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Toy train locomotive, freight car, passenger car, and vehicle announcements for February 25, 2021

By Cody Grivno | February 19, 2021
Metropolitan Division of the Train Collectors Association Entenmann’s NE5 caboose no. 102268

Club offerings   Entenmann’s Electro-Motive Division GP7 diesel locomotive and NE5 caboose. Lionel O gauge models custom-decorated for the Metropolitan Division of the Train Collectors Association (METCA). Locomotive features LionChief+2.0 (dual motors, electro-couplers, smoke, and die-cast metal trucks). Caboose has light-emitting-diode interior lights, die-cast metal trucks, and operating couplers. Limited-run models offered on first come, […]

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Santa Fe switchman vividly remembers San Francisco barge fire

By Jeff Reynolds | February 18, 2021
Locomotive works with freight cars on a floating barge connected to land. Black and white.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe’s dock at Ferry Point outside of San Francisco burned May 4, 1984. I was on the job in 1984 and remember the fire vividly. The Santa Fe ceased tug-and-barge service across the San Francisco Bay shortly after. When I hired out in the mid-1970s, west end jobs were responsible for […]

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Digest: Wheel-Rail Interaction conference rescheduled for Oct. 18-21

By | February 18, 2021
Trains Magazine placeholder image

WRI 2021 in Chicago rescheduled to Oct. 18-21 WRI 2021, the annual Wheel Rail Interaction Conference conducted by Wheel Rail Seminars and presented by Trains Magazine, has been rescheduled to this fall. The event will now be held Oct. 18-21; the location, the Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Ill., remains unchanged. Wheel Rail Seminars […]

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Digest: Metra board approves purchase of new switchers

By | February 18, 2021
Metra Logo

Metra to replace aging switchers with Tier 4, electric locomotives Metra will issue a request for proposals to replace its aging fleet of switchers with six new locomotives meeting Tier IV emission standards — as well as zero-emission, all-electric switcher — following approval by the commuter railroad’s board on Wednesday. Funding will come from state […]

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Norfolk Southern ends Atlanta project at former brick factory site

By | February 18, 2021
Norfolk Southern logo

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has terminated plans for a transload facility at the site of the former Chattahoochee Brick Co. in Atlanta, which Atlanta officials sought to stop because of the dark history of the site. The plant used prison labor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it is believed laborers who […]

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Digest: Camden, N.J., transit center to get $250 million makeover

By | February 18, 2021
NJ Transit logo

Camden, N.J., transportation center to receive $250 million renovation The Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, N.J. – a hub for NJ Transit RiverLine light rail, PATCO rapid transit, 26 NJ Transit bus lines, and a proposed light rail route – will receive a $250 million renovation. NJ.com reports New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced […]

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Union Pacific says it will have intermodal network reopened Friday

By | February 18, 2021
UNION PACIFIC LOGO

Union Pacific plans to reopen all intermodal terminals by Friday after closing them earlier this week because of the impacts of winter storms across the nation. In a customer advisory posted Thursday afternoon, the railroad said the Chicago area continued to work through significant snow removal, and additional snowfall in the Little Rock and Pine […]

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Digest: Biden Administration policy change opens door for Gateway Project funding

By | February 18, 2021
Trains Magazine placeholder image

Biden Administration change in FTA funding policy could boost Gateway Project The Biden Administration has reversed a Federal Transit Administration policy on funding that originated in the Trump Administration, increasing the prospects of the long-stalled Gateway Project to build new Hudson River tunnels to New York’s Penn Station. NJ.com reports the FTA said it would […]

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By narrow margin, U.S. rail traffic remains ahead of 2020 levels

By | February 18, 2021
statistics table

U.S. rail freight traffic remained ahead of previous-year levels, although barely, in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Feb. 13, U.S. railroads moved 269,063 trailers and containers, a 6.9% increase over intermodal units for the corresponding week in 2020. The 211,420 carloads, meanwhile, represented a 7% decrease, […]

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Remembering Newfoundland Railway trains

By | February 18, 2021
Caboose at rear of freight train in open country

All through February 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage and quaint perseverance of the Newfoundland Railway. This week, we are exploring Newfie trains in black and white images in this photo gallery. We hope you enjoy! […]

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HO scale Western Maryland Ry., East Division

By | February 18, 2021
overview of a track plan

The layout at a glance Name: Western Maryland Ry., East Division Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 26′-6″ x 30′-0″ Prototype: Western Maryland Locale: Baltimore, central Maryland, and south central Pennsylvania Era: late spring/summer 1965-1973 Style: around-the-walls shelf with peninsula, four helixes Mainline run: 342 feet (including mainline helixes, excluding staging and staging helixes) Minimum radius: 22″ (main), […]

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