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WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has scheduled two more days of hearings next month on Amtrak’s efforts to launch Gulf Coast passenger service after the passenger carrier, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile, Ala., failed to reach an agreement through board-sponsored mediation. The evidentiary hearings will be Nov. 17-18, beginning at […]
Central of Georgia locomotives bought a great deal of variety to the South. When the Central of Georgia Railway was organized in 1895, it had 214 steam locomotives of the 4-4-0, 4-6-0, and 2-6-0 types. The roster was expanded in the early 1900s with 2-8-0s, 2-8-2s, 2-10-2s, 4-6-2s, 4-8-2s, and, briefly, 2-6-6-2s. Many of these […]
The builders of the Central of Georgia Railway’s earliest predecessor lines, beginning in my hometown of Savannah, could not have imagined that their railroad would eventually extend across Georgia into Alabama, barely into Tennessee, and, briefly, just inside Florida. But they persisted in assembling smaller roads into “A Hand Full of Strong Lines,” a slogan […]
COCOA, Fla.— Brightline is scheduled begin higher-speed testing on another segment of its route to Orlando as of this Saturday, a 13-mile portion of track in north Brevard County that will see 79 mph testing beginning this Saturday and 110-mph testing in early 2023. During testing, flaggers will be stationed at a total of 18 […]
Near Robinson, La., southeast of Shreveport, four Texas & Pacific F7s and one GP7 power a westbound freight in early 1959. A. E. Brown photo […]
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Seminole Gulf Railway, devastated by Hurricane Ian, is now estimating it will take $28 million to return the 105-mile railroad in southwest Florida to operation. WBBH-TV reports the railroad hosted government officials on Thursday in an effort to rally support for emergency funding, so the railroad can return to operation […]
MONTGOMERY, Ala — A Kentucky-based beverage firm has chosen a Montgomery site served by CSX Transportation for a new 180-acre, $600 million production and distribution facility for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The facility owned by the minority-owned Manna Capital Partners affiliate Manna Beverages & Ventures is expected to begin operations in early 2025. CSX assisted […]
Southern Railway GP7 129 heads a ballast-cleaning train in operation on the “Rathole Division” near Dry Ridge, Ky., in July 1971. William J. Husa Jr. photo […]
CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina Ports has broken ground on a new near-dock rail facility, the Navy Base Intermodal Facility in North Charleston, to bolster the competitive position of the Port of Charleston. The facility is about a mile from the port’s Leatherman Terminal; containers will move to and from the terminal on a dedicated […]
ORLANDO, Fla. — Commuter rail service SunRail will resume full operation to all 16 of its stations this Monday, Oct. 17, following repairs to its route to address flooding in the Kissimmee, Fla., area caused by Hurricane Ian. The approach of the hurricane and its immediate aftermath shut down SunRail from Sept. 27 to Oct. […]
MIAMI — With track damage caused by Hurricane Ian flooding in the Kissimmee, Fla., area repaired by CSX maintenance forces, Amtrak is restoring service beyond Jacksonville, Fla., to two New York-Florida trains this weekend. However, the addition of the second “Silver Service” train will result in a net loss of sleeping-car capacity. The Silver Meteor, […]
AVENTURA, Fla. — Brightline and contractor Lemartec have announced the topping off for the passenger operator’s new Aventura station, which occurred in the early-morning hours of Oct. 8 with the placement of a 131-foot-long pedestrian skybridge over the Harriet Tubman Highway (formerly West Dixie Highway) and the double-track Florida East Coast Railway main line used […]
