General Electric’s last high-horsepower, four-axle locomotive model was the Dash 8-40B or more commonly known as the B40-8. The B40-8 was GE’s refinement of the B39-8 which was first delivered in 1987 with production only lasting one year. Both models are indistinguishable from each other externally with the exception of the first few B39-8s […]
Introduction to the Durango & Silverton A trip to Colorado to see and ride a narrow gauge railroad is essential for anyone with an interest in great steam railroading in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has several railroads worth visiting (in fact, we offer, in conjunction with Special Interest Tours, a week-long trip to visit them […]
![Applying Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement with pipette.]](https://stage.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MRR_Scenic_Cement_with_pipette_04.jpg)
On Model Railroader’s Beer Line project layout, which was set in 1947 Milwaukee, I ballasted the track on the entire layout using a favorite technique. I used a 50:50 blend of Highball Products Light Gray and Dark Gray limestone ballast, which looks similar to ballast used by the Milwaukee Road [Highball Products ballast is no […]
Delays in start of Gateway project push cost to $11.6 billion Ongoing delays in beginning the Gateway tunnel project on the Northeast Corridor have pushed the estimated cost of tunnels under the Hudson river to $11.6 billion, a $300 million increase over the previous estimate. NJ.com reports Frank Sacr, interim executive director of the Gateway […]
NTSB issues preliminary report on UP track worker fatality The National Transportation Safety Board indicates it will examine Union Pacific operating rules and the condition of a piece of equipment as part of its ongoing investigation of a fatal accident involving a UP maintenance-of-way worker near Vail, Ariz., in January. In its preliminary report, the […]
WASHINGTON — Passengers opting to take the train between Boston and Washington, D.C., will have a long-overdue alternative to the 7-hour daytime journey aboard Acela, Amtrak’s fastest train. Overnight northbound train No. 66 and southbound No. 67 (No. 65 on Friday and Saturday nights) are scheduled at 9 to 10 hours depending on the direction […]
Amtrak to offer sleeping cars on Northeast Regional trains beginning April 5 Amtrak will return sleeping-car service to the Northeast Corridor beginning April 5, with sleepers added to one overnight Northeast Regional train in each direction. Northbound, train No. 66 will depart Washington Union Station at 10 p.m., arriving in New York at 1:55 a.m. […]
DURANGO,Colo. — The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad will resume service to Silverton, cut off last season by a bridge washout, on May 22, as part of its summer-fall 2021 schedule, with shorter Cascade Canyon Express excursions on May 1. The railroad announced it will operate one train daily to Silverton May 22 to […]
A major wine shipper has located its facilities almost exclusively on short line railroads with access to two Class I systems as a way to ensure better local service and more competitive rates. G3 Enterprises, which handles shipping for 28 of the top 30 wineries in the U.S., operates regional distribution centers in nine states. […]
The first of 12 Connecticut Department of Transportation P40 locomotives to be rebuilt by Amtrak at Beech Grove, Ind., is CDOT No. 6711, seen at North Haven, Conn., on March 8, 2021. The unit was built as Amtrak no. 820 in 1993, and later worked for NJ Transit in Atlantic City service, carrying NJT no. 4803. CDOT […]
Sixty-odd years ago, I was a youth living in Palmyra, Wis., where my father, Ben Eller Sr., was the station agent for the Milwaukee Road. Palmyra, 42 miles west of Milwaukee, was on the Madison Division, the original line to the state capital via Milton and Janesville. When I was 12, I got braces on […]
MINNEAPOLIS — A Canadian Pacific train derailed Sunday, blocking the railroad’s former Soo Line main line west of Minneapolis. CP Train 498 derailed at milepost 11.2 on the Paynesville Subdivision in the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth at Control Point Heney, just east of Interstate 494. The Paynesville Subdivision is CP’s main artery from western […]
