WASHINGTON — Travelers who wish to take small dogs or cats in carry-on cases with them aboard Amtrak trains are getting more choices starting Feb. 16, when they will be welcomed on long-distance train coaches for trips up to seven hours. The following Saturday, a pilot program scheduled through June 12 will begin on weekend […]
Streamliners: Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style By Brian Solomon Voyageur Press, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400 Minneapolis, MN 55401; 208 pages, 115 color & 81 b/w photos; hardcover, 8.5 x 11 inches; $35 www.quartoknows.com Railroading in the U.S. saw rapid change between the 1930s and 1950s. That is likely […]
Cardinal heads west near Swoop, Va., east of Staunton, in April, 2013 Bob Johnston WASHINGTON—Starting this month, Amtrak will begin offering business class on the triweekly Chicago-Washington-New York Cardinal. The decision to do so was made recently, so it is not reflected in the new “Winter Spring 2016” timetable effective Monday, Jan. 11. The launch, […]
Three Pullman Rail Journeys cars pass through the drawbridge at Pass Manchac, La., on Nov. 2, 2014, on the rear of Amtrak’s City of New Orleans. Amtrak and Pullman Rail Journeys have yet to come to an agreement for 2016 trips. Bob Johnston A meal typical of Pullman Rail Journeys: luncheon shrimp salad with potato […]
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WalthersMainline HO Budd passenger cars Eric installed an exterior detailing kit and lighting kit on the diner. Detail kits include separate wire grab irons. The cars all feature prototypically detailed interiors molded in tan plastic. The photo shows the interior of the baggage-lounge car. Everything old is new again. Walthers is returning to model railroading’s […]
One of Metra’s most recently acquired locomotives is No. 97, an F59PH locomotive originally built for Go Transit in Toronto. Tom Danneman Another view of Metra No. 97 on test runs. Mark Llanuza CHICAGO — Be on the lookout for new locomotives and paint schemes on Metra in the coming weeks as the Chicago commuter […]
A Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 leads a troop train east through California in 1946. George M. Speir In early May 1945, I boarded a troop train at Fort Knox, Ky., and headed west on the Louisville & Nashville, destination unknown. The war in Europe had just ended and my fellow 18-year-old replacement tank crewmen had been […]
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A bi-level passenger car mock-up stands gleaming under shop lights at the Nippon Sharyo Rochelle, Ill., plant in May 2014. Bob Johnston ROCHELLE, Ill. — Nippon Sharyo is laying off workers at the plant assembling bilevel passenger cars after a prototype failed key safety tests. Plant managers announced the layoffs on Thursday saying they are […]
Walthers HO scale Capitol Limited kitchen and diner cars The Baltimore & Ohio’s Capitol Limited of the 1950s is Walthers’ newest name train. It has a 10-car streamlined consist, including eight newly tooled cars, pulled by Electro-Motive Division E9A-E8Bm-E9A locomotives. This kitchen-dormitory-dining car set is one of the train’s new signature cars. The prototype. The […]
