A 220-car loaded CSX Transportation coal train with mid-train distributed power rolls into St. Albans, W.Va., on Jan. 27, 2018. Chase Gunnoe HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Unit coal trains in Appalachia are now running with distributed power less than two weeks after CSX Transportation officials indicated the increased use of the mid-train technology. Ed Harris, CSX’s […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board recently settled a carrier-shipper rate dispute in favor of the shipper, something that hasn’t happened in several years. The decision was in a case brought by Consumers Energy against CSX Transportation in January 2015. Consumers challenged the rates that CSX charged the Jackson, Mich.,-based utility to move Powder River […]
Hearne, Texas Google Maps OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will build a new hump yard in Texas to handle growth in carload traffic that threatens to eventually swamp existing yards in the Lone Star State. The $550 millon Brazos Yard, to be built in Hearne, Texas, is scheduled to open in 2020, Chief Operating Officer […]
CSX Transportation eastbound auto rack train Q264 slices through the fog on the former Boston & Albany route in Westfield, Mass., in 2008. The B&A, as well as branches in Massachusetts, are among the 8,000 miles CSX is reviewing for potential sale. Bill Stephens JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation is reviewing 8,000 miles of rail […]
Charlie’s road trip with Karl and Nicholas along the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State continues with a visit to the locomotive shops of the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Chief Mechanical Officer Brad Byrd explains what remains to be done to bring the Cascade Rail Foundation’s GE U25B back to life. […]
Charlie’s road trip with Karl and Nicholas along the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State continues with a visit to the locomotive shops of the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Chief Mechanical Officer Brad Byrd explains what remains to be done to bring the Cascade Rail Foundation’s GE U25B back to life. […]
CSX CEO James M. Foote CSX Corp. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jim Foote-era at CSX Transportation began with a rumble that emphatically signaled his commitment to following through on what the late CEO E. Hunter Harrison began. In a symbolic move, Foote’s first decision after being named chief executive in December was ordering the hump […]
Kevin Hicks, Union Pacific’s associate vice president, engineering-design, reviews 2017 and announces UP’s capital spending plans for 2018 at the NRC conference in Los Angeles. TRAINS: David Lassen LOS ANGELES — A Union Pacific leader says the railroad will likely keep its capital spending right around $3 billion this year — the same as for […]
A Canadian National train heads north through Wisconsin over a bridge in 2015. Regardless of the location or railroad, bridges pose problems for track. Steve Sweeney Track can sag, bounce, and shift a bit, within reason. It flexes under the weight of heavy freight trains, but bridge ends don’t. And that’s a problem. When most […]
Horns are typically placed near the middle of the locomotive to minimize noise to the crew. New Canadian National ET44AC No. 3062 shows off its Nathan K5HLR2. Chris Guss A horn is one of the many safety appliances installed on a locomotive and is used to warn both the general public and railroad employees while […]
Auxiliary power units can be installed in a variety of locations, but are typically installed in the rear of the long hood, like this one on a Montana Rail Link locomotive. Tom Danneman Idling locomotives have been a regular part of the railroad industry since the switch from steam to diesel in the 1950s. Locomotives […]
Northshore Mining SD40 No. 651 leads a quartet of locomotives and iron ore near Toimi, Minn., in December 2010. Cold temperatures that make metal contract and ice expand are just the start of problems in winter railroading. Max Medlin “People and metal do not like cold weather,” says Mike Smith, vice president of network operations […]
