JOPLIN, Mont. — The vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board says Amtrak’s Empire Builder was traveling below its posted speed limit when it derailed and partially overturned over the weekend in rural Montana, killing three people. NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg told members of the media Monday afternoon that the eastbound Empire Builder […]
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GALESBURG, Ill. — As the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners sets off on its annual trip and convention this week, the organization has released a statement on the weekend derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in northern Montana. “It is horrifying to see the derailed and overturned rail cars. For many of us, rail […]
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JOPLIN, Mont. — The passengers killed in Saturday’s deadly Empire Builder derailment have been identified as a tech engineer from Illinois and a husband and wife from Georgia. According to media reports, the three people killed when Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder derailed Saturday afternoon in northern Montana have been identified as 28-year-old Zach Schneider, of […]
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is launching its own investigation into the Saturday derailment of Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder in northern Montana. Specifically, FRA has sent a team of 18 dispatched to the scene consisting of technical experts in track, motive power & equipment, signal and train control, and operating practices. The agency has […]
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WASHINGTON — Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn has issued a statement on Saturday’s fatal derailment of the Empire Builder in Montana. “We are in mourning today for the people who lost their lives due to the derailment of the Empire Builder train Saturday, near Joplin, Montana, on the BNSF Railway, as well as the many others […]
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GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the site of Saturday’s derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The NTSB is the lead agency in the investigation of the derailment, which occurred at about 3:55 p.m. Saturday in a remote […]
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HAVRE, Mont. – Amtrak confirms three deaths in the Saturday derailment of the westbound Empire Builder near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The train, which originated in Chicago on Friday, had 141 passengers and 16 crew members onboard. The train consisted of two locomotives and 10 cars, with eight of those cars derailing, […]
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OSIER, Colo. — Steam excursion trains of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic turned back early today after a fire in the lunch hall at the mid-point of the railroad in Osier, Colo. C&TS Interim President Scott Gibbs says that damage was confined to the bakery portion of the kitchen. He says the railroad turned Thursday’s […]
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — High natural gas prices have electric utilities once again relying on railroading’s oldest friend – coal. Natural-gas futures have notched upward to $5.10 per million British thermal units in recent days, reflecting a 95% increase from six months ago when natural gas was $2.61 per million BTUs. This upward trend, which has […]
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Before heading westward, our hard-drivin’ rail adventurer Tom Danneman walks and talks you around his trail-rated 4×4 truck. This time out, Tom’s son is riding shotgun, so rooftop camping is also part of the off-road trackside trek! […]
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Before heading westward, our hard-drivin’ rail adventurer Tom Danneman walks and talks you around his trail-rated 4×4 truck. This time out, Tom’s son is riding shotgun, so rooftop camping is also part of the off-road trackside trek! […]
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San Francisco Overland Future excursion locomotive UP 844, having just taken over for an SP locomotive, departs Ogden Union Station with the San Francisco Overland on June 18, 1950. The Fairbanks-Morse “Erie-built” diesels at right will follow with the Los Angeles Limited. Don Sims photo […]
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