New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo leads a tour of Amtrak’s damaged Hudson River tunnel in October. Gov. Andrew Cuomo via Flickr Options for the Hudson River tunnel project, from Trains, September 2018. TRAINS: Rick Johnson NEW YORK — Partisan political bickering hasn’t helped the aging Hudson River tunnels that carry 200,000 Amtrak riders and NJ […]
Union Pacific Union Pacific NEW YORK — Union Pacific remains about a month ahead of schedule with the rollout of its new operating plan and now expects systemwide implementation by the middle of 2019, months earlier than originally envisioned. The railroad has completed the introduction of Unified Plan 2020 on its Mid-America Corridor linking the […]
NEW YORK — Union Pacific, which is bucking the Precision Scheduled Railroading trend of idling the humps at classification yards, still needs the new hump yard it’s building in Hearne, Texas, CEO Lance Fritz says. The late CEO E. Hunter Harrison converted several hump yards to flat-switching facilities at Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and CSX […]
An image of earthquake damage on the Alaska Railroad right-of-way. Alaska Railroad ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Railroad remains shut down between Anchorage and Fairbanks following a 7.0 earthquake that shook the southern part of the state on Friday. No one was injured in Friday’s earthquake — or the more than 1,000 aftershocks that have […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has begun an open casting call for participants in its #AmtrakTakeMeThere social media residency program, with entries accepted through Jan. 31, 2019. According to a press release, the program seeks “social media community leaders, whose creativity and energy allows them to connect with their followers on a deeper level. The judging panel […]
UP veterans unit No. 1943 hustles the Bush funeral train consist southward toward Houston on Sunday. Zach Pumphery COLLEGE STATION, Texas — George H.W. Bush, the last president who served in World War II, will make his final journey Thursday — by train. Union Pacific says the special Bush Funeral Train will run from its […]
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The clickety-clack of the Solari status board will be leaving 30th Street Station for the last time sometime in January, and its last stop may be the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The electro-mechanical wonder is the last one in service on Amtrak, and its retirement has been anticipated for some time. […]
FULL SCREEN Patrick Yough An image of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s last run of an AEM-7 locomotive, affectionately known by railfans as “toasters.” FULL SCREEN Patrick Yough An image of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s last run of an AEM-7 locomotive, affectionately known by railfans as “toasters.” FULL SCREEN Patrick Yough An image of […]
The airport PeopleMover and control tower are visible in this view looking north from the platform of Virgin Trains USA’s Orlando Airport station from Jan. 30, 2018. Room has been provided for platforms for SunRail commuter trains, but those platforms have not yet been built. Bob Johnston A northbound Florida East Coast freight with LNG […]
UP No. 4141 rests at Ney Yard in Ft. Worth, Texas on July 4, 2008. Steve Schmollinger COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Early this morning Union Pacific’s Jenks locomotive shop in North Little Rock, Ark., outshopped another diesel. That happens every day. In this case, the unit was a specially-painted SD70Ace No. 4141 in honor of […]
A conventional two-cylinder locomotive like this one exhausts four times per wheel revolution. This is thanks to the position of the valves. Library of Congress Q At low speed, the four “chuffs” a steam engine makes per wheel rotation all sound the same to me, but at higher speed I think I hear a four-beat […]
Financial hardships, highway competition, and inadequate maintenance and investment led to the abandonment of a wide array of railroads. Take a look at our free 45-page PDF download to uncover the history behind the following railroads: The formation of the Wisconsin & Calumet Railroad and the different rail lines it operated, restored, and acquired. How the Vicksburg Route changed […]
