Shortline savior

Red-and-white diesel switcher locomotives in a road crossing

Shortline savior North Carolina’s Laurinburg & Southern was a GE 70-tonner bastion in the Southeast. A pair works Dixie Guano in Laurinburg in September 1984. The GE small locomotive line enabled great savings for short lines that adopted them, keeping some of them running for years longer than if powered by steam. Jim Wrinn photo […]

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CSX coal train derails in Richmond, Va.

Derailed coal hoppers, some on their side

RICHMOND, Va. — Thirteen cars of a CSX Transportation coal train derailed in Richmond on Friday afternoon, reportedly sending some of the coal into the nearby James River. WRIC-TV reported the derailment occurred about 1:30 p.m. There were no injuries. Initial reports said the waterway was not affected, but drone footage on Saturday showed coal […]

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STB chairman wades into intermodal terminal congestion issues

Man with gray hair speaking

WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman today asked the Class I railroads to provide information on congestion at inland intermodal terminals, where international containers are stacking up faster than customers can receive them. “I am particularly concerned about significant increases in container congestion at key U.S. terminals, and substantial charges being levied by […]

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UP engineer wins right to take service dog to work

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Union Pacific engineer has won the right to take his service dog to work, six years after the railroad declined to allow the dog to accompany the man to work and three years after he filed suit. After a five-day trial, a U.S. District Court jury unanimously decided Perry Hopman, […]

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Sunset on the swamp

Passenger train on wood trestle with semaphore signals framed by moss-covered trees

Sunset on the swamp Framed by trees heavy with Spanish moss, the eastbound Southern Pacific Sunset Limited crosses a bayou near Morgan City, La., about 80 miles west of New Orleans, in 1958. Diesels and streamlined cars came in 1950. Classic Trains collection […]

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CSX Santa Train won’t run again in 2021

Train greeted by large crowd of people

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — For the second straight year, there will be no CSX Santa Train in the southern Appalachian mountains. Instead, organizers will hold drive-through distribution of gifts at four locations. The train had run for 77 years until it was replaced by the drive-through distribution last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic [see “CSX […]

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Norfolk Southern launches expedited, less-than-carload service

Illustration showing route of Norfolk Southern less-than-carload service

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Norfolk Southern has dipped its toes into a market that railroads abandoned decades ago: Expedited less-than-carload service. NS launched the door-to-door service this month as an experiment in the Chicago-Atlanta-Miami corridor. Trucks pick up small loads and deliver them to a rail-served warehouse where the shipments are cross-docked into waiting boxcars. The […]

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Trains Magazine, U.S. Sugar set photo charter with ex-FEC No. 148

Steam locomotive leads train on curve

CLEWISTON, Fla. — U.S. Sugar’s restored 4-6-2 No. 148 will star in its first outing for railroad photographers in an exclusive event sponsored by Trains Magazine on Jan. 29-30, 2022. The 1920 Alco-built Pacific-type locomotive will pull passenger and replica freight consists in locations chosen by Trains Editor Jim Wrinn and Videographer Kevin Gilliam for […]

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