Norfolk Southern again hit by technology issues

Norfolk Southern logo

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern operations were disrupted by an outage at its data center on Friday night, the railroad reports, the second time in little more than a month that technical issues have affected rail operations. The railroad said in a statement that the issue, which affected dispatching, train movements, and its terminal operating system, […]

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An engineer’s life: Trust me

An orange BNSF engine approaches through tree on either side of the tracks with a mountain in the background.

I wrote last month about working grain trains west as a young brakeman. This month’s story, entitled “Trust me,” is from late 2008 when I was working as a locomotive engineer. In my 42 years on the railroad, the last 30 as an engineer, I took pride in being qualified on three mountain-grade territories: Stampede […]

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Preview October and November 2023 Trains content

October We’re always adding new content to our website! Here’s a sneak peek at a few items coming up soon … Mind-blowing facts about the GM Aerotrain By the 1950s it was clear that the passenger train was not the wave of the future. Automobiles and airliners were the next chapter in personal transportation for […]

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Canadian National donates ‘Draper Taper’ unit to museum

Red, white, and black cowl-unit locomotive

EDMONTON — Canadian National has donated a former British Columbia Railway C40-8M locomotive — a wide-cab locomotive featuring the “Draper Taper” design behind the cab for improved rearward visibility — to the Alberta Railway Museum. CN retired its fleet of the 4,000-hp General Electric locomotives earlier this year, but set aside No. 4618 for the […]

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Tugboat strikes FEC-Brightline drawbridge in Stuart, Fla.

Boat approaches open drawbridge

STUART, Fla. — The Florida East Coast Railway drawbridge over the St. Lucie River was rendered impassible to marine traffic today (Saturday, Sept. 30) after being struck by a tugboat pulling a barge, according to information from Brightline posted on the Martin County Board of County Commissioners Facebook page. The tugboat struck the northwest fender […]

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Bill Greenwood, key figure at Burlington Northern, dies at 85

Head shot of man in suit

William E. (Bill) Greenwood, who led Burlington Northern’s intermodal operations through the discord of deregulation and later served as the railroad’s chief operating officer, died Sept. 22. He was 85. Greenwood became intrigued with railroading when he was in high school, and his love and fascination never ceased. “My interest began while working in a […]

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Flooding batters New York subway, commuter rail lines

Debris and water in subway tunnel

NEW YORK — Half of the New York City subway system was shut down today by flooding from a storm that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called “a life-threatening rainfall event,” while Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak operations were also disrupted by the flooding. At midafternoon, the MTA was reporting that more than 7 inches of […]

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No injuries reported when DC Metrorail train derails near Reagan Airport

Men in high-visibiilty clothing stand near derailed rapid-transit equipment as another train passes

WASHINGTON — No injuries were reported after a DC Metrorail train derailed Friday morning near Reagan International Airport, an incident Metro officials said was caused when the train struck an object that fell off a preceding train. The derailment occurred about 10:45 a.m. and involved a southbound train heading toward the Franconia-Springfield station, the Washington […]

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Locomotives we wish we could have preserved

Low profile, lightweight streamlined locomotive.

This is a list of locomotives we wish we could have preserved, the ones that got away. Gone, in some cases, before we even realized that they were on the endangered species list. Going from work-a-day diesel locomotives to denizens of deadlines, they didn’t make it to museums or public displays, just the junk man. […]

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