SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Notes from the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers’ Winter Meeting, which concluded today (Jan. 16, 2025): The Iowa Northern decision The MARS meeting opened the day after the Surface Transportation Board issued its long-awaited decision approving Canadian National’s purchase of Iowa Northern Railway, a deal effective Feb. 13 [see “STB greenlights Canadian […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Approaching the likely end of his tenure as chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, Robert Primus made it clear: the hearing the board held last fall on growth in the rail industry did not ease his concerns about Class I efforts to increase volume. In a rare address today (Jan. 16, 2025) […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The question of the day, on the first day of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting, is probably one being asked in one form or another at every business in the United States — or that does business with the U.S. What about tariffs? The consensus during today’s first day […]
This 1949 view of the erecting floor at EMD shows a 567 diesel engine, generator (on the deck at the left of the engine), and electrical cabinet (far left) in place on an F7 frame. An FP7 is taking shape in the background. EMD photo […]
PENINSULA, Ohio — Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will return to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for six days in April and May as part of the “Steam in the Valley” series of excursions, the heritage railway has announced. The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s 1944 Lima locomotive is set for excursions on April […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s “new normal” for handling anticipated severe weather — cancelling trains rather than operating them into a region where a storm is predicted — has proven to be a significant change from decades past when passenger rail earned an “all-weather” reputation. Fewer railroad resources in far-flung locations and Amtrak’s stretched-thin equipment situation are […]
A GP9 and RS11 work in Crookston, Minn., on Aug. 15, 1969. Northern Pacific went from hauling 35 percent of its tonnage behind diesel in 1950 to complete dieselization in January 1958. Bells retired from steam locomotives found their way onto GP9 replacements. Doug Wingfield photo […]
All through January 2025, the Grand Trunk Western is Classic Trains‘ Railroad of the Month! In this photo gallery, please enjoy images of Grand Trunk Western passenger trains selected from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Firecrown Media! This photo gallery had previously been published in May 2020. Only from Trains.com! […]
By 1935, it would have been sensible to consider the 4-4-2 Atlantic-type steam locomotive all but obsolete, at least insofar as new construction was concerned. In the U.S., the design could be traced back to the 1880s, and ultimately about 1,900 of the type were built. Its heydays were the years surrounding World War […]
GALESBURG, Ill. — The city of Galesburg has received a $25 million federal grant to fund the addition of rail lines at Galesburg Business Park, a 329-acre facility served by BNSF Railway. The addition of spur tracks will support construction of an intermodal agricultural export facility by the DeLong Co. that will cover about 100 […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration has signed a grant agreement for $1.97 billion in funding for the 5.5-mile extension of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line, the first line of the L system to reach the Far South Side. The extension is the largest single transit project in CTA history. The grant fulfills a […]
RICHFIELD, Wis. — For more than 40 years, readers of Trains magazine were the beneficiaries of one of railroad publishing’s most accomplished but unsung talents, a man who created hundreds of the railroad maps that helped seal the magazine’s reputation. But unless you read the tiny, 6-point type in the corner, you wouldn’t know the […]
