Union Pacific 4-8-4 803 and a Southern Pacific E7 wait outside Los Angeles Union Passenger terminal in the late 1940s, ready to back down to their respective trains. The E7 is for the Golden State, while the 4-8-4 is likely for the Los Angeles Limited. Herbert Johnson photo […]
In October 1953, about the time author Les Clark was a fireman here, a Union Pacific freight climbs the grade out of the Snake River Valley near Reverse, Idaho. Challenger 3838 is on the point; 2-8-8-0 pusher 3528 was added at Glenns Ferry. David W. Salter October was a favorite month for me in southern […]
An eastbound run through train between the Southern Pacific and Seaboard Coast Line between Houston, Texas, and Jacksonville, Fla., rumbles through Orange, Texas, behind a trio of SCL units, two U30Bs and a GP30. The date is May 1972. Photo by J. Parker Lamb Jr. […]
FULL SCREEN UP photo Casement Brothers construction train used during the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Three 4-4-0s were the power this day. FULL SCREEN UP photo Casement Brothers camp train during the construction of the UP. Note the barely finished cottonwood logs stacked as ties to the left and the scant ballast, probably […]
GEORGETOWN, Texas — As if the mechanical problems Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 suffered last week weren’t enough, the railroad’s steam program was further embarrassed Friday when a boxcar that carries supplies for steam locomotives was damaged in an accident on the Georgetown Railroad. The boxcar collided with a gondola, punching in the end of […]
Union Pacific No. 6945 hustles past the railroad park in Rochelle, Ill., with double-stacked K-Line containers from Global 3. Photo by Sean Valk […]
An English import, the American railway diverged sharply from English ideals. Environment proved stronger than genetics — settled and industrializing England constrained railway builders to design the most efficient routes possible, whereas their counterparts in unsettled and impecunious America disregarded gradient and circuity on pain of not completing lines at all. As the American era […]
This Map of the Month was featured in the November 2001 issue of Trains magazine. Train frequency per 24 hours on the vast Union Pacific system, in first quarter 2001, is revealing both for what is indicated and what is not. Consider, if you will, the pre-1982 Union Pacific, i.e., before merger mania. With just […]
Union Pacific No. 7875 heads east through Rochelle, Ill., bathed in bright morning light. Photo by Sean Valk […]
A pair of CSX trains, with Union Pacific; Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern; and Kansas City Southern locomotives; wait for new crews in Willard, Ohio’s train yard. Photo by Brandon Townley […]
A Chicago commuter train is stopped at a signal on Metra’s Union Pacific West Line (UP’s Geneva Subdivision), as headlights from an oncoming eastbound train begin to round the curve on Feb. 11, 2004. Photo by Howard Ande […]
Tyler Dzierzek OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific revealed that 2011 was the most profitable year in the company’s history as it shared its carloads, revenue, and profit data for the year’s fourth quarter today. Total traffic volumes rose 3 percent, but freight revenue grew 15 percent, hinting the railroad has been commanding higher rates. UP’s strongest volume […]
