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Category: Top News

Grapevine Vintage Railroad announces return to service for rehabilitated 117-year-old locomotive

Oct 9th, 2013

  GRAPEVINE, TX – The Grapevine Vintage Railroad announced today that “Puffy” will ride again. The tourist railroad’s 117-year-old steam engine No. 2248, affectionately known as “Puffy,” will return for a series of short excursions beginning Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. The locomotive, a former Southern Pacific 4-6-0, has undergone extensive repairs since being sidelined in December 2010. Puffy will head short excursion trains each Friday evening until Thanksgiving, when the North Pole Express begins holiday runs. GVR’s GP7 diesel locomotive will assist. GVR crews have been working in earnest for several months to return Puffy to the road. A piston, rings and cylinder cap were machined to fix damage during a run to Hodge Yard in Fort Worth almost three years ago. At the time, the failure was the second in two years that forced the locomotive out of service. In September, Puffy could be seen making short test runs from the shop in Grapevine. Puffy, built…

  • News / Top News

InterMountain back to work after facility sustains only ‘minimal’ damage from Colorado flooding

Sep 18th, 2013

InterMountain Railway Co., a top producer in model railroad cars and locomotives, sustained only “minimal” damage to its corporate facility from floods that have ravaged Colorado in recent days, the company announced Tuesday. Executive Vice President and CFO Frank Angstead said floods damaged only the first floor of InterMountain’s three-story Longmont, CO, facility. Several homes and businesses in the city were damaged or destroyed by flooding that has affected 17 counties in Northern Colorado. On Wednesday, the foothills of central Colorado’s front range received 6-10 inches of rain in 12 hours. Water flowed eastward toward Longmont and other communities on the east side of the mountains. By midday Thursday the rivers and streams in the area had breached their banks and created a Federal disaster area. Waters crested in Longmont on Thursday night but additional rain continued to flood the area through Saturday. After waters had receded on Monday, InterMountain…

  • News / Top News

Demand for public transportation increases in 2012, rail ridership ticks upward

Mar 11th, 2013

The demand for public transportation rose last year as Americans took 10.5 billion trips, the second highest ridership since 1957, and 154 million more trips than the previous year, according to a report released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Light rail, heavy rail and commuter rail ridership each increased as U.S. public transportation recorded more than 10 billion trips for the seventh straight year. Ridership in 2012 was the second highest since 1957. “Every mode of public transportation showed an increase in ridership,” APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy said. “Public transit ridership grew in all areas of the country – north, south, east, and west – in small, medium and large communities, with at least 16 public transit systems reporting record ridership.” “Considering the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy on some of the nation’s largest systems, this record level of ridership is truly significant,” said Melaniphy….

  • News / Top News

Sale of Texas State Railroad finalized; Iowa Pacific Holdings plans to run freight along tourist line

Aug 15th, 2012

By Tim Blackwell/Cowcatcher Magazine Freight trains will soon run on the Texas State Railroad.  Iowa Pacific Holdings, operator of several freight and tourist railroads, inked a deal in early August with American Heritage Railways to assume ownership of the Texas State Railroad. Terms were not disclosed.  According to Iowa Pacific President Ed Ellis, the Chicago-based short line will supplement tourist runs with freight service between Palestine and Rusk, TX. “We are very excited about this opportunity to build on the substantial achievements that American Heritage has made, in cooperation with the Texas State Railroad Authority, in improving the Texas State Railroad’s infrastructure and in developing the tourist ridership,” he said in a prepared statement. “We are already taking steps to continue this progress by further developing passenger services, reconnecting the railroad with the national rail network at Palestine, and implementing freight service.” TSRA President Steve Presley said Iowa Pacific’s freight ability…

  • Top News

Texas State Railroad to get new owners

May 11th, 2012

Ownership and operations of the Texas State Railroad could change hands within 90 days if a deal is reached between American Heritage Railways and Iowa Pacific Holdings. Texas State Railroad Authority agreed Thursday to pursue the proposed acquisition of the railroad from current operator AHR to IPH. TSRA President Steve Presley said that the companies have discussed terms for the Chicago-based short line freight and tourist railroad group to take over the cash-strapped TSR. “I would say we’re within 60-90 days of having a closing,” Presley said. IPH, according to published reports, wants to bring commercial freight operations to the line while maintaining tourist operations. The company is talking to Union Pacific about accessing a 3-mile stretch of line from the Palestine Depot to an interchange point. President Ed Ellis told a local radio station that IPH is interested in creating a transload facility for rail/truck transfer to move oil and timber industry products….

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  • Current Issue: March/April 2023

     

     

    INSIDE THIS ISSUE

  • General Purpose

    Nearly 75 years after the first General Purpose locomotive rolled off the assembly line at General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division, the workhorse diesel is still doing the job it was meant to do. The four-axle “Geep” is making main line moves, switching industries and doing short road work on mostly secondary railroads. Introduced in 1949 as the “ugly duckling” GP7, it has settled into a comfortable role and is always in demand, whether by lease or purchase. The Cowcatcher looks at the locomotive’s rise and some of its popular variations.

  • NRail Celebrates 50 Years

    NTRAK is a household name in model railroading and has something to celebrate. NTRAK and T-TRAK organizations within NRail have blossomed in the last 50 years to become the glue or common thread of modular model railroading and promote N scale in most areas of the U.S. and Canada and other countries.

     

     

  • M.T.H. Regaining Footing

    Its future once uncertain, O model maker M.T.H. Electric Trains is moving forward with a new business plan making new model train products sold exclusively within the company’s dealer network.

     

  • PLUS…

    Columnist Michelle Kempema goes behind the scenes with an O-scale model railroad club looking to change its image. …

     

    BNSF goes BIG on intermodal plans to build a massive facility in Barstow, CA, to expedite container shipments. …

     

    The Rock Island’s Memphis-Californian went west to El Paso and took a lot of good company. …

     

     

    THESE STORIES AND MORE, PLUS A FULL CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS AND THE BUSINESS PULSE OF THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY!

     

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  • Product News & Review

    InterMountain HO ADM Corn Syrup Car

     

    The Cowcatcher reviews InterMountain Railway Co.’s newly released HO-scale Trinity Industries 19,600-gallon corn syrup car. The tank car is one of several in the company’s second release.

     

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  • Railroad in Focus

    Cowcatcher Magazine routinely features short lines and regional railroads that roam the Midwest and Southwest. Features include color photographs and maps, but an overview of operations and latest business trends.

     



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