JACKSON, Miss. – Beginning Thursday, and just days before the big Mardi Gras weekend, Amtrak’s City of New Orleans from Chicago will start making a same day turn at Jackson with chartered Amtrak Thruway buses making all scheduled intermediate stops to and from the Crescent City. The northbound bus will leave New Orleans Passenger terminal […]
Clinchfield No. 800 pulls a Royal Palm Railway Experience train to Mount Dora in January 2018. Trains: Jim Wrinn MOUNT DORA, Fla. — What’s good for one railroad may not necessarily be good for another, and a tourist railroad in Florida will have to cope with that reality this spring. The Royal Palm Railway Experience, […]
Central of Georgia’s 500-series Consolidations possessed good lines accented by interesting detail: visored headlight, capped stack, serif numerals, striped sandbox, generous cab. Classic Trains collection An alligator crosshead moving back and forth on its greased guides to the dictates of a hot piston rod; the hurried, hollow sighs up the stack as a pair of […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific announced another round of layoffs on Tuesday that affects 700 employees and includes the closure of the locomotive shop in Pine Bluff, Ark. UP has notified the mechanical department that 450 positions will be eliminated across the system this month. In addition, 250 other jobs were eliminated, most of them […]
A screenshot from a video on the North Charleston, S.C., city government Facebook page shows Mayor Keith Summey standing in the middle of a railroad track to harshly criticize Norfolk Southern over daytime work that blocked a busy grade crossing. North Charleston city government Facebook page NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — North Charleston’s mayor has taken […]
STEARNS, Ky. — A restoration shop in Kentucky is branching out to produce new open-air passenger cars for tourist lines. Crossroads Railcar Services, which refurbishes passenger cars in the former Kentucky & Tennessee Railway steam shop in Stearns, Ky., has begun construction on the prototype for what is planned to be a full line of […]
ATLANTA — With the city bracing for the arrival of a huge number of visitors for Super Bowl week, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is anticipating anywhere from 30,000 to 90,000 additional daily riders, expanding schedules to accommodate the influx. Numerous road closures will make driving to the game a poor choice. “Please, please, […]
MIAMI — Brightline is now offering free rides for federal employees hit by the government shutdown. The Florida passenger service announced the move on Friday. Federal employees who present a government-issued employee ID to agents at its West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami stations will receive complimentary rides in Smart class until the government […]
CSX’s Florida Panhandle route TRAINS: Rick Johnson/Steve Sweeney JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s a failure to launch for the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad. Federal regulators had approved the sale of 373 miles of CSX Transportation trackage across the Florida Panhandle, effective Jan. 6, but CSX and short line operator RailUSA scuttled their deal last week. […]
Bartow, Ga. Google Maps BARTOW, Ga. — Residents in a southern Georgia town are returning to their homes this morning now that officials say they’re not at risk from a derailed freight train with chlorine-filled tank cars. Norfolk Southern confirms that a train derailed shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday near Bartow, about 150 miles southeast […]
A Brightline train heads toward Miami Central station in May 2018. Bob Johnston MIAMI — Beginning this week, travelers commuting between West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and downtown Miami have more rush-hour frequencies to choose from. Brightline, now officially known as Virgin Trains USA, on Wednesday supplemented its near-hourly weekday schedule with an […]
A northbound Brightline train rolls into Fort Lauderdale on May 12, 2018. The passenger service, being rebranded as Virgin Trains USA, has won a key court ruling over its sale of bonds. Bob Johnston MIAMI — A judge has thrown out the latest in a series of lawsuits against Brightline/Virgin Trains USA by a Florida county […]
