LAS VEGAS – Railroad wheels wear over time. When they do, they affect the performance and reliability of the freight or passenger car or locomotive that they help carry down the tracks. Gordon Bachinsky, founder of Wheel Rail Seminars and the Wheel Rail Interaction conference lays out the basics for Trains‘ Steve Sweeney with model […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
NS cuts rails on mothballed Ohio mainline NEWSWIRE
Norfolk Southern maintenance-of-way crews recently severed the rails of its idled West Virginia Secondary. Here, orange spray paint identifies where the rails have been cut near Milepost 116.5 in Middleport, Ohio. CSX Transportation-owned track to the south remains in service, while the NS segment to the north has been mothballed. James C. Trivett III MIDDLEPORT, […]
A fog horn on a Daylight
Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449 at Bend, Ore., in October 2012. The fog horn is at the top of the smokebox on the fireman’s side, or the right, as you look at the engine. Alex Mayes Q I was watching a video about the Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449, and I noticed that […]
What West Virginia will do now that King Coal has lost his crown NEWSWIRE
Coal empties for Danville, W.Va., roll by the W.E. MacCorkle Siding on CSX Transportation’s Coal River Subdivision in April 2013. Chase Gunnoe CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coal country’s railroaders keep a watchful eye on their train crew assignments these days. They’re waiting for further cutbacks to terminals throughout West Virginia and trying not to believe too […]
Map of Glenita, Va., and environs
Because of a production error with our Spring 2016 issue, the map that should have accompanied the article “Calamity at Glenita” — about a 1968 coal train derailment on the Southern Railway — was omitted from the magazine. Here is the map. […]
AAR launches latest update to Freight Rail Works website NEWSWIRE
A screen capture image of the Association of American Railroads’ latest updated Freight Rail Works website. Association of American Railroads’ website WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today debuted the newest installment of its Freight Rail Works campaign, which explores how freight rail’s ongoing private investments in building, growing and maintaining the nation’s rail […]
CSX’s Michael Ward: I’ll be around three more years NEWSWIRE
CSX Chairman Michael J. Ward CSX Transportation JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Chairman and CEO Michael Ward says he will be on the job three more years. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Trains Editor Jim Wrinn on Friday, Ward said the CSX board of directors asked him to stay on three more years. “I plan […]
Denver’s Burnham Shops closing after more than a century
DENVER — On Feb. 14 another piece of Colorado railroad history will slip away as Union Pacific closes its Burnham Shops in Denver. Once the second largest UP shop behind Jenks Shop in North Little Rock, Ark., the loss of Burnham closes another chapter in the history of the late and much beloved Denver & […]
FRA says it is collecting more fines from railroads NEWSWIRE
Collection rate on railroad fines (by year) Federal Railroad Administration Reasons for railroad civil fines (for fiscal year 2015) Federal Railroad Adminisrtation WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today announced that it has stepped-up enforcement of railroad safety regulations led to the highest-ever civil penalty collection rate in the agency’s 50-year history. For fiscal year […]
Tech company’s device can detect in cab cell phone calls NEWSWIRE
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — New in-cab locomotive technology designed to identify communications over cellular frequencies is now working on U.S. railroads, Wi-Tronix officials tell Trains News Wire. The Illinois-based company has deployed its “Mobile Phone Detection System” on at least one Class I railroad and one California short line railroad. The company could not disclose which […]
‘The greatest railroader of all time’
Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern networks with most major routes shown. Trains: Rick Johnson CALGARY, Alberta — Bill Ackman, Canadian Pacific’s activist shareholder, says in a conference call today that E. Hunter Harrison is the “greatest railroader of all time” and that he is the premium Norfolk Southern shareholders would receive regardless of whether a […]
Analyst: RoadRailer a ‘missed opportunity’ for industry NEWSWIRE
Brian Schmidt FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A leading intermodal analysts says that Norfolk Southern’s decision to scale back use of its RoadRailer trailer trains is a “missed opportunity” for the industry. Earlier this month, NS discontinued most of its RoadRailer trains and is incorporating traffic that was once moved by its Fort Wayne-based Triple Crown […]
