Digest: Wabtec begins operations at facility for additive manufacturing, 3D printing

Media event with people around 3D printing device

Wabtec opens facility at Pittsburgh additive manufacturing process Wabtec has begun operations at Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood 91, becoming the first and anchor tenant for industrial complex devoted to additive manufacturing and 3D printing. The 11,000-square-foot facility will produce brake parts, heat sinks for locomotives, and other components. It is part of a company effort to produce […]

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Digest: Bill to create Colorado passenger rail district advances

Colorado state flag

Legislation to create Front Range Passenger Rail District passes Colorado House The effort to create a special district to help fund proposed passenger rail service along Colorado’s Front Range neared success on Thursday as the state’s House of Representatives passed the bill on Thursday. Colorado Public Radio reports the state Senate has already approved its […]

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Digest: Short line association announces annual Jake Safety Awards

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association logo

ASLRRA honors 346 railroads for safety with Jake Awards The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association has honored 346 member railroads with its “Jake Awards,” recognizing safety performance above the industry average in 2020. Of those, 316 will be honored “with distinction” for injury-free performance based on Federal Railroad Administration standards. The honorees include […]

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Midwest private-car trips set for summer, fall

Stainless steel passenger car with end windows

The owner of private car Hollywood Beach, a 1956 Seaboard Air Line observation car, is offering three trips open to the public this summer and fall that will feature guides from Midwest Rail Rangers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering onboard educational programs in the Midwest. Trips on tap are: St. Louis-Kansas City, Mo., and return, […]

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Rock Island resourcefulness

Flatcar converted into ramp for loading flatcars

Rock Island resourcefulness The Rock Island converted an old flatcar to a ramp in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1961. One truck and coupler is still in place (note the wheel stops on the track just to the right of the ramp). D. E. Winter photo […]

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Digest: Second Missouri River Runner to resume July 19

Amtrak logo.

Missouri River Runner gets second round trip for remainder of year as of July 19 Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner will restore its second daily round trip as of July 19. State funding and federal coronavirus relief funds will maintain the two-round-trip schedule between St. Louis and Kansas City through the remainder of 2021. “We appreciate […]

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Before the whiteout

Black, red, and yellow diesel locomotive on passenger train

Before the whiteout Wearing the handsome yellow, black, and red Kansas City Southern passenger-diesel livery, E8 No. 28 is at Sallisaw, Okla., with the New Orleans-Kansas City Southern Belle in June 1962. KCS began using a version of this paint scheme, introduced with the Belle in 1940. The railroad later went to all-red and all-white […]

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