CHICAGO — Commuter rail agency Metra says it is planning a “major hiring effort” in January in anticipation of schedule changes during the first quarter of 2022 as more workers return to downtown offices. Jobs to be posted will fill a variety of positions that have been left open during reduced pandemic operations, as well […]
In a scene filled with the trappings of classic-era railroading, a Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-2 clatters across the New York Central at Shelby, Ohio, in September 1955. Today, both lines remain, but the NYC is single track and the depot buildings, water towers, sidetracks, interlocking rods, and express trucks are long gone. Philip R. Hastings […]
VOLO, Ill. — The first of seven pieces of equipment from the defunct Fillmore & Western have arrived at the Volo Auto Museum, which plans to open a railroad attraction in 2022. The Lake Zurich Patch website reports a 4-4-0 locomotive and passenger cars featured in the movie “The Lone Ranger,” along with cars from […]
BARING, Mo. — About 40 cars of a BNSF Railway train derailed on Sunday morning near Baring, shutting down service on the railroads Marceline Subdivision. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were reported to be involved. The train was carrying mixed freight, WGEM-TV reports. A BNSF service advisory to customers says the derailment […]
CICERO, Ill. — The back and forth between the Chicago suburb of Cicero and BNSF railway, the town’s largest landowner, over flooding and taxation continues. The Chicago Tribune reports a state legislator is seeking to pass legislation aimed at the railroad over what the town says is neighborhood flooding caused by pavement and work to […]
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway has agreed to reimburse the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for part of the costs of the cleanup at the site of a metal foundry in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The Chicago Sun-Times reports H. Kramer & Co., which operates the brass and bronze foundry; BNSF; and the City of Chicago will share […]
A Chicago, Burlington & Quincy switcher sets out a pair of empty stock cars for loading at a Wyoming stock pen in 1955. William A. Akin photo […]
Industrial switcher locomotives add realism to any layout. Don’t believe me? OK, time for a show of hands. When you pass by a rail-served industry, do you take a quick glance to see if there’s a switcher on the property? That’s what I thought. I’m guilty of this, too. Today, thanks to satellite images on […]
All through December, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the Midwest’s Chicago Great Western Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of CGW freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The CGW was considered one of the Granger railroads of the Midwest linking Chicago, St. Paul, and Kansas City. It […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has introduced an incentive program to improve container movement in and out of international intermodal facilities in Chicago and Kansas City, Mo. The “Dual Mission Reward Program” offers truck carriers and steamship lines a $200 incentive every time a drayage driver both delivers and departs with a shipping container, completing what […]
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed the agency which operates South Shore Line commuter rail service is a “political subdivision” of the state, thwarting legal action by a worker who says he was injured on a maintenance-of-way project. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that the state court ruled 5-0 that the Northern […]
ODON, Ind. — The Indiana Rail Road has completed an upgrade to its Odon Transload Facility, adding a 10-inch concrete floor, food-grade railcar dock, and two truck docks. The improvements support handling and storage of weather-sensitive products such as particleboard, oriented strand board, plywood, and Southern yellow pine lumber at the facility with 9,600 square […]
