WASHINGTON — Amtrak is advising passengers to book early for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday period to get the best prices and ensure seating, saying it is expecting record-breaking ridership based on early bookings. Last year, the company saw 1.2 million riders during the Thanksgiving season. The company will add cars to Northeast Regional routes between […]
Eager to tie the knot, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have asked federal regulators for a faster review of their proposed transcontinental merger, Trains has learned. The Surface Transportation Board in September proposed a roughly 390-day schedule to review the railroads’ $85 billion deal. The calendar includes wiggle room that would allow the board to […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division has ratified the five-year collective bargaining agreement reached with railroads represented by the National Carriers Conference Committee. The tentative deal had been announced in September [see “SMART-TD reaches national tentative agreement …,” Trains.com, Sept. 16, 2025]. The agreement, covering SMART-TD […]
LONDON — Eurostar’s long run as the sole operator of rail service through the Channel Tunnel between England and France is likely to end following a decision today (Oct. 30, 2025) by the UK regulatory Office of Rail and Road to allow Virgin Trains access to the only servicing facility on the high-speed route between […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A new proposal to fund Chicago’s transit agencies was introduced on Tuesday (Oct. 28) in the state’s House of Representatives. By Wednesday, it appeared to be dead. Gov. JB Pritzker said at a Wednesday event that the bill was “not going forward” in its current form because he had issues with the […]
This Union Pacific branchline train heads home at sunset near Platte Center, Nebraska on Aug. 22, 1988. The train — the Norfolk local returning to Columbus with a little bit of everything in tow — was a common enough sight at the time. The well-maintained motive power includes three, four-axle locomotives. The lead unit is […]
Athearn HO Berwick bathtub gondola Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Single car, $36.99 to $41.99; three-pack, $99.99 to $114.99 Era: 1977+ to 2020+ (varies based on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Athearn HO Berwick bathtub gondola features: Body-mounted McHenry plastic scale couplers Machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Transportation Museum volunteers have returned a 1949 EMD SW1 diesel locomotive to operation. The unit was built for the Wabash Railroad and later sold to window-maker Andersen for switching at its Bayport, Minn., plant. “It started with a hinge,” says Tim Nelson, one of the volunteers who led the project, […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. weekly rail traffic remains below 2024 levels for the third straight week — and the sixth time in eight weeks — with both carload and intermodal traffic showing declines. According to figures from the Association of American Railroads for the week ending Oct. 25, total traffic was 499,688 carloads and intermodal units, […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has asked the Federal Railroad Administration for more time to complete inspections of its Silverliner IV car fleet, a SEPTA spokesman said today (Oct. 29, 2025). Public broadcaster WHYY reports that the SEPTA has asked for an additional two weeks to complete the inspections of the 223 Silverliner […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific Kansas City reported higher quarterly profits on Wednesday as volume and revenue both increased despite ongoing economic uncertainty and trade tensions in North America. “CPKC once again created profitable, sustainable growth in the third quarter, while navigating challenging macroeconomic conditions,” CEO Keith Creel said in a statement. “Through our powerful […]
Norfolk Southern didn’t mind being late to the AC-traction party. And NS wasn’t just fashionably late, either. As Burlington Northern, Canadian Pacific, CSX, and Union Pacific gravitated toward AC locomotives in the mid 1990s, NS stuck with DC, saying it couldn’t justify the higher cost of AC-traction units. Even little Kansas City Southern jumped aboard […]
