MINNEAPOLIS – Construction can resume on a light rail tunnel in Minneapolis after an engineering analysis determined that construction played only minor role in cracks that developed at a nearby condo building. The Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, which is building the 14.5-mile Southwest Light Rail/Metro Green Line Extension from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, halted construction […]
Zone & Region: Midwest
Spring blizzard causes ‘Empire Builder’ cancellations
CHICAGO — Due to forecast blizzard conditions in North Dakota and Montana this week, Amtrak has terminated its Empire Builder service between St. Paul and Spokane, Wash. The eastbound Empire Builder from Seattle ran with its full set of equipment on April 11 and 12 from Seattle to Spokane, where it terminated. On the same […]
BNSF donates rebuilt SD9 to Minnesota museum
DULUTH, Minn. — BNSF Railway has donated a rebuilt SD9 to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth. BNSF 1550 was built in February 1954 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for the Great Northern Railway as No. 573. EMD built 515 SD9s between 1954 and 1959. No. 573 worked for many years in Superior, […]
Milwaukee Road local to Madison
A few minutes out of Milwaukee, CMStP&P Pacific 192 rolls into suburban Wauwatosa, Wis., with train 23, an afternoon local to Madison in September 1954. Watching the action by the station steps is Trains magazine Editor David P. Morgan. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
News photo: South Shore street running in April 2022
South Shore street running: Bruce Stahl captured an unusually powerful freight train for northwestern Indiana in April. To wit: six locomotives led by South Shore No. 805 haul four grain hoppers down a torn-up street in Michigan City, Indiana. Stahl captured this rapture of motive power on Sunday, April 10, 2022, on “Church” curve. “The […]
Conrail passenger trains: A small chapter for a big blue railroad
Conrail passenger trains are probably the least known of all the aspects of the big blue railroad’s operations over time. As Conrail is the Fallen Flag Railroad of the Month for April 2022, please enjoy these Conrail passenger trains images from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail started operations April 1, 1976 taking over […]
South Shore freight labor deal good for five years
MICHIGAN CITY, Imd. – The Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad (CSS) & SMART TD (International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers) successfully approved a new five-year contract for the line’s transportation employees. Ratified March 18, 2022, the pact runs from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2026. Currently represented are […]
Metra sets major expansion of UP Northwest schedule
CHICAGO — Commuter rail operator Metra will make significant additions to its weekday Union Pacific Northwest schedule and minor changes to its UP North line, effective April 25. On the Northwest line, to McHenry and Harvard, Ill., weekday trains will increase from 45 to 66 trains. The new schedule increases service for those with early […]
News photo: CN’s new CEO hits the rails
WOODSTOCK, Ontario — A Canadian National executive special carrying new CEO Tracy Robinson and other managers passes through Woodstock, Ontario, this morning (Thursday, April 7). The train with two locomotives and four business cars is en route from Brampton Intermodal Terminal, near Toronto, to Chicago. It is expected to pass through Michigan and arrive in […]
Illinois state lawmaker files bill opposing CP-KCS merger
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation opposing the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, saying the merger’s projected traffic increases “presents far too many risks” to lineside communities. State Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) represents one of the eight communities in the Coalition to Stop CPKC. Those communities, along the Metra Milwaukee West route […]
Northstar ends service to Minnesota Twins games
MINNEAPOLIS — Commuter rail operator Northstar is ending dedicated service for Minnesota Twins home games this season, citing a withdrawal of funding by one of the three counties involved in the service. KARE-TV reports Metro Transit, the parent agency for Northstar, as well as light rail and bus service in the Twin Cities area, said […]
Illinois grain elevator acquires ex-C&NW GP50
DEWEY, Ill. — Premier Cooperative in Dewey, in east central Illinois, has purchased a former D&I Railway GP50 to serve its large grain elevator. GP50 No. 2512 was built for the Chicago & North Western as its No. 5054 in May 1980, spending most of its early life speeding “Falcon Service” piggyback trains between Chicago […]
