top Railroad passenger cars have been vital to the narrow gauge railroad’s 150-year history. Today’s fleet is a mixture of old and new, waiting for you to climb aboard the next time you visit this National Historic Landmark in Rockhill, Pennsylvania. Coach passenger cars Since the beginning of passenger service on August 30, […]
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says it is “looking closely” at aluminum protective covers on tank cars involved in the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, over concerns those covers melted on three of the cars, which may have hampered the performance of pressure relief devices. The issue occurred on three of the five cars […]
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has filed legislation designed to prevent derailments like the Norfolk Southern wreck that released toxic chemicals and upended life in East Palestine, Ohio. But the Rail Safety Act of 2023 also goes much further by proposing rules that would limit train length and tonnage, mandate a crew size […]
