In October 1950, Santa Fe’s Chief awaits the highball for Los Angeles at Chicago Dearborn Station as an RS1 of Chicago & Western Indiana, Dearborn’s owner, stands at right. Bob Borcherding photo […]
The Chief at Dearborn
Zone & Region: Midwest
Metra restores full Saturday service on seven lines, adjusts UP Northwest schedule
CHICAGO — Commuter rail operator Metra will restore Saturday schedules to pre-pandemic levels on seven lines as of this Saturday, May 29, and has also announced it will revise its weekday schedule on the Union Pacific Northwest line. The new schedules will be introduced on the BNSF, Milwaukee North, Milwaukee West, Rock Island, Union Pacific […]
Work progresses on South Shore Double Track project, is set to begin on West Lake Corridor
PORTER, Ind. — As one major construction project remains on schedule, another is about to begin for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that at a Monday meeting in Porter, the district’s board of directors was told that the South Shore Double Track project, building a second main line […]
Becker named CEO of National Railway Equipment
MT. VERNON, Ill. — Merritt Becker is the new CEO of National Railway Equipment Co., the rail, marine, and power company has announced. Becker joins NRE from engine and power generation company Cummins Inc., where he has spent the last 12 years, effective June 1. He was most recently president and managing director of Cummins […]
Driver killed, passenger injured in Metra grade-crossing accident
HAINESWORTH, Ill. — The driver of the truck was killed and a passenger was injured Monday morning when a Metra train struck a dump truck at a private railroad crossing near Grayslake, Ill. The cab car of the inbound Milwaukee District North train derailed as a result of the collision about 7 a.m. The injured […]
Man receives 5 years in prison for incident with knife on Amtrak train
MADISON, Wis. — A 32-year-old Portland, Ore., man has been sentenced to five years in prison for intentionally interfering with an Amtrak conductor in a November 2020 incident aboard the Empire Builder. A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin says Timothy Thomas pleaded guilty to the charge on […]
Rock Island steam and diesel suburban trains
Rock Island 4-6-2 916 on an outbound suburban train meets RS3 488 with an inbound on the bridge above 89th Street at Gresham on the South Side of Chicago on May 26, 1952. John F. Humiston photo […]
Remnant of the Danville Flyer
Louisville & Nashville No. 3, the Chicago–Danville, Ill., train formerly named the Danville Flyer, stops at Milford, Ill., in August 1970. The last passenger train on the former Chicago & Eastern Illinois, it will expire with the advent of Amtrak. William M. Scott photo […]
Second RS1325 may be preserved
SANFORD, N.C. — One of just two RS1325 locomotives built by EMD, which had been in danger of being scrapped, may be saved following a Facebook post from a local railfan sounding an alert about the diesel’s status. Former Chicago & Illinois Midland No. 30 has been at North Carolina’s Atlantic & Western Railway since […]
Ohio governor asks state agency to explore Amtrak expansion
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has asked the state’s rail agency to explore the “feasibility and cost” of potential expansion of Amtrak service in the state, the first time DeWine has indicated interest in further pursuing new routes included in Amtrak’s “Connects US” proposal. Cleveland.com reports that a spokesman for the governor said […]
Plaque, ceremony honor rail historian Peter A. Hansen
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friends and admirers of Peter A. Hansen, the late editor of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s scholarly journal Railroad History, gathered here at Union Station Sunday (May 15, 2022) for the ceremonial unveiling of a plaque in his honor. Hansen, who edited the publication for 13 years, died two years […]
News photo: D&I railroad buys two Hawkeye Express cars
DELL RAPIDS, S.D. — The D&I Railroad has purchased two gallery passenger cars from the former Hawkeye Express football-train service for use in future events. The cars are shown on on a D&I train at Sioux Falls, S.D., on May 10, 2022. The D&I is a 138-mile short line operating on former Milwaukee Road trackage […]
