Throughout the past few months, I have shown you how different small Amtrak trains can be modeled with only a few pieces of equipment. If you’ve read those previous articles, you might have noticed a pattern. Amtrak trains that operate between a big city and a much smaller city or town, such as Chicago and […]
ANGOLA, Ind. — Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 765 debuted for its 2023 operating season during the Memorial Day weekend with one-hour Indiana Ice Cream Train rides out of Angola. The 1944-built 2-8-4 officially kicked off the second year of the Indiana Rail Experience, a program of events and excursions in partnership with the […]
These eight forgotten Amtrak trains are largely unremembered by railfans today. The shortest duration lasted just short of 14 months. Black Hawk The Black Hawk began service on the Illinois Central Iowa Division main line between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, on Feb. 14, 1974. It operated at first with Budd Rail Diesel Cars […]
Great American Steam Locomotives: Geared and Logging DVD | 16128 Geared engines were some of the most unique steam locomotives ever built. They were designed to go into the woods, over very steep gradesand questionable track to bring logs or coal out to either a mill or an interchange with a mainline. Join Trains magazine in […]
Soo Line diesel locomotives came from four builders and sported two distinctive paint schemes. The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie had long been known by its nickname, the Soo Line. The railroad adopted that name officially in 1961 when it merged the Wisconsin Central and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, both […]
Soo Line history involves numerous subsidiary railroads. Seemingly hidden away in the north-central U.S., the Soo Line and its affiliated Wisconsin Central Railway did not receive the attention lavished on bigger neighbors Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road. Soo did not host a streamliner, went freight-only in 1968, and was bought by Canadian Pacific, […]
LANCASTER, Minn. — Approximately 27 cars of a Canadian Pacific Kansas City train, some carrying hazardous materials, derailed near the Canadian border Wednesday afternoon, closing a 7-mile stretch of U.S. Route 59 as a precautionary measure. CNN reports the cars involved included eight tank cars, with some carrying an unspecified flammable liquid. The Grand Forks, […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Locomotive contractor RELCO of Albia, Iowa, has completed repainting Minnesota Transportation Museum’s Great Northern Railway SDP40 No. 325 into GN’s simplified orange and green color scheme. The only remaining work is application of Great Northern logos on the cab sides. In February the museum announced a member had agreed to fund […]
Soo Line passenger trains were simple affairs serving wide swaths of the rural Upper Midwest. While passenger service was not a big part of Soo’s business, the road strived to maintain quality service, and with partner CP, offered Canadian connections. In 1889 MStP&SSM inaugurated the Minneapolis-Sault Ste. Marie Atlantic Limited, among the first […]
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Norfolk Southern will open a new Family Assistance Center in East Palestine today (May 30), after signing a two-year lease on the space for residents to report losses related to the Feb. 3 derailment in the community. Also, the railroad has announced plans to donate its station in East Palestine to […]
CHICAGO — Some Amtrak long-distance and regional trains outside the Northeast Corridor experienced rare detours and extraordinary delays prior to and during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. On most routes, though, trains were operating on time as a result of lighter freight traffic. California Zephyrs rerouted Early Saturday, May 27, a washout on BNSF Railway’s […]
New York Central J-3a Hudson 5435 with a centipede tender departs Ann Arbor, Mich., with the Chicago–Detroit Twilight Limited in mid-1948. Stanley E. Yoder photo […]
