PHOENIX — Never underestimate the value of experience and institutional knowledge. That’s one of the many lessons from Union Pacific’s Dry Canyon Bridge reconstruction project in 2022. The project, which replaced a major fire-damaged trestle in Northern California in 2021 — about a month faster than was originally projected — has been much discussed and […]
VOLO, Ill. — The first of seven pieces of equipment from the defunct Fillmore & Western have arrived at the Volo Auto Museum, which plans to open a railroad attraction in 2022. The Lake Zurich Patch website reports a 4-4-0 locomotive and passenger cars featured in the movie “The Lone Ranger,” along with cars from […]
Few years pass without railroads facing disruptions from natural disasters. This year was no different, with events including flooding that caused a Union Pacific derailment in Utah in July, Hurricane Ida hitting rail operations from New Orleans to New England in August; and devastating tornadoes in December, including one that derailed a CSX train. But […]
LOS ANGELES — The man who intentionally ran his train off the end of tracks in San Pedro, Calif., last year, claiming he was trying to draw attention to what he believed was a conspiracy involving a U.S. Navy hospital ship, has pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge resulting from the incident. Eduardo Moreno, 45, […]
FILLMORE, Calif. —California short line operator Sierra Northern Railway will be the new operator of Ventura County’s Piru to Montalvo, Calif., rail line, the Ventura County Transportation Commission has decided. By a 13-1 vote, the commission approved the contract for operation of the 30-mile, county-owned former Southern Pacific branch, to be known as the Sierra […]
Days after Amtrak wrapped one of its ACS64 locomotives in the paint scheme once worn by its AEM7s, Bay Area commuter operator Caltrain has unveiled a repainted AEM7 in a variant of the red, black, and white scheme worn by its MP36 diesels. The ex-Amtrak unit will be used to test the Caltrain catenary system, […]
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Association of Governments board of directors has passed a 30-year, $160 billion regional transportation plan, but eliminated a proposed road mileage tax, leaving questions how the agency plans to pay for the program. The Times of San Diego reports key aspects of the plan approved Friday include a direct […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will consider the request for an exemption allowing construction of a 54-mile high speed line between Palmdale and Apple Valley, Calif., that would connect planned Brightline West (formerly Xpress West) and California High Speed Rail Authority rail lines. The board, in a Thursday decision, said it will open a […]
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Electrification of Caltrain’s line between San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. Is now estimated to cost $2.44 billion, some $462 million over the initial estimate and $129 million more than a Federal Transit Administration estimate from earlier this year, the commuter operator said in a news release. The 47-mile electrification project, […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — Southward expansion of the Altamont Corridor Express commuter rail service to Merced, Calif., received a key administrative boost Friday, as the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission approved the final environmental report for the new segment. The Modesto Bee reports that the vote concludes an environmental review that began in June 2020. It […]
A California-inspired garden railroad is what you can see in our Morning Glow Railroad. It was developed after watching numerous videos, reading many Garden Railways magazines, then determining the type of garden railroad I wanted to construct. Its theme is based on the type of natural setting that I enjoyed the most, namely a vacation […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A lawsuit seeking to halt California’s high speed rail project has again been turned down in a state court, with the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Sacramento ruling the project’s segmented building plan did not violate the state constitution. The Los Angeles Times, which describes the case as the last pending […]
