Flooding knocks out key CSX routes in the Cumberland, Md., area

CSX logo

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Severe flooding that hit the Cumberland, Md., area on Tuesday has shut down key CSX routes, the railroad said in a customer service alert today. Among the routes affected: The former Baltimore & Ohio main line linking Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which has taken on increased importance as a detour route for traffic […]

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Norfolk Southern revives Alabama coal branch

A moribund Norfolk Southern coal-hauling branch in Alabama last month hosted its first train in more than a decade. NS coal train 702 rumbled over the revived Berry Branch, carrying Warrior steelmaking coal to export at the Port of Mobile, Ala., via the railroad’s 3-B Corridor. “Right now it is one train a week, and […]

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Livestock shipments and railroads grew together

Double-stack freight cars and livestock cars on a passing trains

Livestock shipments and railroads had a love-hate relationship that kindled in the 1850s, blossomed after the Civil War, matured with the growth of big-city stockyards and giant meat-processing plants, then slowly faded in the 1960s and 1970s. While it lasted, livestock shipments were a major part of the railroad scene. Hammered by aging physical plants […]

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New publication salutes Montana Rail Link

Cover of Montana Rail Link sip

Thirty-seven years ago, Montana businessman Dennis Washington entered into a 60-year lease with Burlington Northern for nearly 1,000 miles of ex-Northern Pacific Railway trackage and launched the Montana Rail Link. The newly created Class II regional stretched from Spokane, Wash., across southern Montana to Huntley, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it community not far from Billings, Mont. The railroad […]

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Fort Bliss rail yard begins major expansion

Aerial view of rail yard in desert

EL PASO, Texas — Fort Bliss, the 1,700-square-mile Army post in Texas and New Mexico, is undergoing an expansion of its rail capacity. The El Paso Times reports that groundbreaking was held April 22 for construction of 4.3 additional miles of track at its rail yard, built to accommodate 565 railcars in 72 hours — […]

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