FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — It’s not the largest or most essential component of a decades-long, $4.6 billion dollar effort to unclog Chicago’s rail network called CREATE. But completion of the $14.5 million Metra/Canadian Pacific Crossover Upgrades Project is typical of incremental improvements that sporadic funding achieves. Six crossovers and associated signaling now allow Canadian Pacific […]
THOMASTON, Conn. – For the sixth consecutive year, the Railroad Museum of New England and the Naugatuck Railroad are teaming up with Watertown, Conn.-based nonprofit Sun, Moon & Stars to offer a holiday train ride designed for children on the autism spectrum. Naugatuck Railroad is the operational branch of the Railroad Museum of New England, founded […]
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System is seeking new partners in its ongoing effort to reopen the 70-mile former San Diego & Arizona Eastern line from Tecate, Mexico, to Plaster City, Calif., the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The agency has owned the line since 1979 and made several attempts to reopen the […]
MINNEAPOLIS – The Friends of the 261, the nonprofit organization that owns and operates Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261, has purchased well-known private car Caritas, Friends of the 261 President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg tells Trains “News Wire.” Sandberg says the group acquired the car in a bankruptcy auction from the bankruptcy court […]
Second of two parts CUMBERLAND, Md. — The conclusion of a Trains News Wire interview with with Wesley Heinz, executive director of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Part I is available here. Q: Second to 1309, track infrastructure has been a recurring topic of discussion. How is the railroad addressing track needs to avoid another […]
SALT LAKE CITY — The first of three diesel multiple-unit trainsets for use in Southern California has left Stadler’s Salt Lake City factory. The low-floor FLIRT trainsets for the San Bernardino County Transit Authority will run on a 9-mile line between the San Bernardino Transit Center and Redlands, Calif., providing a connection to existing Metrolink […]
TAMPA, Fla. — HornBlasters, which sells train horns for automotive use, has announced it is entering the locomotive market after acquiring assets of the Air Whistles product line of Leslie Circor Leslie Controls. Leslie, founded in 1905, is the oldest locomotive horn manufacturer in the U.S. and one of only two in the country producing […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National executives defended their intermodal growth strategy today, saying it’s the best way to compete with trucks and bring new profitable traffic to the railway over the next decade. Activist investor TCI Fund Management, which has launched a proxy fight to replace CEO JJ Ruest and four board members, has been critical […]
LEBANON, Ore. — Santa Maria Valley No. 205, a recently restored 2-6-2 that had not steamed in 71 years, will make its photographer’s train debut in a Trains Magazine-sponsored event at the Albany & Eastern on March 18. The locomotive and two coaches will make multiple photo runbys on the railroad’s scenic Sweet Home Branch […]
First of two parts CUMBERLAND, Md. – It’s been about five months since New England rail preservationist Wesley Heinz took the top spot as interim chief and then permanent executive director of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Cumberland. Prior to migrating to Cumberland, Heinz was the executive director of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad […]
HOPE, British Columbia — Flooding battering the province of British Columbia has disrupted rail service, as well as forcing evacuations and washing away highways. The CBC reports Canadian Pacific’s line through the Fraser River Canyon has been closed because of flood damage north of Hope, B.C., and that a Canadian National train derailed because of […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote ordered the hump bulldozed at Tilford Yard in December 2017, he proclaimed, “Atlanta hump yard today is flat. There is no turning back.” But there is moving forward: CSX is building a transload center on a portion of the former site of Tilford Yard, one of […]
