The Milwaukee Road Hiawatha fleet stands out among mid-century passenger operators. Of all the major U.S. railroads that fielded impressive fleets of passenger trains between the end of World War I in 1918 and the arrival of Amtrak in 1971, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific — more commonly known as the […]
Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s locomotives The writing has been on the wall for years. Fifteen years ago, in Trains’ April 2008 issue, David Lustig warned of the demise of Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s venerable fleet of former Burlington Northern General Electric U30C and C30-7 locomotives. Now, that time appears to have arrived at the short […]
Even as he handed it to me the other night at a Milwaukee slide show, I couldn’t quite believe what Mike Schafer was telling me. “Hey, this is my first railroad book! Maybe you’ll write about it?” Mike Schafer’s first railroad book. That didn’t sound quite right. I’ve been reading Mike’s name on […]
CHICAGO — A U.S. appeals court has ruled Union Pacific does not have a common-carrier obligation to continue operating commuter trains for Metra, likely hastening the transition of operations on three commuter lines from UP to Metra operation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on Wednesday that “Union Pacific is not […]
LUDINGTON, Mich. — It will likely take a “few weeks” to return Great Lakes car ferry S.S. Badger to service after a loading-ramp failure last week, the owner of the former Chesapeake & Ohio steamship said in a statement earlier this week. Lake Michigan Carferry, owner of the ship built in 1952, said that on […]
HUDSON, Ind. — The Indiana Northeastern Railroad Co. is scheduled to host the first Railroad Open House at its locomotive maintenance facility in Hudson this upcoming weekend. The July 29-30 event will see more than 1,000 visitors and passengers help celebrate over 130 years of regional history. “The railroad first came to Hudson in 1893 […]
The MTH Premier Hudson is a modern incarnation of arguably the most iconic steam locomotive ever made in O scale. The classic 4-6-4 wheel arrangement, originally offered in by Lionel in 1937, can be seen on artwork from decades ago and carried on today by the works of artists like Angela Trotta Thomas. Due to […]
CHESTERTON, Ind. — South Shore Line rail service between Michigan City and Gary, Ind., which has been replaced all or in part by buses since February 2022, should resume early in 2024, South Shore President Michael Noland said Monday. Noland, speaking to a meeting of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board, said the Double […]
An interlocking tower and station are nestled between the tracks where the Monon crosses the two tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Limedale, Ind., in May 1944. A Monon local freight is switching the station and interchange tracks in the distance. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
VAPARAISO, Ind. — A 39-year-old Indiana man has been arrested on charges related to the derailment of a Canadian National train in Valparaiso early Saturday, WBBM-TV reports. James Rockhill, of Kouts, Ind., was being held at the Porter County Jail on charges of railroad mischief, criminal recklessness, and leaving the scene of a crash. He […]
Designed by noted architect Jarvis Hunt and opened in 1914, 28-track Kansas City Union Station was a classic big city railroad terminal. Today most of the grand structure houses a science museum, although Amtrak trains and a small railroad museum are also present. Ed Wojtas photo […]
LUDINGTON, Mich. — The S.S. Badger, the former Chesapeake & Ohio car ferry that is the last coal-fired passenger ship operating on the Great Lakes and last remnant of the once sizable fleet of railroad car ferries, has been sidelined until further notice by a mechanical failure of its ramping system, the ship’s owner announced. […]
