SQUAMISH, British Columbia — Canadian National Railway has announced its intention to abandon operations on 214 miles of former BC Rail tracks north of Squamish that it began leasing from the province British Columbia in 2003.

The scenic route through the province’s interior from North Vancouver to a connection with CN’s Prince Rupert line at Prince George, B.C., hosts seasonal Rocky Mountaineer “Rainforest to Gold Rush” excursions to and from Jasper, Alta. A 20-mile segment south of Lillooet, B.C., is also utilized by a First Nations organization that operates twice-daily railbus service.

As first reported by the Squamish Chief, CN issued a three-year plan to the provincial government earlier this month in which the company outlines its intention to “decommission” tracks it leases from just north of Squamish, about 39 miles from North Vancouver, to a point south of Exeter, B.C., in the 100 Mile House area of British Columbia’s Cariboo Region. It would retain lease rights north another 206 miles to Prince George and beyond. The railroad has not been operating through freights regularly over the route for several years.

Regulations require the railroad within a year to “publicly advertise the availability of the line or any operating in it for sale, lease, or other transfer for continued operations.”  At this early stage, it is unclear whether any operator will step up to take over operations or track maintenance, although the Chief reached out to a member of Parliament who called the discontinuance “an exciting development” for possible passenger rail expansion.

A British Columbia assembly member told the news outlet that the July 2026 date “gives us a one-year window to build a business case [for taking over the route], secure support from all levels of government, and make an offer to acquire the lease via an operating entity.” But if no deal can be reached, others suggest the right-of-way could be turned into a trail.

Rocky Mountaineer’s three-day North Vancouver-Jasper “Rainforest to Gold Rush” weekly excursions in each direction will thus continue to operate through 2026. However, spokeswoman Nicole Ford says, “we are determining what this means for our longer term operations in the region.” The spring-through-fall trips offering both SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf service classes leave Jasper on Tuesdays and North Vancouver on Wednesdays, making overnight stops at Whistler and Quesnel, B.C.

Tracks from Squamish to Quesnel were completed in 1921 by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and later extended south to North Vancouver and up to Prince George by the 1950s, when passenger service utilizing Budd RDCs began over the entire route.  Renamed BC Rail, the province-owned, passenger-friendly management parlayed legacy equipment acquired from VIA into the Pacific Starlight Dinner Train out of North Vancouver, Royal Hudson steam trips from Squamish, and introduced luxury Whistler Northwind journeys in 2001 between North Vancouver and Prince George. with refurbished heritage lounge cars and single-level Colorado Railcar domes once used on the defunct Florida Fun Train.

After BC Rail passenger service ended in October 2002, a railcar shuttle between the division point at Lillooet and Seton Portage was maintained through the Seton Lake tunnel to give area residents a shortcut in place of an hour-long highway trip. Today, a converted school bus plies a route for the Tsalalh Seton Train that calls at schools and grocery stores on Lillooet streets before lowering flanged wheels to run on tracks to Seton Portage, where it terminates off-rail at a restaurant and pub.

The scheduled service operates two round trips daily, but a recently posted Facebook advisory reminds passengers that the schedule is different on Thursdays when there is a schedule conflict with the Rocky Mountaineer. News Wire has reached out to the shuttle operator for comment on CN’s plans, but has not received a response.

NEW YORK — New York City Transit rolled out its latest generation of subway equipment, the R211 car, on the B Line on Monday (July 21, 2025), marking the fourth route to receive the new railcars and meaning the equipment is now operating in all five boroughs.

“I’m thrilled that B train riders from the Bronx to Brooklyn will experience safer and more reliable service with this addition,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said in a press release. “The R211s are state of the art and feature security cameras and digital displays along with wider doorways that will help speed up boarding times and improve accessibility.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority placed the initial order for 535 of the cars with Kawasaki Railcar in 2018, and ordered another 640 cars in 2022 [see “New York set to order …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 25, 2022]. There is also an option for another 437 cars. The first cars entered service in March 2023 [see “New York’s MTA places first new subway cars into service,” News Wire, March 11, 2025]. The R211s, which include a variant for the Staten Island Railway and a pilot order of open-gangway cars, will replace the R44 cars in service on Staten Island and R46 in wide use.

The B Line serves 37 stations in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.

On May 12, 1962, Rock Island “motor” 9006 has a typically short train as it heads west with mixed No. 79 near Horton, Kan. The first of the 10 “baggage-car locomotives” left the roster in 1948, and by 1960 only the 9006, 9013, and 9014 remain.
Frank Tatnall photo

News reports say that BNSF Railway has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it about a potential rail merger.

Semafor, an online publication, reported this evening that BNSF has engaged Goldman Sachs in the wake of Union Pacific working with Morgan Stanley regarding potential mergers. Both reports cited people familiar with the matter. The railroads and investment banks declined to comment.

The report said it was not clear whether BNSF was interested in CSX or Norfolk Southern. NS is reportedly the target of Union Pacific, and the two railroads have been in merger talks since the first quarter, the Associated Press reported last week.

There has not been a big merger involving the major Class I systems since the Surface Transportation Board adopted tighter merger review regulations in 2001.

MONTREAL — Janet Drysdale will become Canadian National Railway’s chief commercial officer on an interim basis, the company announced today (July 21, 2025). The appointment is effective immediately.

Drysdale, who has been at CN for nearly 30 years, fills the position vacated by the departure of Remi G. Lalonde. She spent her first decade with the company in sales and marketing, and has also held positions in investor relatrions, finance, corporate/business development, and sustainability. Most recently she has served as chief stakeholder relations officer.

The chief commercial officer oversees the sales and marketing team. A permanent appointment to the position is a priority, the company said.

“I am very pleased that Janet will be leading our commercial team during this critical time,” CN CEO Tracy Robinson said in a press release. “Janet’s depth of experience in sales and marketing, steady hand, and drive for results will provide strong leadership for the commercial team. I look forward to working closely with her as we accelerate the execution of our growth agenda. I thank Remi for his contributions to CN.”

Lalonde joined CN from Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products, where he was CEO and chief financial officer, in January 2024, and was named as chief commercial officer that April [see “CN’s Lalonde to become …,” Trains News Wire, April 19, 2024].

Many of us have had that moment in our lives when we dream of becoming a locomotive engineer. It’s a fascinating career, but what does it take to get there in today’s high-demand world of modern railroading?

The First Step: Getting Your Foot in the Door

“We get a lot of inquiries from people wanting to become engineers,” says John Bentley, director of public relations for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “They ask, ‘How do we get a job on the railroad?’”

Founded in 1863, the BLET is North America’s oldest rail labor union. It represents locomotive engineers for all of the U.S. railroads with 32,000 members. While recruitment isn’t the organization’s primary focus, officials do advise starting with entry-level positions and on-the-job training programs. For Gary Best, BLET first vice president and third-generation railroader, that became step number one.

“I hired out with CSX Transportation in 1993 up in Danville, Ill., as a brakeman,” he recalls. “I stayed there for about 10 months and started applying for locomotive engineer training back where I’m from in South Carolina.”

As an engineer for Amtrak along the Keystone Corridor in Pennsylvania and a member of the BLET, Mike Huhn followed a similar path when he realized the traditional four-year college experience wasn’t for him. In 2011, he was hired as a conductor for Norfolk Southern Corp., rising through the ranks to become an engineer in 2016. 

For those who want to pursue a demanding career in the railroad industry, Huhn recommends challenging yourself with a variety of curriculums and activities that could provide valuable experience. “Having attained Eagle Scout was a good way to learn good life lessons on how to manage things in your life,” he says. “That’s one thing I learned very quickly on the railroad was it’s a delicate balance to manage your rest and time.

“I’m also a big proponent of trade schools. Get yourself some experience doing any big trade, either in construction, mechanical, electrical, engineering, or even just getting a Commercial Driver License. One of the advantages in the railroad industry is having some kind of experience with heavy machinery.”

Stacking Up the Miles: From Conductor to Engineer

But don’t expect an immediate seat in the cab’s right hand. “Years of experience as a conductor are typically required…and to work as a conductor, candidates must undergo training that can last months, with a mix of intensive classroom, real-world training and ongoing exams,” according to the Association of American Railroads’ website.

“NS has a little yard at the training center [in Atlanta] where they’ll teach you how to do hand signals while hanging on to a makeshift boxcar ladder, uncouple and couple cars, handle air hoses, change a knuckle, and put on an end-of-train device,” Huhn adds. “[Amtrak and the Class I railroads] will not short-change you in terms of your training.”

Several years of experience and seniority as a conductor are required to be an engineer trainee. Once selected, you can expect another round of classroom learning, virtual training, in-the-field and on-the-job training, and exams. Certain aspects of the process have changed over the years, with extended training periods that have a heavy emphasis on virtual simulations. But to both Best and Huhn, the intense and rigorous environment remains the same.

“You have to learn the mechanics of a locomotive, the operating rules of the railroad you’re working for, and the FRA regulations to get certified as a locomotive engineer,” said Best. “So that was pretty extensive training that was kind of scary, to be honest.”

“Previously working out of Harrisburg, there’s a lot of railroad to get qualified,” said Huhn. “There’s the Harrisburg east side which you would go as far as Hagerstown, M.D., then you also had the port road side towards Baltimore. As an engineer, you did both sides, and that took more time to train on. I believe it was an eight-month process from the time I came back from Atlanta [for class and simulation training] to the time I was fully certified. It was a little intimidating because you had all these miles of railroad to know in your sleep.”

Even after being certified, an engineer’s training and learning cycle never end. They need to keep up on technological advancements while ensuring their skills and abilities remain sharp. 

“We have Positive Train Control … and then we have what is called a trip optimizer and it’s basically an autopilot…So our skills can get diminished immediately upon marking up,” said Best. “But every train is different. As an engineer, we always say that we can feel the train by the seat of our pants. Sitting there running the train, I can feel slack action or if it’s running pretty smooth where a computer cannot feel that.”

Huhn transitioned to the passenger side of the business in 2019 when he joined Amtra. He came to the quick realization that his new role meant he’s responsible for many, many lives. 

“It just felt like I was starting from scratch. Yes, I had experience running trains before on freight, but I wanted to go into it with a fresh mindset. Amtrak is a little different as they now require you to be qualified on the physical characteristics before you can start running.

“I would still highly recommend starting out with freight service just to get your feet wet. But if there’s somebody out there that’s successful with going straight into the passenger business, it’s not impossible.”

A Word of Advice: Networking and Persistence

“It’s a dangerous job that’s not for the faint of heart,” warns Best. But if one dreams of becoming a locomotive engineer, the sky is the limit. One common advice both Best and Huhn stress is the value of networking.

“It’s hard to replace experience,” said Best. “If you’re on a train with an experienced conductor or engineer, you’re focused on what they’re trying to teach you and retain it. That is stuff you take for the rest of your career.”

“Observe what the engineer is doing and ask questions,” said Huhn. “I could not be a bigger proponent of networking because I’ve met so many great people over the years that have given me sound advice.”

The Lion has just entered the big-top for his first show. He has plenty of fight, although/ he’s no longer a sleek cub. His tail is a bit frayed and his whiskers are slightly bent. But in the eyes of many, he’s still king, the star attraction, the one against whom all newcomers must ultimately measure themselves.

And that has been the case for much of the 20th century. From roughly 1920 on, Lionel has been a star, perhaps the main attraction, in the toy train circus. Lionel earned its place by overtaking older American and European rivals and fending off a horde of younger foes. Even now, no matter how enthusiastic operators might feel about new O gauge manufacturers, all comparisons center on Lionel.

Every collector can identify the strongest of the challengers, notably Ives, Gilbert, and MTH. But how about Carlisle & Finch? Or Kusan? As we celebrate Lionel’s centennial, it’s time to pay tribute to various competitors. The challenges they posed motivated Lionel to improve its trains and better its marketing to retain its toy train crown. 

Old World beasts 

Lionel pounced onto a scene a century ago that already was occupied by lines of electric and clockwork trains made by American and European companies. You may not be familiar with all  of them, but rest assured that before too many years passed they came to know the lion. If they had spoken with candor, most would have admitted that  they weren’t happy to have the growing cub nipping at their heels. 

At the start of the 20th century the largest and most powerful beasts in the toy train kingdom primarily lived across the Atlantic Ocean. Märklin, Bing, Georges Carette, Schoenner, and Issmayer were all well-established German toy firms producing large live-steam trains for Continental markets and mainly smaller, inexpensive work trains for America. 

The German locomotives and cars, known for attractive lithographed features, sold well despite typically being modeled after European prototypes. They were made of stamped tinplated steel, and most ran on No. 1 gauge track (1 3/4 inches between the rails). Eventually, to broaden the appeal of these trains, manufacturers “Americanized” them, modifying smokestacks and adding cowcatchers to locomotives, and decorating boxcars and passenger firms for American railroads. Making toy trains that looked more like what children saw every day was a strategy the lion would use later to revise what they were making for its German rivals.

 Domestic tigers

American-made toy trains also caught the attention of youngsters at the start of the 20th century. 

Producing electric trains was a logical progression for Carlisle & Finch Co. Established in 1893 by Morton Carlisle Clearly, and Robert Finch, the Cincinnati firm intended to produce “electrical novelties,” appliances, motors, military items, searchlights, and toys, but quickly became the leader in the toy train field.

Carlisle & Finch offered an electrically powered trolley in 1896. A year later, Carlisle & Finch expanded its line with a two-rail mining train, followed in 1899 by a steam-profile locomotive and tender as well as small baggage and passenger coaches, a gondola, and a boxcar. Many of these early trains were decorated using paper lithographed labels.

Electric trains proved enormously successful for Carlisle & Finch in the late 1890s and early 1900s, and the company stood tall as the largest manufacturer of such items. The young lion couldn’t miss the shadow cast by Carlisle & Finch.

As Carlisle & Finch grew, so did the Ives Manufacturing Corp., a mechanical toy maker founded in 1869 in Bridgeport, Conn. The first trains produced by Edward Ives (later succeeded by his son Harry) were pull toys. Clockwork trains made of tinplated steel came next. Ives was moving ahead with clockwork trains when a horrendous fire destroyed its plant in 1900. Rather than surrender, the Ives family returned with a vengeance and brought out the first clockworks in the country that ran on track–specifically O gauge track (1 ¼” between the rails). The black stamped-tin locomotives and handpainted passenger cars were a stunning step forward.

Ives, influenced by the practices of Märklin and Bing, marketed its trains and system of track, switches lights, signals, and stations with ingenuity, forging ahead with a growing line of clockwork trains that had growing appeal.

In fact, Ives challenged German firms for supremacy in the early 1900s with its familiar American prototypes. These new toys looked so much better than their imported rivals that Bing, Carette, Issmayer, Märklin, and others revised what they were making for the United States so their trains more closely resembled Ives’ production.

If longtime European toy makers believed they could learn a thing or two from ives, what might a feisty young lion learn?

Young, sharp claws

Clearly the world of toy trains was already crowded when Lionel became a fledgling cub a century ago. Still. J.L. Cowen’s new company saw ample opportunities for growth as it forged ahead with a touch of fear, but a larger measure of nerve.

Lionel’s first electric trains, cataloged from 1901 to 1905, departed from the then-current gauges and ran on track that, unlike any other seen in America, measured 2 1/8 inches between the outside rails. In 1906, it again ignored the pack and offered trains that ran on track with rails spaced 2 ⅛ inches apart, a new gauge that Lionel dared to call “Standard.” Over the next 15 years, as Lionel allotted more resources to developing a complete train line similar to what Ives offered, it gradually outpaced almost every competitor, foreign and domestic.

Despite early marketing successes, Lionel didn’t exactly break away from the pack. Until war erupted in Europe in 1914, German manufacturers matched Lionel, Carlisle & Finch, and Ives step for step.

However, the disruption of trade caused by World War I hurt Bing, Märklin, and others. More damaging still was Americans’ antipathy for all German products and their support from American-made items (encouraged by the formation of the American Toy Manufacturers Association in 1916). Those firms were further hindered by Lionel’s marketing effort that proclaimed Standard gauge better than Europe’s No. 1 gauge, and disparaged lithographed trains in general and clockwork ones in particular. Never again would Europe’s toy train makers contest for supremacy in the United States.

Other feisty cubs

Lionel encountered other newcomers that also believed they could emerge victorious from the hunt by producing electric, and not clockwork, trains. While nearly all of these firms guessed wrong and disappeared in a few years, they did advance the hobby and influence Lionel in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Perhaps the most notable of these smaller rivals was Voltamp Electric Manufacturing Co., which entered the field in 1906 or 1907. Led by Manes Fuld, this Baltimore firm offered a small yet appealing line of two-rail, 2-inch gauge trains and trolleys, complemented by striking accessories built by German toy makers. What won Voltamp trains the highest praise was their beauty. They came hand-painted and enhanced with sprung trucks and embossed wheels.

Most important, Voltamp led the way with a line that was powered by household alternating current (AC) instead of dry-cell batteries or other “portable” sources of electricity. 

Other newcomers announced their arrival slightly earlier. Howard Miniature Electric Lamp Co. and Knapp Electric & Novelty Co., both based in New York, manufactured electric 2-inch gauge trains that ran on two-rail sectional track. 

Knapp had been around since 1890, but didn’t enter the toy train field until 1905. It marketed cast-iron and stamped metal steam locomotives, along with passenger and freight cars, trolleys, and switches and crossovers for rolling stock for eight years. Rising production costs and heated competition forced Knapp to abandon this part of its line in favor of electrical toys and games.

Howard didn’t make it even that long, but probably had a greater impact. For one thing, it was the first to produce toy locomotives with an illuminated headlight and brass drive wheels. For another, it developed a sizable line that included four different engines and an equal number of trolleys, not to mention a pleasing array of freight and passenger cars. Gone by 1910, Howard brought out a roster that surely influenced Lionel’s.

Less influential, if only because of a lifespan even shorter than Howard or Knapp, was the Elektoy brand, introduced by J.K. Osborn Osborn Manufacturing Co., of Harrison, NJ·, in 1911. These three-rail No. 1 gauge trains depended on electricity.

Meanwhile, American Miniature Railway Co. struggled for a share of the clockwork market. Two former employees at Ives formed the company in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1909. They brought out cast-iron and tin pieces in No. 1 and 0 that were modeled after similar Ives locomotives and rolling stock. 

The timing must not have been right for either firm because American Miniature Railway was out of business  by 1912 and Elektoy vanished from the market the next year.

Lionel had clawed past all but two of these American rivals by 1920. Carlisle & Finch threw in the towel in 1916, giving up toy trains and sticking with its Edmonds-Metzel Hardware Co. Voltamp tried to keep the lion at bay but by 1923 Voltamp’s train line  was sold to H. E. Boucher Manufacturing Co., a New York concern that laterwould be known for its gorgeous model of the Blue Comet in Standard gauge. 

Strong foes, old and new

Despite the fall of the Europeans and smaller U.S. firms, Lonel still had its paws full with hungry competitors, including a seasoned veteran and a high-flying newcomer who would prove to be a mainstay. 

The veteran, Ives, could justifiably be called the leading American toy trainmaker through the end of the first World War. Competition pushed Ives to take a number of risks. To start, it brought out the first American-made No. 1 gauge trains in 1904. Then to make its clockwork trains more appealing, it redesigned locomotives and rolling stock and added new series to both its 0 and No. 1 gauge lines. Third and perhaps most significant, Harry and his father announced in 1910 that they had developed the first electric O gauge trains in the United States.(Lionel waited until 1915 to expand into O gauge.) Favorable responses moved Ives to power its No. 1 gauge trains with electricity in 1912. No other toy maker in the country could boast full lines of clockwork and electric trains in one gauge, much less two.

Even before Lionel abandoned its 2 7/8-inch line after 1905, Ives saw the need to bring its freight and passenger cars up to date. Over the next decade or so, Ives expanded its rolling stock roster, resulting in longer, slimmer models with automatic couplers and additional road names. With larger rosters and cars with varying levels of detail, the company could aim product lines at diverse price points in hopes of regaining a greater share of the market. The same goal led Ives, in 1921, last accept Lionel’s challenge and introduce its own version of 2 7/8-inch gauge trains, known as Wide gauge.

Like the veteran Ives, a relative newcomer from Chicago also refused to be intimidated by Lionel’s roar.

In 1905, William F. Hafner designed an O gauge cast-iron locomotive and a lithographed passenger coach for the line of mechanical toys manufactured by the company using his name. Two years later, eager to find financial backing to expand his enterprise, he entered into partnership with William Coleman, who was affiliated with Edmonds-Metzel Hardware Co. 

After deciding to concentrate on clockwork trains, they adopted the name American Flyer Manufacturing Co. three years later.

American Flyer sought to win a share of the low end of the market by producing cast-iron and sheet-metal clockwork trains in O gauge. It even marketed a cheaper brand under the

Hummer trade name. At first, American Flyer evidently aimed to compete not so much against Lionel as Ives, American Miniature Railway, and German makers of clockwork toys.

Not until 1918 did the firm supplement its line with electric trains. American Flyer improved its steam locomotives with battery-operated headlights and ringing bells. Then it developed electric-profile engines and skillfully decorated them. These beauties pulled colorfully painted and lithographed freight and passenger cars that also were redesigned to make them look longer and of better quality. Coleman handled things on his own because, in1914, Hafner split from American Flyer and launched his own business to make O gauge clockwork trains only. 

For the most part, Hafner Manufacturing Co. never posed much of a threat to Lionel. Its Overland Flyer line was meant to win customers away from Ives and American Flyer at the lower end of the market, where clockwork trains and lithography remained popular.

All the same, Lionel had reason to worry that it was losing the business of families with smaller incomes. That concern grew once such mail-order giants as Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Butler Brothers started to market Hafner trains aggressively.

Big, wide cats at war

With the passing of early rivals, the 1920s gave Lionel reason to fluff up its mane and roar with vigor. Surviving competitors resigned themselves to fighting for second place in the Standardand 0 gauge markets, but Ives and American Flyer didn’t just roll over and play dead.

Ives initiated a new challenge to Lionel in the Wide gauge market in 1921, a year after abandoning No. 1 gauge. Over the next few years, it brought out both steam- and electric-profile locomotives, along with beautifully painted freight and passenger cars. Enthusiasts today celebrate a number of the Ives Wide gauge outfits, notably the National Limited, the Olympian, and the Prosperity Special. They consider them true classics, equal to anything Lionel cataloged at the time.

Unfortunately for Harry Ives, his attractive and well-built Wide gauge trains could not stave off the financial problems that dogged his family’s business. Rising costs associated with the development of new, die-cast Wide gauge locomotives and stamped-steel passenger cars, widespread distribution of the annual catalog, and generous repair policies weakened the company. Ives filed for bankruptcy in 1928.

Lionel, American Flyer, and Hafner kept the line afloat for a couple of years by using bodies they manufactured as the basis for outfits marketed under the still-respected Ives name. These desirable sets are known as “Ives-transition.”) Eventually, Lionel acquired the Ives’ assets and produced Ives trains in 1931 and 1932 in its own plant in New Jersey before putting an end to the line in 1933. The lion had devoured its chief American foe.

Out in Chicago, American Flyer entered the Wide gauge field in 1925 with a line of handsome electric-profile locomotives and lithographed passenger cars. To offset its late entrance into this market, Coleman’s company priced its trains below comparable models from Lionel and Ives yet added enameled finish, brass or nickel trim, and other features. Over the next few years, it introduced a number of outstanding sets that included the Mayflower, the Pocahontas, and the President’s Special.

Pulling the lion’s tail

Lionel felt another tug on its tail in the mid-1920s, this time from a German competitor with an American cousin. Dorfan, established in 1924 by Julius and Milton Forchheimer in Newark,NJ., had links with Joseph Kraus & Co.,a German firm that exported Fandor 0 gauge trains to the United States before World War I (“Dorfan” and “Fandor”were derived from Dora and Fanny, the mothers of the Forchheimer cousins.)

Dorfan began by marketing clockwork and electric locomotives and cars in 0  gauge in 1925; it added electric trains in Wide gauge a year later. Soon, both its lines featured different series of  engines and rolling stock at various price levels.

Though never a threat to Lionel’s dominance, Dorfan still left its mark as an innovator in terms of production techniques. It was the first toy train maker to rely on a zinc-copper alloy as its primary die-casting material. Using the new process of pressure die-casting, Dorfan built trains whose unbreakable body shells held their wheels in place and therefore eliminated the need for a frame. Light bodies, husky motors, and ball bearings on drive axles gave the locomotives more pulling power than their Lionel and American Flyer counterparts, which gave Dorfan quite a marketing angle. 

Before many years went by, however, impurities in the zinc-copper alloy oxidized and caused the material to warp and crack until models literally fell apart. Suddenly, Dorfan’s engines weren’t so marvelous.

The company’s freight and passenger cars experienced far fewer problems. Whether made for the Wide or O gauge lines, Dorfan’s rolling stock featured stamped-steel bodies, superb lithography, and noteworthy details, particularly hand-painted, three dimensional figures inLionel’s prewar competitors passenger cars and the first die-cast trucks and wheels installed on toy trains.

Pulling these cars over Dorfan’s three-rail track were electric-profilei locomotives with outstanding power. The O gauge line later incorporated1 clockwork and electrically powered steam locomotives, as well as a handful of lithographed accessories.

Dorfan might have been able to carve out its own niche, but its appeal eroded due to casting problems combined with the need to lower production costs by removing details. The firm scraped by during the first years of theGreat Depression, only to quit producing trains in 1934.

By that time, American Flyer was seeking new ways to win customers. It invested in new tooling, vigorously advertised its new O gauge steam  engines (including a New York Central Hudson that anticipated Lionel’s celebrated No. 700E), and upgraded passenger and freight cars. Best of all, it introduced models of the Burlington Zephyr, Milwaukee Road Hiawatha, and other streamlined trains that were entrancing people across America. Cast-aluminum versions were directed at the high end of the market, sheet-metal ones at the low end.

The future appeared bright William Coleman Jr.’s high-flying firm, so it was a shock when he quit cataloging Wide gauge trains in 1936 and sold his O gauge line to A. C. Gilbert Co. of New Haven, Conn., in 1938.

Already known for its Erector sets and Mysto-Magic outfits, Gilbert as jumped right into the toy train arena. In 1938, it marketed handsome O gauge models of Atlantic and Pacific steam locomotives and tenders under and motor the American Flyer name (almost certainly holdovers from the Chicago line). A year later, Gilbert announced the Tru-Model American Flyer brand of 3/16-inch scale trains. These highly detailed beauties included some fine die-cast steamers and several new die-cast and sheet-metal freight and passenger cars. Collectors now covet these models, the forerunners of the distinguished S gauge line that made its debut in 1946.

Claw “Marx”

While Gilbert moved American Flyer toward a direct challenge with Lionel, Louis Marx & Co. sought only to capture part ofLionel’s kingdom – the low end of the toy train market.

In 1928, Marx expanded its line of mechanical toys with Joy Line clockwork trains made by Girard Model Works. Tivo years later, it added Joy Line’s electric engine. Subsequently, Girard suffered financial difficulties and declared bankruptcy in 1934. At that point Louis Marx purchased control of the business, thereby strengthening his manufacturing capabilities. By the end of the 1930s, Marx had factories in Erie, and Girard, Pa., and Glendale Va., while its business offices remained in New York.

In the early 1930s, Joy Line (whether Girard or Marx) consisted of elementary types of freight and passenger cars that rode on the most basic of trucks with simple couplers. Improvements came in the middle and later years of the decade, after Marx gained control, when it brought out toylike models of. Union Pacific and other streamliners. These cost less than comparable trains offered by Lionel and American Flyer, but lacked detail and size. Marx also released bright models’ of the Commodore Vanderbilt and the Mercury, both New York Central engines, along with six-inch passenger and freight cars. As the shadow of World War II grew, Marx added military trains to its mix.

Time out for war

And so, as war came and production of electric trains ended in 1942, Lionel found itself dominating the market in ways its.leaders could barely have imagined four decades before. American firms were virtually all that competed in the toy train market, and they did so principally with O and O-27 gauge trains. German companies played a lesser role, and No. 1 and 2-inch gauge, even Standard/Wide gauge, were gone.

Except for the low end of the market, where Marx and perhaps Hafner had strength, the Lionel Corp. faced few serious challengers. The feisty lion had grown powerful and it prowled its territory with confidence. Whether any new rivals would emerge remained the big story for the next half-century.

The author wishes to acknowledge assistance provided ded by Ron Antonetti and Frank Loveland. 

Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, Pa., was one of many famous locations on the Pennsylvania RR, and Ed Dougherty re-created the scene on his freelanced HO scale PRR Eno Valley Division layout. Here, we see two Fairbanks-Morse CFA-16-4 diesel locomotives leading a manifest freight past the public viewing area. Lou Sassi took the photo.

Model Railroader‘s Photo of the Day features images from our archives, celebrating decades of model railroad heritage and excellence.

Scale: HO (1:87.1)

Price: Stealth (no sound), $749.99; with dual-mode Paragon4 sound decoder, $849.99

Era: 1941 to present (varies based on paint scheme)

Manufacturer: Broadway Limited Imports, 9 East Tower Circle, Ormond Beach, FL 32174; 386-673-8900; broadway-limited.com

Broadway Limited HO UP Big Boy features:

• Back-electromotive-force decoder
• Built-in capacitor pack
• Factory-installed engineer and fireman figures
• Five-pole can motor with skew-wound armature
• Heavy, die-cast metal boiler, tender body, and chassis
• Numerous lighting features, including cab light, front number boxes, headlight, and reverse light
• Recommended minimum radius, 18”
• Road-number-specific details
• Rubber traction tires
• Separate, factory-applied details including air tanks, brass bell, handrails, ladders, number boards, and piping
• Separate whistle smoke feature
• Synchronized puffing smoke with chuff sound

Release date: Available now

Road names: Union Pacific (No. 4014 [modern day appearance with Positive Train Control details and “The Big Boy Tour” excursion appearance], No. 4019 [with experimental smoke deflectors], Nos. 4000, 4004, and 4012 [1941 appearance with as-delivered aftercooler and 25-C-100 coal tender], and Nos. 4021 and 4023 [1944 appearance with Wilson aftercooler and 25-C-400 coal tender]) and fantasy schemes (American Freedom Train, Great Northern, UP Forty-Niner, and U.S. Navy).

News & Products is a regular feature of Trains.com for model railroad operators and builders to get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more. Model railroad product news may include HO, N, O, S, and Z scales. Product release dates and prices will vary according to each manufacturer.

If you are a manufacturer and have new product releases, please email Senior Editor Cody Grivno at cody.grivno@firecrown.com.

PITTSBURGH — Wabtec is marking the 10th anniversary of the delivery of its first batch of Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotives, which have gone on to become far and away the dominant new road power on Class I railroads.

BNSF Railway was the first to receive the AC-traction locomotives that are designed to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s stringent Tier 4 emissions standards.

Of that initial batch of ET44C4’s, BNSF No. 3911 has accumulated more than 1 million miles (1,002,461 as of last week) since entering revenue service on July 31, 2015, BNSF spokesman Zak Andersen says. The unit has been running primarily on the railway’s Southern Transcon and has been averaging 275 miles per day.

Today, No. 3911 has 359 Tier 4 companions in the BNSF fleet, North America’s largest roster of the cleanest-burning locomotives.

Amid a long-term drought for new locomotive orders, Wabtec and predecessor General Electric have built a total of 1,178 North American Tier 4 units to date, including the locomotives delivered this year to Canadian Pacific Kansas City as part of its 100-unit order.

If EMD’s trailblazing FT demonstrator set was the “Diesel That Did It” by convincing railroads to abandon steam, then Wabtec’s ET44AC was the “Diesel That Did It” to EMD. Progress Rail is a Tier 4 also-ran that has sold 100 or so of its EMD SD70ACe‑T4. They remain in use on Union Pacific. CSX purchased 10 but ultimately returned them.

The Wabtec/GE Tier 4 fleet — which includes the ET44AC, the heavier ET44AH, the A1A-A1A ET44C4 with its unpowered center axles, and the ET44ACi international version for use outside North America — has rolled off more than 500 million miles of operation. Combined, the locomotives are nearing 10,000 years of run time.

Neither technical nor commercial success was guaranteed back in the early 2000s when GE Transportation began an effort to design locomotives that could evolve along with the EPA’s phased approach to cleaner-burning heavy equipment.

The EPA’s Tier 2 standards, which applied to locomotives built after Jan. 1, 2005, were the first restrictions placed on NOx and particulate matter emissions. Tier 3, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2012, further tightened particulate matter restrictions. And Tier 4, which has applied to all new builds after Jan. 1, 2015, reduces NOx by 76% and particulate matter emissions by 85%.

Back then the challenge was to build a locomotive that met the more strict emissions requirements while maintaining the level of efficiency, productivity, and reliability of previous generations of AC locomotives, says Rogerio Mendonca, Wabtec’s president of freight equipment.

“Tier 3 was more of an evolution of the technology, and getting to Tier 4 required a different approach,” Mendonca says.

Rather than update its FDL engine, GE developed a new one, the GEVO12-LDD, which relies on exhaust gas recirculation to reduce emissions and delivers 4,365 tractive horsepower.

Most manufacturers of diesel engines for heavy equipment such as excavators and ships turned to after-treatment, which requires the use of urea, a reservoir to carry the liquid, and infrastructure to supply it at fuel pads.

Railroads did not want to add that sort of complexity to their operations, Mendonca says. “And that’s where we designed the concept of the exhaust gas recirculation,” he explains.

Exhaust gas recirculation reduces NOx emissions by 70% compared to a Tier 3 locomotive.

Not every Class I railroad was ready to jump on the Tier 4 bandwagon. Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel said over the years that he didn’t want the railway to be on the bleeding edge of locomotive technology, and that the Tier 4 locomotives weren’t as reliable or as fuel efficient as their predecessors.

That has changed as Wabtec has made incremental improvements to the locomotives over the years. Their reliability and fuel efficiency now is on par with earlier locomotives.

“At the end of the day, fuel efficiency, reliability, availability, those are the core fundamentals of any technology. And the fact that today we have the vast majority of Tier 4’s being Wabtec Tier 4’s, and adoption increasing at a much faster rate, that’s an indication that the product has evolved in the right direction,” Mendonca says.

The biggest improvements made to the Evolution Series over the past decade involve tweaks to the exhaust gas recirculation system and the fuel injection system. Also contributing to improved performance: Advancements to the Wabtec locomotive platform, which includes individually controlled AC traction motors, the cooling system, the monitoring system that relays engine health data back to Wabtec, and TripOptimizer, the smart cruise control system.

“As new technologies, there were a number of things that kept evolving over the years, from locomotive No. 1 in July 2015 to the locomotives we’re delivering to CPKC,” Mendonca says.

Wabtec also has engineered fuel flexibility into its locomotives. They can run on a 20% blend of biodiesel or 100% renewable diesel — both of which reduce carbon dioxide emissions — as well as LNG. Wabtec also is working on directly burning hydrogen as a fuel.

With railroads placing a focus on reducing their carbon footprints, it’s unclear how the new locomotive market will change in the coming years as the industry experiments with diesel fuel blends, alternative fuels, natural gas, hydrogen, and battery-electrics.

But Mendonca says the Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotives will be able to evolve and continue to pull freight for 20 to 25 years as they serve as a bridge to the future.

Wabtec Tier 4 rosters

BNSF operates 360 Tier 4 locomotives.
CN’s fleet totals 296 Tier 4 units.
CPKC has a total of 133, including units scheduled for delivery this year and 25 former KCS locomotives.
CSX purchased 225 Wabtec Tier 4 units ,numbered 3250-3274. Currently, five of these locomotives require repairs to return to active service.
Norfolk Southern has 80 ET44ACs on the roster.
Union Pacific declined to provide a figure. But unofficial tallies put its total Tier 4 fleet at 270 units, including 170 Wabtec ET44AH.