Lionel Strasburg Rail Road Bump-N-Go Trolley

model trolley

There’s something special about riding a trolley. A number of years ago, while visiting a friend in Maine, she took me to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport. It was a fascinating place full of vintage transit pieces. For the admission price, you could ride the trolley as many times as you liked around the […]

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PRR E8 diesels in green

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Pennsylvania Railroad E8 5767 and a sister bring a westbound train to a halt at Canton, Ohio, in September 1952. Some of PRR’s E8s, like these, were delivered in PRR’s traditional dark green locomotive color with gold pinstripes; others came in Tuscan red, which the road adopted for passenger diesels in 1952. John B. Corns […]

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How do you go from track plan to layout?

Color photo of model railroad mock-up made of wood and pink extruded-foam insulation board on white background.

Q: I am working on a track plan for my first real layout. I have looked through various layout plans in the database and see where elevations have been labeled along the routes. How does one go from a two-dimensional drawing to a three-dimensional layout? — Jesse Brinson A: I asked Model Railroader Consulting Editor […]

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OmniTRAX to serve Wyoming plant producing Arm & Hammer baking soda

Locomotive switching hopper cars at sunset

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. — OmniTRAX has signed a long-term switching agreement to serve the Wyoming facility that produces Arm & Hammer baking soda. The Church and Dwight facility in Green River, built in 1968, produces pharmaceutical-grade sodium bicarbonate at the site where the trona ore is mined. Wyoming is home to 90% of the world’s […]

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Customs officials release car shells; CRRC to resume production in Massachusetts

MBTA Orange Line train arrives at station

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Car shells seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for almost a year have been released, the Massachusetts affiliate of Chinese rail manufacturer CRRC announced on Wednesday, March 18. That will allow the company to recall workers laid off earlier this week. In a statement to public broadcaster WAMC, CRRC MA said […]

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Union Pacific intermodal train derails in California desert

Union Pacific logo without slogan. UP Bailey Yard explosion appear to be accidental.

MECCA, Calif. — About 20 cars of a Union Pacific intermodal train derailed Wednesday in the Coachella Valley community of Mecca on Wednesday afternoon, closing a state highway and the railroad’s Sunset Route. Cal Fire said on social media that emergency crews responded to the incident at 5:06 p.m. No injuries were reported. A hazardous […]

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CPKC ‘makes its own luck’ with Mexico-Canada growth, new CSX service

Stack train in snow

WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City CEO Keith Creel says his railway is making its own luck at a time when trade tensions, economic uncertainty, and plenty of truck capacity are roadblocks to volume growth. “We create solutions instead of excuses,” Creel told an investor conference on Wednesday. Among them: Boosting traffic between Canada and […]

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