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The SPMW 222 at Crystal Lake, Calif., about 15 minutes before its bearings failed. S.R. Bush TRUCKEE, Calif. – Winter on Donner Pass is only at the halfway mark but already is proving one to be remembered. November and December were mild, but in January things began to shift the pace and strength of storms […]
Transcontinental Railroad financial troubles After just 18 years of operation, there had been so many irregularities and so much concern over the Union Pacific’s ability to repay its federal loans that in 1887 Congress created the United States Pacific Railroad Commission to investigate the finances and structure of all the major railroads initially described as […]
ELLENDALE, Minn. – Two Union Pacific trains stuck in deep snow near Ellendale are free this week following the efforts of railroad and contractor crews to free them. Ellendale is located on the so-called “Spine Line” between Minneapolis and Des Moines, Iowa, about 30 miles north of the Minnesota-Iowa state line. The work took place […]
SEATTLE — Union Pacific and Amtrak are both working to put their West Coast networks back together after a late-winter snowstorm severed its line between Eugene, Ore., and the California border and left a passenger train stranded for more than a day. UP officials said Thursday the line was back in operation. It would not […]
UP crews built a switchback to reach a tunnel during construction. In many ways, the work done on the transcontinental railroad were feats of ingenuity and engineering. Union Pacific Importance of The Transcontinental Railroad In the 1850s, major railroad projects were viewed as projects for the public good, in much the same way we justify […]
UP No. 844 rolls south at Greeley, Colo., in July 2018. Trains: Jim Wrinn WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has told Union Pacific it doesn’t need waivers in 2019 to operate non-PTC-equipped steam locomotives Nos. 844 and 4014 on three excursions covering 11,111 miles, according to letters between UP and FRA that Trains Newswire […]
Big Boy 4014 near Green River, Wyo., on its way to restoration in 2014. Trains: Jim Wrinn OMAHA, Neb. — Fans of Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014, eager to make travel plans for the engine’s debut trip from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Ogden, Utah, in May, will have to wait a bit longer for […]
A pair of BNSF Railway units pull a train of some 130-plus stored coal hoppers from Spikebuck, Colo., about five miles west of Parkdale, Colo., where Royal Gorge Route tourist trains terminate. Jody Moore CANON CITY, Colo. — A piece of Rio Grande’s long-dormant Tennessee Pass route saw freight traffic on it again briefly Monday. […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has pulled 107 locomotives from its surge fleet and added 300 train and engine crews in response to harsh winter weather and derailments that gummed up its system over the past month. “I want to make it clear that the setbacks we’ve experienced are not due to the implementation of […]
Union Pacific directors pose at the 100th Meridian, 247 miles west of Omaha, Neb. There were still many miles to go to reach Ogden, Utah. Library of Congress collection Many railroads have had their share of drama and intrigue, but it is hard to recall another railroad with the narrative complexity and heroic scale of […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific announced another round of layoffs on Tuesday that affects 700 employees and includes the closure of the locomotive shop in Pine Bluff, Ark. UP has notified the mechanical department that 450 positions will be eliminated across the system this month. In addition, 250 other jobs were eliminated, most of them […]
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Union Pacific has about 30 freight cars to clean up and account for after a Saturday derailment northeast of Las Vegas temporarily closed the line to Salt Lake City. Las Vegas television station KSNV reports that the train derailed early in the morning, Saturday, Feb. 9. The station reported that the […]
