MoPac Northerns

MoPac Northerns

Two 4-8-4s, Baldwin products of 1943, lead a westbound freight with a long string of open hoppers through Sandy Hook, Mo., about 19 miles west of Jefferson City on Missouri Pacific’s River Line. The railroad had 15 such locomotives, Nos. 2201–2215, and 25 more home-built examples, Nos. 2101–2125. C. T. Wood photo […]

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Spanish rail company Renfe shuts down U.S. affiliate

Red and white electrified passenger train

MADRID — Renfe, Spain’s national railway company, has shut down its U.S. affiliate, Renfe of America, giving up on its hopes of operating the Texas Central high speed project. Spanish newspaper El Economista reports Renfe has taken a €4.5 million Euro ($5.17 million) loss in the company’s 2024 financial report, saying that it sees “no […]

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CPKC says service is on the mend in former KCS territory

red, yellow and other colors on a locomotive

WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific Kansas City expects service to return to normal by late July in former Kansas City Southern territory that has experienced congestion, delays, and missed customer switches since a May 3 computer cutover. “CPKC’s level of service performance on the legacy-KCS network since May 3, 2025 — as reflected in part in […]

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North Dakota storms blamed for two derailments

CPKC logo

High winds and a tornado are blamed for a pair of derailment in North Dakota on Friday and Saturday. Thirty cars of a CPKC train were derailed on Friday, June 20, about three miles southeast of Enderlin, where a tornado killed three people. The Fargo Forum newspaper reports the storm was so destructive that authorities […]

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Grain-hauling boxcars

Grain-hauling boxcars

A string of single-sheathed boxcars awaits coopering at an elevator on the Milwaukee Road in Sisseton, S.Dak., in 1939. Single-sheathed boxcars could be found in grain service into the 1960s. John Vachon, Library of Congress photo […]

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Blue Streak

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The Cotton Belt’s Blue Streak rolls west of Mount Pleasant, Texas, on Oct. 1, 1931. The train is led by 4-6-0 No. 659, built by Baldwin in 1913. Formally known as the St. Louis Southwestern, the railroad began as the 3-foot-gauge Tyler Tap Railroad between Tyler and Big Sandy, Texas, in the 1870s. Harold K. Vollrath […]

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Abilene & Smoky Valley dedicates restored diesel

Veteran standing in fromt of restored diesel

ABILENE, Kan. — The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad has reactivated one of its vintage diesel locomotives for the first time in over 20 years.  No. 34, a GE 44-ton center-cab switcher, was unveiled on Sunday (June 8, 2025) at the tourist railroad’s former Rock Island depot in Abilene. This comes after an extensive restoration […]

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Union Pacific worker killed in Texas (updated)

Union Pacific logo without slogan. UP Bailey Yard explosion appear to be accidental.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — A Union Pacific employee was killed Monday (June 9) in an incident near a grade crossing, the Nacogdoches Police Department reports. KETK-TV reports that police responded to a report of an individual struck by a train about 3:28 p.m. Union Pacific, in a statement to the station, said, “We are saddened by […]

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Ethanol cars on UP train derail in Texas; no spill reported

Image from X.com of overturned tank car at derailment in Waxahachie, Texas. USE ONLY AS "FEATURED IMAGE"

🚨 BREAKING: Train derailment in downtown Waxahachie 🚨 Happened just before midnight. 16 cars jumped tracks, 14 are tanker cars carrying ethanol. City officials confirm no leaks, no injuries, no immediate danger to the public. We’re live on scene on @NBCDFW with updates. pic.twitter.com/fh4uBv0CHT — Alanna Quillen (@AlannaNBC5) June 10, 2025 WAXAHACHIE, Texas — Sixteen […]

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