WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board today released its preliminary report about a Norfolk Southern coal train that derailed in Virginia on July 6 after a wheel bearing failure. The railroad’s response to hot bearing alerts has been under scrutiny since the disastrous Feb. 3 hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. In this […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Incoming Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena will not get a honeymoon with rail labor when he begins leading the railroad on Aug. 14. Local SMART-TD leaders and the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO were critical of the company’s selection of Vena, who served as UP’s chief operating officer in 2019 and […]
Fall foliage train rides & events Growing up in New England and spending my college years in western New York, I was accustomed to the seasonal joys of autumn. For me the scent of autumn air will carry me back in time, while the soft rich sunlight on bright days and the misty mornings of […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s conductor trainees will spend an additional week learning the ropes before beginning on-the-job training under an agreement announced today by the railroad and the SMART-TD union. The fifth week of training at the CSX Training Center in Atlanta will focus on performing tasks in a field setting to increase trainees’ […]
OSCEOLA, Wis. — Trains Magazine is sponsoring a two-day photo charter in September featuring vintage diesel locomotives from the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) collection. Trains will run Sept.11-12 out of Osceola on MTM’s Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway, which operates over Canadian National’s 25-mile former Soo Line Dresser Subdivision. Trains will be pulled by […]
WATERLOO, Ontario — The Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society, operator of the Waterloo Central Railway heritage operation, is seeking funds to support its effort to purchase former Canadian Pacific Railway No. 1238, a G5c class 4-6-2 locomotive. The locomotive, built in 1946 by the Montreal Locomotive Works, operated in excursion and tourist rail service in […]
In an industry that focuses on looking back on the past, being forward-thinking helps ensure the future of the rail preservation movement. At the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, Shop Foreman Brian Tenaglia is no stranger to that concept, utilizing new skills to help manage the traction collection. The incorporation of computer-aided design (CAD) […]
MONTREAL — Montreal residents turned out in huge numbers to sample the first segment of the city’s new light rail system on Saturday, with officials forced to turn away some riders. An estimated 60,000 people rode the Réseau express métropolitain on Saturday, the first of two days of free rides before regular, paying operations begin […]
Sandusky coal dock The early days Sandusky, Ohio, is the roller coaster capital of the United States. It is home to the Cedar Point amusement park, which has sixteen of the fastest, wildest, most thrilling coasters anyone has ever seen. But did you know there’s one more? You can’t ride on it, and many Sanduskians […]
SKAGWAY, Alaska — Union operating crews at the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway have ratified a new agreement, ending the prospect of a strike that could have disrupted the end of the tourist railroad’s 2023 operating season. KTOO reports the railroad and members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation […]
Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s locomotives The writing has been on the wall for years. Fifteen years ago, in Trains’ April 2008 issue, David Lustig warned of the demise of Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s venerable fleet of former Burlington Northern General Electric U30C and C30-7 locomotives. Now, that time appears to have arrived at the short […]
DENVER — Colorado opponents of the oil-train traffic expected to be generated by the Uinta Basin Railway may attempt to use Union Pacific’s soon-to-expire lease on the Moffat Tunnel as leverage in their effort to fight the Utah project, the website Colorado Newsline reports. The 99-year lease UP inherited in its merger with Southern Pacific […]
