SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — BNSF freight traffic past the site of the latest landside in San Clemente has been halted by additional slide activity, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Tuesday night freight movement was suspended after the slope moved another 1.5 to 3 feet in a 24-hour period through Tuesday afternoon, Scott Johnson, Metrolink director […]
WASHINGTON — An Amtrak press release issued last week, “Ambitious 2024 Initiatives Propel Amtrak Ridership Growth,” outlines the company’s goal of doubling ridership by 2040. This is based on “improving passenger train service for our customers and efficiently and effectively carrying out a massive major infrastructure capital program aimed to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure, […]
CUMBERLAND, Md. — The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has received a $200,000 state grant for track maintenance, the Cumberland Times-News reports. Funding will be used for tie replacement and ballast tamping on a segment of the railroad near Frostburg, Md., railroad CEO Wes Heinz told the newspaper. The railroad had been approved for $1.5 million […]
In every issue Trains.com, p. 4 Guide to the latest railroad content on the web News, p. 6 BNSF, J.B. Hunt take aim at trucks. Wabtec eyes hydrogen as the fuel of the future while it unveils world’s first battery-powered heavy-haul freight locomotive Bill Stephens, p. 16 Railroad investors can be their own worst enemy […]
The dynamics of dynamic braking A half-century ago, when diesel locomotives were replacing steam engines, a revolutionary breakthrough — dynamic braking — was making freight operations safer and more efficient. Dynamic braking is the method of train braking whereby the kinetic energy of a moving train is used to generate electric current at the locomotive […]
Diesel locomotive builders 1. American Locomotive Company For many years after World War II, Alco — the American Locomotive Company — was the second place diesel builder in the United States. The company’s history as a steam locomotive manufacturer dates from 1901. The Schenectady, N.Y.,-based firm began producing its first diesels in conjunction with suppliers […]
A railroad study in snow On Jan. 15, 1885, Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, a farmer from Jericho, Vt., became the first person to successfully photograph a single snow crystal — a snowflake. Bentley, in his study of snow, went on to capture images of more than 5,000 individual snowflakes, finding that, in fact, no two were […]
Train orders The train order, variously called the “flimsy” or the “tissue” — together with its attendant operators, train order offices, and order hoops — has been rendered obsolete by the radio, the computer, and amended work rules. With its passing in the late 1980s, so did a whole concept of railroad traffic control that […]
BROOKS, Alberta — Seventeen cars of a CPKC train derailed Monday afternoon near Brooks, closing a provincial highway, Global News reports. The intermodal train derailed shortly after 4:30 p.m. CPKC told the news network that there were no injuries and the cause is under investigation. Highway 873 near Brooks was closed as a result of […]
TORONTO — The government of Ontario will launch a program integrating fares on all transit systems in the Toronto area later this month, meaning transit users will essentially pay one fare no matter how many transfers they make. The One Fare program will include GO Transit, the Toronto Transit Commission, and several other agencies, with […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — The Reading & Northern Railroad has announced plans for its 2024 main line excursion schedule, which will begin Saturday, April 6, and has placed tckets for the schedule on sale. Regular-season excursions from Reading Outer Station in Reading, Pa., and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Station in Pittston, Pa., will operate on weekends through […]
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Senate President Nicolas Scutari has named Anthony Abrantes to fill a seat on the NJ Transit board vacated by Sangeeta Doshi, whose term expired Jan. 14, the New Jersey Herald reports. Abrantes, of East Hanover, N.J., is assistant executive secretary-treasurer of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. He […]
