Full passenger service to San Diego not expected until April

Amtrak passenger train moves along tracks on coastal bluff in light fog.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Costs and delays continue to increase for the work to restore daily passenger service between Los Angeles and San Diego. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports weekday service is now not expected to resume until sometime in April, while the cost to stabilize a hillside in San Clemente has risen to at […]

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Hydrogen-powered trains struggle with winter weather

White and blue hydrogen-powered multiple-unit passenger train runs on double-track main

The first winter intended to see regular use of hydrogen-powered passenger trains in Germany has not gone smoothly, with service disrupted by both equipment delivery and operational issues. The trains entered regular service in mid-2022 [see “World’s first hydrogen trains enter regular passenger service,” Trains News Wire, July 26, 2022]. Prototype trains had been running […]

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Power company donates locomotive to Michigan heritage railway

Yellow center-cab diesel

OLIVE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Friends of the Coopersville & Marne Railway Co., a non-profit heritage rail operation, on Monday accepted the donation a GE 125-ton center cab diesel locomotive from Michigan power company Consumers Energy at its West Olive facility Built in 1979, the locomotive was repowered in approximately 2010 with two 600-hp Caterpillar […]

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Western Maryland locomotive 1309 is a steam standout

Western Maryland steam locomotive 1309 rounds a curve in the track

Name: Western Maryland locomotive 1309 Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works Wheel arrangement: 2-6-6-2 Mallet (Articulated) Build date: November 1949 Why it’s important: The 1309 is one of the largest regularly operating steam locomotives in the United States. The big 2-6-6-2 originally belonged to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, where it was one of 10 class H-6 compound articulated […]

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Five mind-blowing railroad words

diesel locomotive pulling freight train past industrial buildings

Mind-blowing railroad words Depending on how you slice it, there are easily over one million words in the English language. Ours is a dynamic tongue, ever expanding and contracting to suit current societal needs. What influences our vocabulary is also dynamic. Prevailing social trends, events, and technology, to name a few, all influence what words […]

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Strasburg Rail Road opens six-track freight yard

End-cab switcher with car in small yar

PARADISE, Pa. — The nation’s oldest short line, the 4½-mile-long Strasburg Rail Road in southeast Pennsylvania, last week opened a $3.3 million, six-track yard to handle its growing freight business. Situated at Leaman Place Junction along Amtrak’s double-track electrified Keystone Corridor, the 7-acre site and interchange lies just off U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway. Freight […]

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East Palestine plans town hall meeting on derailment

Burned out tank cars and tank truck in muddy area

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The Village of East Palestine will hold an informational town hall meeting on Wednesday regarding followup to the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment, Mayor Trent Conaway has announced. The 7 p.m. meeting at the East Palestine High School Auditorium will be an opportunity for residents and those in the surrounded area […]

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Altoona museum adds PRR baggage car to K4s restoration project

Maintenance-of-way car is lifted by crane for move by truck

ALTOONA, Pa. — The Railroaders Memorial Museum has acquired a former Pennsylvania Railroad baggage car for use in a planned exhibit train to accompany K4s No. 1361, currently undergoing restoration. In a post on its Facebook page, the museum reports the car — a model B60b baggage car built in the 1920s — was donated […]

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