Midwest tourist railroads you must visit include massive museums, mainline steam excursions, and everything in between. From Trains Magazine’s Tourist Trains Guidebook, here’s our list of tourist railroads, museums, and displays to experience across the region. Midwest Tourist Railroads and Museums Illinois Illinois Railway Museum – 7000 Olson Road, Union The Illinois Railway Museum certainly […]
The Gotthard Base Tunnel sustained far more damage than had previous been believed in last week’s derailment, and it will likely be early 2024 before both bores of the world’s longest rail tunnel are back in service, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced today (Aug. 16). The tunnel has been closed since Aug. 10, when […]
WASHINGTON — A Michigan electric utility company has praised the improvement in BNSF Railway’s coal train service this year, as well as the railroad’s “accurate and timely communication” during service problems last year. Consumers Energy Co., based in Jackson, Mich., told the Surface Transportation Board this week that coal train cycle times have improved by […]
Tips for Body-mounted couplers on auto racks: When N scale got its start in Europe in the 1960s, its originators conceived it in the tradition of toy trains, with truck-mounted couplers that could negotiate sharp-radius curves. Some N-scalers began switching to body-mounts after Kadee introduced its N scale knuckle coupler in the early 1960s. (Kadee […]
Fixing diesel locomotives Fixing diesel locomotives: The clang of tools, the whir of grinders, and the smell of diesel exhaust greets you as you walk in the door of an engine shop. People move to and from with equipment both large and small, with the ever-present cadence of idling locomotives just outside the door. This […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democratic members of the Washington state congressional delegation have written Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to lobby for federal funding to support development of a high speed rail route in the Pacific Northwest. The Cascadia High Speed Rail proposal calls for developing a route from Vancouver, British Columbia through Seattle to Portland, Ore. […]
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has announced its first discount ticket developed for passengers using a specific station, announcing the launch of the Far Rockaway Ticket on Aug. 20. The ticket expands the discounts of the CityTicket, which covers commuter rail travel within the city of New York, to cover the Far […]
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The transportation agency for Santa Cruz County has now fully funded a preliminary study of a much-debated rail transit plan for a former Southern Pacific branch line. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission has ordered the study, known as a project concept report, for its […]
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The New York Transit Museum’s vintage subway equipment will be featured in the 2023 “Parade of Trains” operation Sept. 9-10 on the New York City Transit B/Q lines — the former BMT Brighton line. Trains will operate from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., operating between the Brighton Beach B/Q platform and the […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway has become the title sponsor of the Montreal Canadiens’ training facility in suburban Brossard, which will now be known as the CN Sports Complex, the National Hockey League team has announced. “We are proud to welcome CN as a partner of the Montreal Canadiens,” France Margaret Bélanger, president, sports and […]
WASHINGTON – OmniTRAX will take over operations of the South Branch Valley Railroad, a 52.4-mile state-owned short line in West Virginia, on or after Sept. 13, the shortline holding company said in a regulatory filing this week. The former Baltimore & Ohio line is currently owned and operated by the West Virginia State Rail Authority. […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked federal regulators to toss out a complaint that Canadian Pacific Kansas City filed this month that would allow it to route grain trains to the ports of Houston and Galveston using trackage rights over UP south of Beaumont, Texas. CPKC told the Surface Transportation Board that UP is blocking […]
