Rapido Trains hosted a dealer open house earlier this month and announced several new products, including models of Amtrak’s NPCU “Cabbage” diesels in HO. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak began a rebuild program to convert retired F40PH locomotives into non-powered control units (NPCUs) by removing the prime movers. The NPCUs allow “push-pull” service, and engineers control the train from the cab similar to the way commuter trains operate. Many are still in service today. See more on Rapido’s models, as well as other new products in the marketplace. Visit Product News.

Denver-based OmniTRAX said this week that it has entered into a contract to purchase the assets of the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad (SLRG) out of bankruptcy. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close later this year, were not disclosed.

SLRG has operated its 155-mile short line serving the San Luis Valley the past three years in bankruptcy while trying to find a buyer. U.S. Bankruptcy Court and Surface Transportation Board must approve the sale.

According to published reports, SLRG was seeking a minimum bid of $5.75 million and has about $4 million in debt. OmniTRAX, a transportation affiliate of The Broe Group, reportedly began negotiating with SLRG in September.

“As a Colorado company, we know how important the SLRG has been to the San Luis Valley and Colorado’s economy,” said OmniTRAX CEO Dean Piacente. “The Broe Group companies have grown with Colorado for 50 years and we are proud to help revitalize this railroad to bring more business and jobs to the region and our state.”

OmniTRAX purchase of San Luis & Rio Grande marks 26th rail operation

Originally constructed in 1870, the short line has played a vital role in moving freight throughout the west. The SLRG also provides a key state-wide freight connection between the San Luis Valley and Colorado’s eastern plains. The railroad also operates a scenic excursion train.

The acquisition marks OmniTRAX’s 26th rail operation, expanding its rail network to more than 2,000 miles across North America, while doubling its Colorado footprint. The acquisition offers expanded reach for the line’s active rail customers and provides new opportunities to grow the region’s economic base, the company said. 

More than half of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division members voted Monday against ratifying the tentative national labor agreement reached last month with Class I freight railroads, sending the two sides back to the bargaining table and again raising fears of a work stoppage.

BMWED president Tony D. Cardwell said railroaders are upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard. The union voted down the contract 56 percent to 43 percent.

“Railroaders do not feel valued,” Cardwell said of workers in the nation’s third largest railroad union. “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.”

The tentative agreement was arrived at just hours before a planned strike in mid-September. It provides rail employees a 24 percent wage increase over five years, retroactive to 2020, and includes an immediate payout on average of $11,000. Workers will get an immediate 14 percent wage increase once compounded with an additional 4 percent July 1, 2023, and 4.5 percent July 1, 2024.

BMWED’s rejection of the deal results in a “status quo” period where the union reengages bargaining with the Class I freight carriers. That period will extend to five days after Congress reconvenes, which is set for Nov. 14. Assuming Congress returns to session, there could be no “self-help” until after the 19th.

Cardwell said the vote means there is much work to do to “establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers.”

This story has been updated

From published reports

A lingering U.S. rail strike that threatened to further entangle the U.S. economy was averted early today, according to the Association of American Railroads.

“Today the nation’s freight railroads are pleased to announce that tentative agreements have been reached with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen,” AAR said. “Collectively representing approximately 60,000 employees, the tentative agreements reached with these unions avert a potential strike in advance of Friday’s deadline.”

The railroads and unions found common ground on such issues as sick time and penalties for missing work, including termination, as Friday’s 12:01 a.m. deadline came perilously close. President Joe Biden reportedly met with rail and union leaders last night and helped hammer out a deal.

The Associated Press reported that an anonymous source close to the negotiations said the president called labor secretary Marty Walsh at 9 p.m. as talks were ongoing. The president told the negotiators to consider the effects of a shutdown on families, farmers and businesses.

For more than two decades, Larry Price has crafted the country’s most comprehensive youth model railroad program. More recently, William K. Walthers president Stacey Walthers Naffah has changed the dynamic of one of the industry’s oldest and largest companies by encouraging youngsters – and everyone else – to interact with trains.

Their work has been so valuable to ensuring model railroading’s future, enough to earn two of the industry’s highest honors in August.

Price was inducted into the Model Railroad Industry Division of the Hobby Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame and Naffah received the Bobbye Hall Award at a breakfast earlier this month that coincided with the NMRA National Train Show in Collinsville, IL. The awards were presented in person for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.

Price, the hall’s 51st member, founded Youth in Model Railroading (YMR) in 1997, a nonprofit organization dedicated to children ages 8-18 that has publicly promoted model railroading. For over 25 years the organization has helped educate the next generation of rail enthusiasts by teaching techniques in modeling, electronics and the artistry of model railroading.

“YMR helps foster interest in the hobby while providing members a common outlet for sharing their passion for trains with like-minded peers,” Price said.

Price, affectionately known as Mr. Conductor, has a passion for teaching youth what model railroading is all about. He constructs each monthly meeting to ensure that everyone attending gets hands-on time on some component of model railroading.