News photos: UP Big Boy arrives in the Midwest

Three-quarter view of steam locomotive

ROCHELLE, Ill. — The vast expanse of Union Pacific’s Ike Evans Global III terminal just west of Rochelle played host to a “Family Days” event for Chicago area UP employees today (Saturday, Sept. 7) prior to a public display featuring Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 on Sunday at the same location. It proved to be […]

Read More…

OmniTRAX becomes partner in Arizona commerce park

DENVER — Shortline holding company OmniTRAX has acquired Central Arizona Commerce Park’s rail infrastructure and remaining park acreage. With the acquisition, OmniTRAX becomes the exclusive infrastructure partner of the 679-acre industrial park located in Casa Grande, which is midway between Phoenix and Tucson. This move marks OmniTRAX’s third rail transaction in the past six months […]

Read More…

Schedule

Trains Magazine reserves the right to change the number of issues in an annual term, including discontinuing any format and substituting and/or modifying the manner in which the subscription is distributed. […]

Read More…

Port of LA plans $52 million on-dock rail upgrade

Aerial view of on-dock rail facilities at port

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. container port arms race is moving by rail. The Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday said it has approved a lease amendment that finalizes plans for $52 million to improve the on-dock rail capacity at the Port of Los Angeles Pier 300. Pier 300, the second-largest terminal at Los Angeles, […]

Read More…

Amtrak breaks ground on Connecticut River Bridge

Illustration of double-track bridge with lift span in middle

OLD LYME, Conn. — Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and a host of federal, state, and local officials were on hand Thursday for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on a replacement for the Connecticut River Bridge between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, Conn. The $1.3 billion project will replace a bridge dating […]

Read More…

G&W train dispatchers vote to join union

Genesee & Wyoming train dispatchers have voted to join the American Train Dispatchers Association, the union said this week. Based at the American Rail Dispatching Center in St. Albans, Vt., the 34 G&W dispatchers control railroad traffic in 43 states on more than 13,000 miles of shortline track. The center handles dispatching for nearly all […]

Read More…

From the Cab: To an office on the top floor

man with hard hat next to Amtrak

An office on the 4th floor Aside from criss-crossing the country to take pictures of everything Amtrak, my greatest pleasure was working with the folks who occupied the executive offices of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, explaining to them the “other side of railroading.” Unionized workers typically envision management as an army of clueless, overpaid, […]

Read More…

Short line founder Gene Blabey II passes away

Eugene (Gene) H. Blabey II, who founded several short lines during a 50-year railroading career, died on Sept. 2. He was 85. Blabey was among the first railroaders inducted into the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame. “Gene was a legend in our industry and a leading […]

Read More…