Top 7 1/2 products of 2022

Black, red, and white diesel locomotive on a scenery base

As we enter the holidays and highball into 2023, the MR staff wanted to take a look back at our top model railroad products of 2022. Any of these would make great gifts for any modeler on your Christmas list or even for yourself. Athearn added the General Electric Dash 9-44CW to its Genesis 2.0 […]

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Garden railroading in Hawaii

Garden railroading in Hawaii: model sugar cane train

Garden railroading in Hawaii: In late 2013, my wife set in motion a scheme that eventually became the Oberammergau, Ogden & Olomana Railroad – the Triple O. A few books, a GR subscription, and a year of study later, and we broke ground on what has become a family project to bring a stylized piece […]

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MARTA unveils new cars, part of $646 million order

Rapid-transit carbody in wrapper sits on trailer while MARTA train sits in background

ATLANTA — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority unveiled its newest railcars on Friday, representing a $646 million investment to replace its aging fleet of 340 cars. The new CQ400 railcars will replace MARTA’s existing fleet of CQ310, CQ311 and CQ312 cars. In November 2019, MARTA’s board of directors approved the $646 million deal with […]

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Amtrak rolls out ‘Airo’ branding, images of Siemens push-pull fleet

Side view of new Amtrak equipment passing lake

NEW YORK —  Amtrak today (Thursday, Dec. 15) introduced the graphics and a new brand name — Airo — for its coming fleet of Siemens Mobility push-pull trainsets due to enter service in 2026, replacing 40- to 50-year-old locomotive-hauled equipment. At a press conference in Penn Station’s Moynihan Train Hall, Amtrak President Roger Harris and […]

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Conowingo Models caboose No. three

Caboose no. three: A blue caboose against a blue sky and green grass

Conowingo Models caboose No. three Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $33.00 Manufacturer:  Conowingo Models; conowingomodels.com Conowingo Models Bobber boxcar features: LaBelle trucks Plastic wheels Laser-cut wood construction Board-on-board deck 3D-printed smoke jack Tichy Train Group windows and stirrups Conowingo Railroad decals included Kadee couplers and coupler boxes Release date: Available now News & Products is a regular feature […]

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MARTA shuts down streetcar line over wheel issues

Light rail vehicle rounding curve with brick church in background

ATLANTA — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has shut down its 3-mile-long downtown streetcar line after inspections found wheel degradation that could pose a safety risk, WSB-TV reports. Reporter Newspapers, citing a paywalled Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, says repairs are expected to cost $7.4 million and are expected to be completed by the end of […]

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Railinc adds cushioning device information to Component Tracking program

Logo of Railinc Corp.

CARY, N.C. — Rail data provider Railinc is adding enhanced information on the location and status of railcar cushioning devices to its Component Tracking program, the company has announced. “Since its inception in 2013, the industry has implemented component tracking for hundreds of millions of critical railcar components including wheelsets, side frames, bolsters, and couplers,” […]

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New York Air Brake valve technology receives unconditional AAR approval

Logo for New York Air Brake

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — New York Air Brake’s DB-60 II brake control valve with Brake Cylinder Maintaining (BCM) has received unconditional approval from the Association of American Railroads for the BCM feature, becoming the only supplier granted full approval for the technology. BCM is a patented feature that improves braking performance by replenishing air pressure when […]

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Large scale boxcars and graffiti in an art exhibit

boxcar with graffiti

Large scale boxcars and graffiti in an art exhibit: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) opened its Art in the Streets show on April 17, 2011. It is the first major US museum exhibition on the history of graffiti and street art, tracing its development from the 1970s to the global movement […]

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News photos: Siemens Amtrak car heads to Canada for testing

Freight locomotive and passenger car pass ornate white two-story passenger station

A single Siemens Venture car, part of the Amtrak Midwest operations, traveled over Canadian Pacific and Canadian National lines in Ontario on Saturday, Dec. 3., en route from Sacramento, Calif., to Canada’s National Research Uplands Campus in Ottawa for testing The special train, Union Pacific SD70ACe No. 8821 and the Siemens car, SIIX 4301, is […]

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Return of second ‘Missouri River Runner’ pushed back a second time

Man with TV camera watching passenger train

ST. LOUIS — The return date for the second round trip of Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner service between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., has been pushed back again, this time to Dec. 16. The train, which has been suspended since Oct. 24, was previously scheduled to resume Nov. 16 and today (Sunday, Dec. 4). […]

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“Cabooses” or “cabeese”?

Five colorful model cabooses go into a tunnel on a mountainous train layout

One piece of rolling stock I can bet almost every model railroader owns is a caboose. These cars are a staple in both real life and the model form, to the point where many people who don’t know much about trains at all know what a caboose is. Along with the existence of the word […]

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