Q What is the meaning of tank car color schemes? Is there a color code? Some tank cars have a contrasting horizontal stripe on the middle section of the tank, while other tank cars are painted a solid color. Since some tank cars carry hazardous or toxic chemicals while others carry edible materials, are the […]
Who built the steam locomotives? In the transportation business of today, “Big Three” invariably means General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, the dominant U.S. domestic automakers. But just a few decades ago, when the manufacture of steam locomotives was a bellwether American industry, “Big Three” could only have meant Alco, Baldwin, and Lima. Maybe these great […]
Blue flags protect workers. Here’s how they work. A major consideration in railroad operation is the maintenance that must be done on the rolling stock and track if freight and passengers are to be transported in a safe and timely manner. To maintain cars and locomotives, workers must get on, in between, and under them. […]
What’s the difference between a four-stroke diesel engine and a two-stroke engine? It’s more than just a matter of numbers, as Vernon L. Smith explained in “Cycles and Cylinders,” in the May 1979 issue of Trains Magazine: A four-cycle engine requires four strokes of the piston, covering two revolutions of the crankshaft, to complete one […]
MOBILE, Ala. — Agreements regarding a lease for a station stop in Mobile, as well as an operating agreement that will include costs the city will cover, are significant details that must be addressed before Amtrak can launch Gulf Coast passenger service between New Orleans and the Alabama city, the news site AL.com reports. “We’re […]
NEW YORK — The Connecticut Department of Transportation is ordering six dual-mode locomotives from Siemens Mobility for use on the MTA Metro-North Railroad, adding to an earlier Metro-North order for 27 such units placed in 2020. The newly ordered locomotives will be delivered through 2027. Overall, the contract includes options for up to 171 locomotives […]
Labor Day has concluded and so has – unofficially – the 2023 summer. The busy season for museums and tourist railroads may be wrapping up, but as cooler weather begins to roll in you can still add some steam to the mix! These are the big locomotives scheduled to operate when the foliage changes colors […]
UNION, Ill. — A few spaces remain for a night photo session set for Oct. 7 at the Illinois Railway Museum as part of its “Steam Into Fall” event, marking the end of the museum’s 2023 operating season. The session will feature Frisco No. 1630, the museum’s “Russian Decapod” built by Baldwin in 1918, and […]
In the early 1960s, The Alco C420 diesel locomotive hit the market, part of the builder’s Century Series, a line of diesel locomotives designed to answer any operating requirement railroads could imagine. One of the designs was the Century 420, a four-axle, 2,000-horsepower diesel locomotive built upon the years of experience gained from earlier RS2, […]
CASS, W.Va. — Cass Scenic Railroad operator Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad has acquired a two-truck Heisler locomotive, Builder’s No. 1589, from Stuart Thayer of Thomas, W.Va., bringing to three the number of Heisler locomotives on Cass and DGVR property. Built in September 1929 for Fisher Lumber Co. of Holly Grove, Ark., as its No. […]
WASHINGTON — The operator of a piece of maintenance-of-way equipment moved onto unprotected track for unknown reasons, the National Transportation Safety Board said in determining the probable cause of a July 2022 collision between a Union Pacific roadway maintenance machine and an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train in Oakland, Calif. The NTSB completed its final accident […]
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway reached a settlement last week in a biometric data privacy case in which it had initially been assessed a $228 million penalty, only to have that award thrown out on appeal. Reuters reports that the railroad reached a settlement with a group of truck drivers over claims that BNSF illegally collected […]
