On July 23, 1966, New York Central set a new U.S. railroad speed record when jet-powered RDC M-497, dubbed the Pride of the New York Central, hit 183.85 mph on a 24-mile tangent section of 26-year-old joined rail between Butler, Ind. and Stryker, Ohio. The RDC sported cylindrical wheels in place of normal tapered-tread wheels, […]
MONTREAL — A VIA Rail Canada subsidiary paid more than Ca$330,000 to a marketing firm to rebrand itself as part of the effort to shift its high-frequency rail project to high speed rail after discovering little support for the original concept, the Canadian Press reports. Documents obtained by the news service show that the VIA […]
A particular run of the Kansas City-Florida Special may have changed the course of steam locomotive assignments on the Frisco. During the mid-1930s, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad started rebuilding low-drivered 2-10-2 freight locomotives into modern, high-horsepower, coal-burning 4-8-2s, also for freight service. The first series of these Mountain types was the big, […]
Steamtown National Historic Site, once known as Steamtown USA, has a captivating history. Its journey from one man’s vision in New England to a National Park Service railroad museum in Pennsylvania is marked by highs and lows, attracting both advocates and critics. The Vision of F. Nelson Blount Francis Nelson Blount Jr. was […]
Citing cost overruns, the federal government will no longer provide funding for California’s planned Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail project, according to a news report from Reuters. President Donald Trump made the comment to reporters yesterday during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. In February, the Federal Railroad Administration announced it was conducting […]
AUSTIN — As one effort to build a high speed rail line in Texas continues to meet with opposition, another is trying to overturn a law passed to help block the first attempt. Legislators have introduced a bill calling for construction of a high-speed route between Dallas and San Antonio via Austin, as well as […]
AUSTIN, Texas — A representative of the Texas Central project was back in front of a state legislative committee on Thursday (April 17), saying the proposed high-speed rail project is not dead after the federal government rescinded a grant — but also that it is currently “not proposing construction of the project.” The news site […]
LONDON — No less than seven potential new competitors to Eurostar have emerged in the past few months, seeking to offer international services from London via the Channel Tunnel. At least three — all new startup companies — have started the process of obtaining access to Britain’s only maintenance shop that can handle European structure […]
WASHINGTON — Saying the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak agree the project “is a waste of taxpayer funds,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced today (April 14, 2025) that the government is rescinding a $63.9 million grant for the proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston. “The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as […]
Typical of their brethren everywhere, even a century after the fact many railroaders still called certain southern Michigan branchline segments “the Air Line.” But unlike many such monikers elsewhere for short-cuts or straight-track segments, this one had an ancestor with that actual name. The Michigan Air Line Railroad was planned to link the Canada […]
In 1931-32, Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles T. Ripley applied his European experience, along with his work on steam motorcar M-104 back in 1911, as he worked with Winton Engine Manufacturing Co., Electro-Motive Corp., and the Pullman Co. in the design, development, and introduction to service of a distillate-engine-powered motorcar, the M-190. The articulated M-190 […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Central is once again the subject of unwelcome attention from Texas legislators. The state House Transportation Committee on Thursday (April 3) voted to subpoena financial documents from the company, KBTX-TV reports, saying a Texas Central representative did not sufficiently answer questions about finances, management, and foreign backing for the proposed Dallas-Houston […]
