FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway has reached new tentative agreements for individual paid sick days with SMART Transportation Division, which includes engineers and conductors. The agreement covers workers on the former Great Northern, Spokane Portland & Seattle, Colorado & Southern, Houston Belt & Terminal, Joint Texas Division, Los Angeles Junction, and some former Santa Fe […]
WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board announced the addition of Justin Broyles from R.J. Corman and Robert (Buck) Rogers from Canadian National to the Board’s Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC). Broyles joins as a small railroad representative, and Mr. Rogers joins as a large railroad representative. The ICC Termination Act of 1995 established RSTAC to advise […]
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day investigative hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, on June 22-23, as part of the ongoing investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train and subsequent hazardous material release and fires. The investigative hearing, to be held at East Palestine High School beginning at […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation has been recognized by intermodal providers as the top-performing railroad in North America. The “Intermodal Service Scorecard” ranking was compiled by the Journal of Commerce, and assessed performance through the first four months of 2023, the railroad said in a news release. To create the Scorecard, more than 100 shippers and […]
Amtrak round trips RALEIGH, North Carolina — Tickets are now available for five Amtrak round trips between Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C. for travel beginning July 10. This includes the state-sponsored Charlotte-New York Carolinian and four Piedmont departures. The Raleigh-Charlotte trains are the only service on Amtrak’s network that continues to utilize refurbished heritage coaches built […]
PARIS – France has banned domestic short-haul flights where rail alternatives exist to cut carbon emissions, BBC News reported. The law comes into effect two years after French lawmakers had voted to end airline routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours. France’s Citizens’ Convention on Climate, which was created […]
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Amtrak is adding two additional Northeast Regional trains serving Springfield beginning June 5, Amtrak, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and Connecticut Department of Transportation announced. The trains will offer single seat rides from Springfield to New York City in three and half hours. Connections can be made at New York to the Northeast […]
MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government sent in Marines May 19 to take over part of a 75-mile private railway line in southern Mexico. The government said it would compensate the owners for what it called the “temporary occupation” of the railway run by a Mexican mining and rail company Grupo Mexico Transportes, the Associated […]
Memorial service for Dirt ELY, Nev. – The Nevada Northern Railway’s beloved shop cat and mascot, Dirt, died January 10 at age 15. The railroad is planning to give him a big send off Memorial Day weekend. May 28 will see a full day of events to honor Dirt, including special tours and excursion trains. […]
Union Pacific and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have reached a tentative agreement that will provide engineers with more predictable schedules. The deal, which the union and railroad called “historic,” will provide engineers with an 11 days on, four days off schedule. UP and the BLET said the tentative agreement announced today will […]
LA Metro Regional Connector LOS ANGELES – LA Metro announced this week it will officially open its Regional Connector transit project June 16. The project, which began in 2013, will make it easier to ride across LA County as passengers will be able to travel between Azusa and Long Beach, and between East Los Angeles […]
Chris Montagna of the Chris’s Trains and Things YouTube channel is a contributing editor to Classic Toy Trains. He has done numerous reviews and how-to articles for Trains.com and the magazine. We asked him a few questions. My first train set (or locomotive) was…? My first locomotive was a Lionel Reading 4-6-2 (No. 6-18004) in […]
