California holds a rich railroad heritage. There’s the Central Pacific building over Donner Pass and the Southern Pacific’s cab-forward locomotives battling the same grade. Narrow-gauge logging lines and restored interurbans. Depots of all shapes and sizes just waiting for you to explore them. I often get asked: “Bob, I’m going to (insert state here). What […]
The Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad operates over an 11-mile section of the former Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern Railroad, between Boone and Wolf, Iowa, a former junction with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway. The scenic highlight of the trip is the Bass Point Creek High Bridge, a 156-foot-tall steel bridge spanning Bass […]
Grade crossing installations take many forms but nearly always include the railroad symbol most familiar to the public — the highway/railroad grade crossing warning sign. Crossbuck is the correct term for the X-shaped sign located just before a road reaches railroad tracks. These signs read RAILROAD CROSSING in the U.S. and are lettered with similar words, […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National envisions the day when its main line to the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, will host 50 trains per day. “Our capacity right now on that line is about 25 trains a day,” CN CEO Tracy Robinson told an investor conference on Wednesday. “We’re running a little bit below that […]
Trains LIVE — Walk through Fire — 5-17-2023 — It seemed as if the entire world had been turned upside down. On Feb. 24, 1978, that is what it felt like in the small town of Waverly, Tenn. Two days before, 23 cars of a 96-car Louisville & Nashville Railroad freight train derailed and piled […]
A trip aboard the Alberta Prairie conjures up visions of what a central Alberta wheat line must have been like 100 years ago. Traveling from the well-developed community of Stettler, it passes through stands of trees and fields before reaching Big Valley, where the ruins of a roundhouse and a restored depot remain. Choices The […]
ORLANDO — Brightline’s Miami-Orlando schedule is out, and tickets are now on sale — even though an official start date has not yet been announced. Starting today, travelers can book tickets on Brightline trains between Orlando International Airport and South Florida destinations. Tickets are on sale for trips Sept. 1 through Jan. 7, 2024; however, […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ongoing problems in operating passenger trains between Los Angeles and San Diego are taking a significant toll on ridership, the managing director of the Amtrak service between the cities told a new state Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the Senate Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Efficiency held […]
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Southern Railway board of trustees will decide in July whether to place the proposed sale of the city-owned railroad on the November ballot, WVXU Radio reports. The city has agreed to sell the railroad, the nation’s only municipally owned interstate rail line, to Norfolk Southern for $1.62 billion. But city voters […]
LOS ANGELES — Metrolink has awarded Balfour Beatty a $60 million contract for communication and signal systems, continuing a 14-year relationship between the Southern California commuter rail operator and contracting and construction firm. The contract includes renovation and modernization of wayside signals and grade-crossing warning systems. It also includes installation, modification, and testing of wayside […]
SCRANTON, Pa. — Genesee Valley Transportation’s historic American Locomotive Co. PA-model “Nickel Plate Road 190” locomotive will be temporarily displayed at Steamtown National Historic Site after its long-anticipated arrival from the West Coast, according to GVT President Michael D. Thomas. Over the weekend, National Park Service staff and Steamtown volunteers repositioned GVT’s Lackawanna No. 426, […]
Basic railroad signal terminology Here is a glossary of railroad signal terminology. Signals are used for protection and control of train traffic. However, there is no national standard or system, so signals used by individual railroads may vary. Glossary of railroad signal terminology Absolute signal: A signal whose “stop” indication means “stop and stay.” Usually […]
