CHICAGO — If you have yet to see this video posted to Facebook from Chicago’s ABC affiliate, please don’t throw a shoe at your screen. Someone with ABC posted a video recording of Metra crews standing near a diamond with one rail lit on fire. ABC’s original caption was: “WINTER IN CHICAGO! Setting the tracks […]
Section: News Wire
Genesee & Wyoming debuts new Providence & Worcester logo NEWSWIRE
New Providence & Worcester logo Genesee & Wyoming DARIEN, Conn. — The “i”s are dotted, the “t”s are crossed and the Providence & Worcester Railroad now has a new logo to mark its entry into the Genesee & Wyoming family of railroads. The Surface Transportation Board granted authority for G&W to buy the Class III […]
Donner Pass snows clog highways but delay trains little NEWSWIRE
Norden, Calif. Google Maps ROSEVILLE, Calif. — While snow and zero visibility shut down numerous highways, Union Pacific and Amtrak soldiered on over California’s Donner Pass this week. But now flooding is the threat as the forecast calls for heavy rain, some of it on several feet of snow. “In preparation of the coming weather […]
South Dakota short line re-opens former Milwaukee Road line NEWSWIRE
A Dakota Southern SD7 sits on rebuilt track at Chamberlain, S.D. Pat Malone CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. — A shortline railroad is boosting its grain business after reopening more than 40 miles of main line in South Dakota. The Dakota Southern started hauling unit grain trains to the Wheat Growers Cooperative in Kennebec, S.D., earlier this harvest […]
Snows only slow Amtrak’s ‘Empire Builder’ NEWSWIRE
An on-time eastbound Empire Builder pauses at Minot, N.D., for servicing on Aug. 20, 2014. Bob Johnston RUGBY, N.D. — Snow and ice are burying much of North Dakota this week, but Amtrak’s Empire Builder soldiers on. While national TV news and published reports recounted how thousands of flights were cancelled, trucks jackknifed all over […]
Trains Top 10 stories for 2016: No. 3, RETURN OF THE 844 NEWSWIRE
Union Pacific 4-8-4 Northern-type No. 844 pictured at LaSalle, Colo., in 2009. The famed locomotive made a triumphant come back in 2016 after repairs and a 1,472-day overhaul. Bruce A. Daugherty WAUKESHA, Wis. — When Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 returned to the rails under its own power this year, we were reminded of what […]
Ron Ziel, author of classic steam railroading volumes, dies at 77 NEWSWIRE
Ron Ziel as he appeared in 1975 for a wedding announcement. The announcement includes a note that he and his wife, Elizabeth McAtic, had no time for a real honeymoon since they were about to spend six weeks in Africa imaging steam locomotives. Ron Ziel IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Ron Ziel, whose book “The Twilight […]
Progress Rail EMD Tier 4 units heading to first customer NEWSWIRE
FORT WORTH, Texas — Progress Rail is shipping the first two production SD70ACe-T4s to Union Pacific this week. They will be the first EMD Tier 4 units ordered by a customer to be placed in revenue service. The locomotives, UP Nos. 3012 and 3014 were shipped from Bombardier’s Sahagun, Mexico, plant, arriving in Laredo on […]
First Brightline train on FEC rails NEWSWIRE
A special Brightline train is set to complete its more than 3,000-mile journey from California to south Florida this week. The train was on Florida East Coast rails for the first time today in Jacksonville, Fla., with FEC milepost 0 immediately behind the train. Eric Hendrickson JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first new trainset for a […]
Southern Pacific RDC to return to California home for the holidays (and stay) NEWSWIRE
Former Southern Pacific Budd rail diesel car SP-10 on a flat car in Texas on Nov. 17. RDC SP-10 Facebook page GALVESTON, Texas —Somewhere in the West this Thanksgiving, there is a Southern Pacific Budd rail diesel car on its way home. RDC SP-10 began the long journey from the Galveston Railroad Museum back to […]
First Viewliner II diner on the move NEWSWIRE
Viewliner II dining car Annapolis deadheads on the rear of the southbound Silver Meteor at Kissimmee, Fla., on Nov. 18. Scott A. Hartley MIAMI — Amtrak employees will soon train in the newest dining cars on the continent now that the first of 25 new Viewliner II dining cars has arrived at Amtrak’s Hialeah Maintenance […]
FRA will continue to push two-person crew rule, top safety official says NEWSWIRE
NEW YORK — The Federal Railroad Administration will continue to move forward with its proposed rule requiring two-person locomotive crews despite the changing political climate in Washington and mounting criticism from the rail industry. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reduce government regulations. But elections don’t change the FRA’s mission of improving safety, Robert Lauby, […]
