U.S. Steel introduces battery locomotives at Pittsburgh-area plants

Blue and green switching locomotive with U.S. Steel logo

PITTSBURGH — U.S. Steel has begun using two battery-electric locomotives, converted from diesel-electric switchers, at its Mon Valley Works, the company has announced. The conversions were performed by Innovative Rail Technologies, a Washington, D.C.-based company that provides lithium-ion power systems for the locomotive market, and are working at two of the four facilities that make […]

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Three-truck logging Shay

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Meadow River Lumber Co. No. 7 is a good example of a three-truck, standard-gauge, coal-burning Shay with a Radley & Hunter stack. The West Virginia company used steam locomotives into the mid-1960s. Matt Coleman collection […]

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Cumbres & Toltec seeing high demand for fall-colors trips

Cumbres_Toltec_Lassen

CHAMA, N.M. — Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad excursions this fall are selling quickly, the railroad reports, with some September dates almost sold out in all ticket classes and Parlor class seating available for only three dates in the entire month. “Autumn is always a popular time to ride the Cumbres & Toltec,” Scott Gibbs, […]

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White Pass & Yukon workers ratify new agreement

Black and red narrow-gauge diesel with mountain backdrop

SKAGWAY, Alaska — Union operating crews at the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway have ratified a new agreement, ending the prospect of a strike that could have disrupted the end of the tourist railroad’s 2023 operating season. KTOO reports the railroad and members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation […]

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Canada’s Cando Rail to develop battery switcher

Green and gray switching locomotive with extended-height cab

EDMONTON, Alberta — Cando Rail & Terminals — the Canadian company which operates shortlines, terminals and transload facilities, and handles industrial switching, among a wide variety of rail services — will develop a battery-electric switcher. The company announced Thursday that it plans to retrofit a legacy, non-tier compliant diesel with a lithium-ion propulsion system for […]

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White Pass & Yukon, SMART-TD announce tentative agreement

Yellow and green diesel with vintage-style passenger cars on narrow-gauge track

SKAGWAY, Alaska — The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad and the union representing its train and engine workers have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, the two sides announced Tuesday. The agreement, which would run through 2027, is subject to ratification by the more than two dozen employees represented by the International […]

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White Pass & Yukon operating employees vote to strike

WhitePass_Diesels_Johnston

SKAGWAY, Alaska — Operating personnel on the White Pass & Yukon Route have voted to authorize a strike, according to their union’s website. Members of International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) Local 1626 authorized the strike in voting last week. The union says it has been negotiating with the […]

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C&NW narrow-gauge Mogul

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Chicago & North Western 3-foot-gauge Mogul No. 279 stands at Fennimore, Wis., in 1925. Known as “The Dinky,” the North Western’s narrow-gauge line ran 16.4 miles from a C&NW standard-gauge connection at Fennimore to Woodman, on the Milwaukee Road’s Madison–Prairie du Chien, Wis., line. One of the last slim-gauge lines in the Midwest, The Dinky […]

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Workers strike at Canada’s National Steel Car

White end-cab switcher moves cars

HAMILTON, Ontario — About 1,500 workers are on strike at railcar manufacturer National Steel Car, the Hamilton Spectator reports. The workers, represented by United Steelworkers Local 7135, walked out on Thursday, June 29. Local president Frank Crowder told the newspaper via email that “significant issues,” including wages, remain on the table. The company’s latest offer […]

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