Early Pennsy piggyback

Pennsylvania Railroad Keystone Merchandise Service

A single-axle Pennsylvania Railroad trailer with the “Keystone Merchandise Service” logo on the front is positioned on a flatcar in Chicago in 1954. Soon the PRR led the formation of Trailer Train, known today as TTX. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]

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Stories working as a railroad fireman

  Working as a railroad fireman: It was the end of summer. Billy, Wimpy, and I had finished cleaning up after the last threshing job and watched Mr. Hedrick slowly drive the rig out to the road and head west to the winter storage building behind his blacksmith shop. The rig consisted of a Huber […]

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Mineral Range railroad of Michigan

Mineral Range railroad of Michigan:Rust red colored locomotive crosses a bridge over a road in an autumnal scene.

The Mineral Range railroad of Michigan is a family-owned and -operated railroad in the state’s Upper Peninsula. It’s actually the second railroad of the same name. The “original” began as a north-south, 14-mile narrow gauge mineral hauler, connecting the Osceola Mining Co.’s Osceola copper ore mine near Calumet, Mich., and the company’s stamp mill at […]

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California congresswoman urges STB to reject CP-KCS merger

KCS3947Laredo

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., has urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, arguing that the first Class I combination in two decades would stifle competition. “The proposed merger represents a grave threat to competition in the domestic rail industry, which is already highly consolidated,” Porter wrote in […]

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Cost pressures prompt Union Pacific to reduce financial outlook

Yellow locomotives leading train of double-stacked containers over bridge

OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has lowered its financial expectations for this year in light of rising fuel prices, inflation, and the impact of its sluggish operations. It’s now unlikely that UP will reach an operating ratio of around 55% for the year, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Hamann told an investor conference on Tuesday. UP […]

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Union Pacific joins RailPulse freight car location monitoring joint venture

Train with yellow locomotives in flat area

OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has joined the RailPulse joint venture that will provide customers with real-time location information for freight cars wherever they are on the North American rail network. UP becomes the second Class I railroad to participate in RailPulse, alongside founding member Norfolk Southern. The company’s other partners include shortline holding companies […]

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Canadian National orders Wabtec’s new Precision Dispatch System

Canadian National is the first railway to order a new dispatching system that Wabtec says is a major building block toward network automation, the companies announced on June 6. The latest version of Wabtec’s Precision Dispatch System is scheduled to be operational at CN in late 2023. CN completed installation of an earlier version of […]

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Rail unions again request arbitration as contract talks remain stuck

Trains Magazine logo

Rail unions negotiating new national contracts with Class I railroads have again requested arbitration as talks remain stalled. Labor and the National Carriers Conference Committee have been working on joint mediated negotiations under the direction of the National Mediation Board. The talks had resulted from the unions’ request to be released from mediation after more […]

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