WASHINGTON — Slumping intermodal traffic continues to keep weekly U.S. rail traffic below 2024 levels. For the week ending Nov. 15, 2025, U.S. volume was 493,880 carloads and intermodal units, a 4.5% decline from the same week a year ago. The total included 223,101 carloads, down 0.2%, and 270,779 containers and trailers, down 7.7%. It […]
CALVERTON, Md. — International container traffic helped total intermodal volume remain ahead of 2024 levels in the third quarter of 2025, according to the Intermodal Association of North America. Overall, intermodal volume increased by 2.8% over the same quarter a year ago. International container volume increased by 4.4%, from 2,317,879 to 2,419,908 containers, while domestic […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — The transportation menu of trains and buses running between the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California via the state’s Central Valley didn’t change following a Nov. 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony for what is now known as Gold Runner service. But that event at the Altamont Corridor Express maintenance facility in Stockton, […]
Atlas Model Railroad Co. has announced the acquisition of “substantially all assets” of Micro-Trains Line Co., a manufacturer of N and Z scale model trains and couplers based in Talent, Ore. This acquisition, announced on Nov. 19, 2025, marks a significant development in the U.S. hobby industry. As part of the agreement, Atlas assumes ownership […]
To say that the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) was in a financial slump by the 1930s is an understatement. The 30 years of mismanagement followed by the Great Depression took its toll. To revitalize the railroad, incoming CEO Edward M. Durham embraced the streamlined train craze, adopting the fitting name “Rocket” […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway, the city of Fort Worth, and Dallas-based development company Hillwood have announced creation of the Alliance Logistics District, a logistics hub in Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth. Creation of the logistics district will allow benefits to those within its boundaries including the ability to use private hostler […]
In 1928, the Northern Pacific went shopping for a locomotive that could eliminate doubleheading on the eastern end of its Yellowstone Division between Mandan, N.Dak., and Glendive, Mont. NP’s line through the Badlands had a series of long grades in both directions that made helpers impracticable and had long been one of the railroad’s operational […]
Canadian National Railway celebrated the 30th anniversary of its privatization on Tuesday (Nov. 17), with CEO Tracy Robinson and Shauneen Bruder, chair of the railroad’s board of directors, marking the event by ringing the opening bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange and the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. CN raised Ca$2.25 billion […]
Rapido HO Magor 54-foot DODX flatcar Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Single car, $59.95; three-pack, $179.85; and six-pack, $359.70 Manufacturer: Rapido Trains, 382 High St, Buffalo, NY 14204; 905-474-3314; rapidotrains.com Rapido HO Magor 54-foot DODX flatcar features: Body-mounted metal knuckle couplers Buckeye three-axle trucks (solid bearing or retrofitted roller bearing as appropriate) Drawn from original blueprints, […]
WASHINGTON — Gary Vaughn, who championed safety during more than 20 years in the short line industry, has been named by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association as the recipient of its 2026 Schlosser Distinguished Service Award. Vaughn will be honored at the ASLRRA’s annual conference and exhibition, April 12-14, 2026, in Minneapolis, […]
CHICAGO — If Union Pacific wanted to show the media how trains can sit around in the nation’s rail capital, it was mission accomplished last week aboard its executive train. As the six-car train headed west at 10 mph on Wednesday — rolling between the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard to the north and […]
ScaleTrains HO EMD SD7 Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Direct-current model with 21-pin connector, $214.99; with ESU LokSound V5 sound decoder, two cube-type speakers, and an ESU-designed “PowerPack” with two super capacitors, $324.99. Manufacturer: ScaleTrains, 4901 Old Tasso Road NE, Cleveland, TN 37312; 844-987-2467; scaletrains.com ScaleTrains HO EMD SD7 features: All-wheel drive and electrical pickup Detailed […]
