The Occasional Express

Welcome to Shunting Around Ideas, an editorial series on The Occasional Express. Today, I will be discussing the recent change to Amtrak's policy. Amtrak hasn't been very popular in recent years with rail enthusiasts. The government-run passenger company decided to stop giving insurance out to nonprofits who ran excursions in 2018. However, Amtrak's more recent policy change is much more controversial, and dangerous. According to Railway Age, Amtrak has changed their policy regarding lawsuits. In summary: Amtrak has made it so customers who buy a ticket agree to "mandatory" arbitration, which essentially means passengers (and their families) agree not to sue them. This includes, but is not limited to: Negligence Physical Impairment Pain & Suffering Emotional Distress Damages rising from any injury  Now for reference to other transportation industries, airlines, according to Railway Age, were prohibited from arbitration. Bus operators, cruise lines ...

Welcome to the On This Day series, where The Occasional Express discusses train related anniversaries. Today, we discuss the anniversary of Flying Scotsman's 100 mph run. Flying Scotsman in Preservation in 1982. Photo By David Ingham - originally posted to Flickr as 03035, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3883924 Flying Scotsman needs no introduction. In case you are not familiar, a quick review. Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive built for the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) according to the flyingscotsman.org. Originally numbered 1472, she left her "birthplace," Doncaster Works, on February 24, 1923. Flying Scotsman was named after the train that ran since 1862, and renumbered to 4472 (her most famous number) in 1924, then was sent to the British Exhibition. From here, the engine would become the LNER's Flagship. In 1928, Flying Scotsman was given a tender with a corridor in it, allowing for nonstop runs from Lon...

By Patrick Webb Welcome to Branch Line News, your occasional summarized news source on all train topics. In today’s Branch Line News we go smaller and look at recent model train news and a fundraiser for a British Heritage Railway following a tragic washout. Rapido Trains Announces New Alco PA Rapido Trains, a Canadian based model train company who do models in HO, OO and N scale (referring to the size of the models, HO for reference is 1:87 to real life, while N scale is 1:148-1:160)  recently announced a new HO scale PA model. The basis, the PA’s were built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) as competition for EMD's popular E series of diesel locomotives. According to American-Rails.com, the first Alco PA was built in 1946 for passenger trains. The Alco PA's are held to be one of the most beautiful American diesel locomotive (held in as high regard as the Class 43's, which The Occasional Express discussed in our last article) and were even given the rank ...

By Patrick Webb Nottingham, UK . Controversy has hit the UK preservation community, as a negotiation failure between the National Railway Museum and 125 group has become public.  Founded in 1994 as a news source on the Intercity 125’s, the 125 group’s goals are to provide news on the famous British High Speed Trains (HSTs) via their magazine and ultimately preserve some examples of IC engines and rollingstock, according to their website. John Zabernik, a 125 Group Trustee, said that preserving a 125 power car was always a long time goal.  The HSTs were introduced into service in 1976, according to the 125 Group’s website, to provide England with modern passenger service. The class, officially the BR Class 43, but better known as the Intercity 125’s, according to the Locomotive Wiki, were an instant success, which BR needed after the failure of the prototype Advanced Passenger Train. In 2011, according to Mr. Zabernik, all mainline HST’s were “re-engineering includin...

By Patrick Webb Welcome to Branch Line News, your source for summarized news in the rail community. Pull out your tickets, for this Branch Line News we're going to be travelling to several different locations. WW&F Bridge Extension Completed The Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway, (WW&F) Museum, founded in 1989 to restore the line of the original WW&F which ran from 1894 until 1933, according to their website, recently reached a big achievement towards their goal.  The WW&F Museum announced on their Facebook page that they completed their line across Trout Brook. Trout Brook Bridge, called Carleton Brook in its working days, runs along Route 218.  A different bridge, running across Moose Brook for the Boston & Maine Railroad, was reused for the WW&F. Set on fire in 2004 by arsonists, the bridge was restored. The new Trout Brook bridge is a " Howe Boxed Pony Truss bridge, one of only eight surviving examples of such a design in North...