WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic was down again for the month of February, showing a 5.2% decline compared to figures for the same month in 2022. The overall drop included a 1.6% decrease in carload traffic and an 8.4% decline for intermodal volume, according to the Association of American Railroads. It followed a 3.2% drop […]
If you’ve ever tried to run a big locomotive around a small radius curve of track, you probably realized that the minimum recommended track radius is still too small for a lot of rolling stock. Long-wheelbase steam locomotives, in particular, have trouble staying on the rails when the curve is too sharp. Model railroad manufacturers […]
WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific has asked federal regulators to approve the appointment of former Federal Railroad Administration administrator and longtime railroad executive Ron Batory as trustee of the CP-Kansas City Southern voting trust. The move comes after former KCS CEO Dave Starling, who had been serving as trustee, died last month. “Mr. Batory is eminently […]
A signature N scale truck for Tehachapi: This photo of a cattle truck at Caliente, Calif., existed in my mind for perhaps 10 years before it finally came to fruition, and it was spurred by buying a Road Apples N scale stock trailer kit. The kit had two things going for it. First, I thought […]
N scale by the numbers: Scale model railroading couldn’t exist without numbers, some that are very important and some that are not important at all, but fun to play around with. This article is for those who model in N scale, so let’s look at N scale numbers, starting with the two most critical, 9mm […]
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has filed legislation designed to prevent derailments like the Norfolk Southern wreck that released toxic chemicals and upended life in East Palestine, Ohio. But the Rail Safety Act of 2023 also goes much further by proposing rules that would limit train length and tonnage, mandate a crew size […]
Passenger diesels Florida may not leap to mind as a center of passenger railroading — or a hotbed of railroading oddities, for that matter — but the locomotives of the state’s passenger rail operations do include some rarities. And in the winter, you could do worse than spending time trackside at any of these operations. […]
Improving N scale engine performance: One of the most puzzling N scale locomotive performance problems I’ve encountered came with the two Atlas Electro-Motive Division (EMD) SD60s I purchased in 2014. The prototype locomotives were lease units from Oakway (an EMD subsidiary), and they were painted in the gorgeous blue-and-white scheme EMD had used for years […]
Jeff Schmid was an unusually versatile railroader. Over more than a half a century with BNSF and two of its predecessor railroads, he moved from track worker to locomotive engineer to safety officer, the latter bringing him special satisfaction. If that wasn’t enough, along the way he mastered the art and craft of running one […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gulf & Atlantic Railways is the new name for the holding company known as RailUSA, which is overseeing its two key properties — the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railroad and Grenada Railroad — from a new corporate office in Jacksonville. “We are taking a long-term approach that is heavily focused on investing […]
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation has begun testing a locomotive equipped with a Tier 4 emissions control system. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, state-supported Piedmont train No. 75 included three locomotives, with one, No. 1859, equipped with Rail Propulsion Systems’ Selective Catalytic Reduction technology. The train departed Raleigh for Charlotte with 1859 […]
WASHINGTON — Still bidding to stop or delay the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — and hinting at legal action if that effort fails — a group of Chicago suburbs has made a new filing to the Surface Transportation Board calling for a reconsideration of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, as it […]
