Pullman cars return to their birthplace for weekend open house

Chairs and sofas inside railroad car

CHICAGO — A heavyweight business car and two lightweight sleepers will return to their birthplace as part of this weekend’s grand opening of the Pullman National Monument Visitor Center on Chicago’s South Side. The cars, built by Pullman or Pullman-Standard between 1928 and 1955, will be available for tours Saturday and Sunday at Metra’s 111th […]

Read More…

Chasing Big Boy 4014 to Las Vegas

Crowds for Big Boy 4014’s 2019 and 2021 tours have been immense. I haven’t taken part in any concerted effort to chase for these tours, but I got a taste of the madness back in 2014 when Big Boy moved from Southern California to Cheyenne, Wyo., for restoration. I covered it for two days with […]

Read More…

BNSF calls Chicago intermodal operations ‘extremely challenged’

Containers stacked under cranes

CHICAGO — BNSF is informing customers that conditions at its four Chicago-area intermodal facilities — Corwith, Cicero, Willow Springs, and Logistics Park Chicago in Elwood, Ill. — are “extremely challenged” because of “a substantial number of staged inbound trains and elevated inventory levels.” It is asking customers to prioritize pick-up of trailers and containers at […]

Read More…

UP, KCS restore service to New Orleans

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

NEW ORLEANS — Union Pacific has reopened its line between St. James, La., and New Orleans, after Kansas City Southern restored service on Thursday. In a Friday notification to customers, UP said it has generators in place to operate signals and crossing gates until power is restored. The railroad’s Avondale, La., intermodal terminal remains closed […]

Read More…

Northeast transit systems recovering from Ida flooding

Railroad track hanging over washed-out underbed

NEW YORK — Transit agencies gradually restored service Thursday and today after heavy rains and flooding disrupted operations from Philadelphia to Boston. In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit subway service made major restoration gains overnight. As of  Thursday night’s rush hour,  just one line reported no  issues while two remained […]

Read More…

Builder of Montreal light rail line agrees to downtown tunnel

Montreal light rail project map.

MONTREAL — The pension fund behind Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain light rail network has agreed to a tunnel for part of its REM de l’est project, addressing some concerns over the visual impact of the rail line. The Montreal Gazette reports CDPQ Infra, the infrastructure arm of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, […]

Read More…

Court turns down bid for injunction to end German rail strike

Deutsche Bahn logo

FRANKFURT, Germany — A labor court rejected national rail operator Deutsche Bahn’s effort to end a strike by train drivers on Thursday evening, turning down DB’s bid for an injunction to halt the third strike by the GDL union in less than a month. The strike began Wednesday by freight operators and widened to passenger […]

Read More…

Amtrak’s New York tunnels withstand Ida’s deluge

Train in rain

NEW YORK — Despite more than 7 inches of rain that shut down New York’s subway system late Wednesday, the Amtrak tunnels connecting the Northeast Corridor to Manhattan survived tropical storm Ida without the debilitating damage that occurred as a result of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy. But other damage and power outages caused cancellation of all […]

Read More…

Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad: How to visit

Side view of small steam locomotive waiting on tracks

Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad: An introduction The Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad provides a family train-riding experience through scenic vistas. The tourist railroad is located on the western outskirts of Yosemite National Park, two miles south of Fish Camp, Calif. The facility at Fish Camp consists of a two-stall engine house, a museum, and […]

Read More…