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CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority will add 24-hour service on a third rail line and look to increase frequencies across its rail system, the CTA’s acting president said this week in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. Acting President Nora Leerhsen told the newspaper the agency is looking to turn the Orange Line — […]
CHICAGO — Tickets go on sale Nov. 17 at noon for Metra’s annual Holiday Trains, to operate on five of its routes in December. The specially decorated trains featuring holiday characters will operate on the Metra Electric, BNSF, Milwaukee West, Rock Island, and Union Pacific Northwest lines. The Metra Electric trips will also feature a […]
DAUPHIN, Manitoba, Canada — At 101 First Ave., N., stands the former Canadian Northern Railway station built in 1912. Often called “Manitoba’s most beautiful station,” the building is of the Château style and is covered in local Tyndall stone. The Dauphin Rail Museum occupied the baggage room, telling the story of the region’s railroads. Outside, […]
For the second consecutive year, Indiana Northeastern Railroad, Little River Railroad, and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society will play host to the Cameron Christmas Train, a three-day tour of northeastern Indiana, southeastern Michigan, and western Ohio set for Nov. 20-22 to mark the holiday season and deliver gifts to families along the route. The […]
The Pennsylvania’s one-of-a-kind class S1 6-4-4-6 duplex drive No. 6100 shrugs off an early Chicago winter snow storm as it pauses at Englewood Union Station with the eastbound Manhattan Limited in November 1939. Harold Stirton photo […]
CHICAGO — The Regional Transportation Authority is scrapping plans for fare increases by Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace in the wake of passage of Illinois legislation providing new funding for the transit operations. Given budget deficits and uncertainty over state funding, the RTA had required all three operating agencies to include […]
ATLANTA — When a broken wheel caused a derailment on Norfolk Southern — just a mile after NS received the train through interchange — it prompted the railroad to begin tinkering with new ways to detect wheel defects. “We as a leadership team said there’s got to be a better way,” Chief Operating Officer John […]
Time to distress some steel! Follow along as David demonstrate two essential bridge weathering techniques on the HO scale (1:87.1) ETIP project layout, from heavy all-over rust using Monroe Models washes to creating the effect of faded, blistered paint with Vallejo Paints. Get the pro tips on permanent installation and finish details along the authentic […]
WASHINGTON — The conductor of a Union Pacific train was standing in a track adjacent to his train for an unknown reason when he was struck and killed by a Metra train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final investigation report on the Sept. 4, 2024, accident in Kenosha, Wis. The incident occurred […]
[Ed. — This adventure is excerpted from a story originally appearing in Trains, September 1984. It, along with 45 other railroad stories, can be found in a forthcoming Trains/Classic Train book: Tales of the Rails, due out in March 2026. Visit shop.trains.com to order your copy.] On June 27, 1955, I witnessed a veteran locomotive […]
MOLINE, Ill. — The transit bill passed early Friday (Oct. 31) by Illinois legislators doesn’t just address the financial needs and governing structure of transit operations in the Chicago area. Tucked into the bill’s more than 1,000 pages are two provisions that legislators say should boost the long-running effort to launch rail passenger service between […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois legislature has passed a package of funding measures to support Chicago-area transit agencies, while also restructuring those agencies. The 1,043-page Senate Bill 2111 will wipe out the collective shortfall of more than $200 million faced by Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace, avoiding CTA service cuts that […]
