DULUTH, Minn. – The North Shore Scenic Railroad resumed service Sept. 29, quickly recovering from washouts that closed the railroad’s route to Two Harbors, Minn., for several days. Northeast Minnesota saw record rainfall the weekend of Sept. 23-24, with the town of Knife River on NSSR receiving 7.6 inches of rain in less that 8 […]
The estate of noted western rail photographer Ronald C. Hill has made a financial contribution totaling a little more than $1 million to the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, which is based in Madison, Wis. The gift is directed to the CRP&A Endowment Fund. “We’re over the moon and feeling tremendously grateful and humbled […]
I wrote last month about working grain trains west as a young brakeman. This month’s story, entitled “Trust me,” is from late 2008 when I was working as a locomotive engineer. In my 42 years on the railroad, the last 30 as an engineer, I took pride in being qualified on three mountain-grade territories: Stampede […]
In this episode, Host James McNab embarks on a journey to elevate model railroading skills by exploring cutting-edge methods. Specifically featuring the use of Central Valley tie strips to build hand laid trackwork. With the objective of encouraging modelers to employ fresh techniques, James demonstrates the process on his portable HO scale Hills Line module, […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – The East Broad Top Railroad has won a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund an 18-month program for long-term protection of the road’s thousands of maps, drawings, photographs, and artifacts. The grant is one of 280 awarded nationally in the August round of NEH funding, totaling […]
Explore Paw Paw, WV’s rich history with the Magnolia Cutoff, an engineering masterpiece from 1913 designed to streamline the Baltimore and Ohio mainline, reducing congestion and enhancing rail transport efficiency. This legacy route, complete with tunnels, bridges, and a massive retaining wall, continues to serve CSX today. Read more about this route in Trains magazine’s […]
LUDINGTON, Mich. — The historic Great Lakes car ferry, S.S. Badger will receive a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD). The contribution will go towards an ongoing feasibility analysis to convert the coal-fired steamship into a zero-emission ferry vessel, according to the DOT press release on Sept. 21, 2023. “The […]
MERIDA, Yucatán — Described in the Yucatán Times as a new “Central Park” for Mexico’s Yucatecan capital, Mérida’s Gran Parque La Plancha [La Plancha Great Park] is a recreational development to the downtown’s former railyard of the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán [United Railways of Yucatán]. Amongst the new green areas, pathways, an artificial lake and […]
Canadian National will build a 29.2-mile branch to reach a massive, $7.5 billion potash mine that’s under construction about 85 miles east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The BHP Jansen mine – billed as the world’s largest – is expected to begin production in 2026. The mine will have an annual production capacity of 4.35 million metric […]
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – A through east-west roadway paralleling the Norfolk Southern Fort Wayne Line track here will reopen on a limited basis Monday, Sept. 25. It was closed for 7 months during an environmental cleanup of the derailment and toxic-chemical spill that occurred Feb. 3. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that East […]
The mood was one of celebration and accomplishment as the first Brightline train pulled into the new Orlando International Airport station on Friday. The arrival signaled the start of revenue service between Miami and Orlando, linking major population centers and attractions in the northern and southern portions of Florida. [see “Brightline Orlando to launch service […]
We’ll head down to Larson Stone on our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy staff layout to check out a model from the latest run of HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD39 diesel locomotives produced by Athearn Trains. Join Model Railroader senior editor Cody Grivno as he points out the features on the six-axle road locomotive, demonstrates some of […]
