CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific has released details of its excursion later this month with Big Boy No. 4014. In a message to members of its Steam Club, the Railroad says the 4-8-8-4 will depart Cheyenne for Denver on Thursday, July 28, at 10 a.m., with an intermediate stop in Greeley, Colo. The locomotive will […]
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah state judge has dismissed a suit seeking to block state funding for the Uinta Basin Railway project, finding nothing improper in use of the funds. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Third District Judge Adam Mow concluded the $28 million in grants ticketed for the rail project from the Utah […]
MISSOULA, Mont. — The agency seeking to revive Amtrak service through southern Montana has added a significant new member — the state’s Department of Transportation. The Missoula Current reports that the department has joined the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority as an ex officio member, a move described by authority Chairman Dave Strohmaier as “a […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The owner of a now-defunct railcar repair company has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, and he and the company have been fined for wire fraud and endangering employees at the facility. John Eldon Rimmasch, 47, of Cheyenne, was sentenced in a July 5 hearing by Federal District Court Judge Alan […]
OGDEN, Utah — A U.S. Forest Service review has upheld a decision granting right-of-way to a portion of the Uinta Basin Railway project, the last major regulatory barrier to the proposed 85-mile line to serve oilfields in Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune reports several environmental groups had challenged the Forest Service’s decision to approve the […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The planned Pacific Northwest tour of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is off for 2022, the railroad announced in a Thursday afternoon email to members of its Steam Club. But the locomotive will make an outing to Denver later this month to pull an excursion benefitting the Union Pacific Museum. The […]
DENVER — Recognizing the pivotal role of railroad’s in the state’s history — and rewarding an effort spearheaded by the Colorado Railroad Museum — Gov. Jared Polis has declared June 19-26 to be Colorado Rail Heritage Week. The week includes the anniversary of the first train to arrive in Denver, on June 24, 1870, as […]
WASHINGTON — The city of Cheyenne, Wyo., has received a federal grant for more than $600,000 to support renovation of historic rail equipment. The $618,400 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Agency, is intended to support local tourism. It will be matched by $154,600 in local funds. Cheyenne says the project will […]
ALAMOSA, Colo. — The San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, a 154-mile short line operating a former Denver & Rio Grande Western route in Southern Colorado, is about to be sold by auction as part of the ongoing bankruptcy sale of former Iowa Pacific Holdings properties. Bankruptcy Trustee William A. Brandt Jr. has announced his […]
Built during the gold rush years of 1904-05, Nevada’s Tonopah & Goldfield ran 100 miles southeast from an SP connection in the desert near the California border. An Air Force base near Goldfield brought traffic to the road during World War II — these two slide-valve 2-8-0s are hauling aviation fuel — but the boom didn’t […]
Their debut delayed by installation and testing of Positive Train Control equipment, Rocky Mountaineer’s GP40-3 locomotives last week finally began replacing leased Union Pacific power on the “Rockies to Red Rocks” excursions to Glenwood Springs, Colo., and Moab, Utah. On Wednesday, May 25, 2022, they head west from Denver at Arvada, Colo., at milepost 9.75 […]
Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-8-2 No. 1517 exhibits a clear stack as it brings a freight downgrade at Keeldar, Colo., between Tennessee Pass and Malta, on July 3, 1941. John W. Maxwell photo […]
