Could narrow gauge freight in the U.S. make a return? Durango & Silverton’s parent is seeking freight business for its three tourist-based railroads. Brian Schmidt DURANGO, Colo. – American Heritage Railways has hired a longtime rail industry veteran to head up efforts to develop freight business on its three scenic railroads: The Mount Rainier Railroad […]
LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has filed a lawsuit it hopes will shed light on alleged operations conducted between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Union Pacific Railroad Police. According to a statement issued by the SoCal ACLU, the lawsuit is based upon alleged violations by ICE of the […]
The increased use of locally mined frac sand in America’s largest shale oil field, the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, is rapidly crowding out rail-hauled sand from the Midwest. On Union Pacific, for example, frac sand volume was down 45 percent this year through the first week of March, a trend the railroad […]
Norfolk Southern C40-9W No. 9625 leads westbound loaded rail train 917 at the NS Bristol Yard at Bristol, Va., on the NS Pulaski District on June 23, 2011. 11193-11 Jonathan McCoy Question: How many slots of rail can a Norfolk Southern rail train hold and how many cars normally make up a rail train? — […]
Santa Fe refrigerator cars loaded with potatoes from Kern County, Calif., head eastward at Topock, Ariz., in 1953. Even though it’s a solid train of one commodity, the cars have many different destinations. The train has just left California by crossing the Colorado River. Santa Fe photo […]
Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3404, nicely turned out with white tires, running boards, and cylinder-head covers, assists a train up Tennessee Pass in July 1941. Up front is a 4-8-2; at the rear is another 2-8-8-2 helper. J. W. Maxwell photo […]
The Soo Line used what it called Mobile Cleaning Units — trucks with a power sweeper, power washers, and other cleaning and repair equipment — to clean and prep boxcars for grain shipment at its yards in Schiller Park (Chicago) and Shoreham (Minneapolis) in the early 1960s. The rig, with two workers, could clean a […]
A single photo from the 1950s of C&O’s ‘Sportsman’ at a small-city station at Staunton, Va., reveals plenty of small, easily overlooked details. 1 – Freight house Staunton (“Stan-ton”) in 1950 had a population of 19,927. All towns of this significance once had a freight house where less-than-carload (LCL) freight was handled. Warehousemen used a […]
Video from WJZ Baltimore. BALTIMORE — Railroad crews are responding to a train derailment in downtown Baltimore late Friday afternoon. Early reports indicate that a freight train derailed several cars, including a tank car over a viaduct before entering an underpass or tunnel in the city. The train derailed near the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. The […]
WASHINGTON — Class I railroads say their increased accessorial and demurrage charges, which they levy on customers for things such as car storage and special switching requests, are designed to make service more efficient by encouraging faster loading and unloading of freight cars. Grain shippers beg to differ. “Many Class I carriers increasingly are using […]
BALTIMORE — CSX Transportation CEO James Foote on Monday joined Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in officially seeking federal funding for the $466 million Howard Street Tunnel clearance project. Hogan’s office announced that it submitted an application for a U.S. Department of Transportation grant that would fund raising clearances in the tunnel to permit double-stacks to […]
A southbound CN freight passes the former Soo Line station in Waukesha, Wis., in 2012. Brian Schmidt Q How did Canadian National end up operating the former Soo Line route through Wisconsin. I thought the Soo was affiliated with Canadian Pacific. – Kirk Gobain, Dodge City, Kan. A The Soo Line acquired the Milwaukee Road […]
