Amtrak’s California Zephyr calls at Omaha in September 2018. Trains: Jim Wrinn OMAHA, Neb. — Faced with uncertain restoration dates on the California Zephyr’s regular BNSF Railway route owing to extensive flooding in Iowa, beginning Thursday, March 21, Amtrak is rerouting the train over the Union Pacific’s former Chicago & North Western main line between […]
Steam locomotive Tjepper works the plantation line on March 2, 2019. The name refers to a district in central Java where the loco worked 1914-1990s. Glen Beadon BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The island nation of Barbados in the Caribbean has a brand new steam railway which was opened officially March 11 by the country’s prime minister, […]
CN No. 5080 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1914 and spent most of its career in Manitoba. CN donated the locomotive to Prince Albert in the 1960s. Aspen Crossing Cranes lift No. 5080 to begin its journey to its new home in Alberta. Aspen Crossing PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan — A Canadian National […]
CHICAGO — Indiana residents frustrated by train-blocked grade crossings must wonder if it will take an act of Congress to clear their commutes. Fed up with the failure of state laws and federal bureaucracy to carry freight with the railroads, local politicians are aiming to do just that. Officials at a Monday meeting of the […]
CHICAGO — Metra is seeking bids for new commuter rail cars and says it is willing to break with 70 years of Chicago rail commuting tradition if it gets a better idea. The agency Wednesday issued a request for proposals for at least 200 new railcars and is urging manufacturers to suggest alternative designs that […]
KENT, Wash. — Sound Transit has begun taking public comment on a controversial proposal to build a maintenance base for light rail on the site of a popular local hamburger restaurant, but the idea has drawn fresh criticism from one significant voice: a board member of the regional transit agency. David Upthegrove, a King County […]
WASHINGTON — At least $232 billion needs to be invested during the next 10 years in public transit, according to a report released this week by the American Public Transportation Association. The study draws from three sources. A U.S. Department of Transportation infrastructure status report, issued in 2015, identifies an $89.8-billion backlog of spending needed […]
EL PASO, Ill. — A Roman Catholic center dedicated to the memory of the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen has added a capstone, of sorts, to its Illinois center … in the form of a caboose. Sheen was born in El Paso and lived in the Peoria, Ill.-area before receiving ordination as a priest and moving […]
UP No. 4014 was steam testing, UP said on March 20, 2019. Facebook screen shot CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific said Wednesday it is steam testing restored Big Boy No. 4014. In a post to the company’s Official Union Pacific Steam Club Facebook page, the railroad showed a 13 second video clip taken from the […]
Lonely. Isolated. Desolate. Remote. The list of words to describe how this place — one of the (if not the) most sacred sites in American railroad history — feels is nowhere long enough. To come here into the high desert is to be on a pilgrimage for a glimpse into the unending sagebrush, rocks, and […]
Construction crews working westward on the Union Pacific encountered rough going when they reached Utah’s Weber Canyon. Trains collection If you built a transcontinental railroad today from scratch, how long would it take, given the regulatory environment of the modern world? Nobody knows for sure, but the best guess is about 57 years. Here’s a […]
Union Pacific trains and ocvered wagons congregate near the end of track at Archer, Wyo., in 1867 during construction westward. Union Pacific 1832: Proponents call for transcontinental railroad 1845: New England merchant and traveler, Asa Whitney begins advocacy for Pacific Railroad 1853: Congress appropriates $150,000 for survey of five routes 1855-1860: 12 volumes of findings […]
