Rocky Mountaineer, the luxury cruise train operation that will rebrand itself as Canyon Spirit next year, has offered a preview of its new Salt Lake City-Moab-Denver service set to launch in April 2026. To test all the operational logistics of the once-weekly, round-trip expansion of the current Denver-Moab service, the operation owned by Canadian company […]
ARVADA, Colo. — Amtrak’s first Airo trainset — a diesel-powered version destined for use in Amtrak Cascades Service — arrived in Colorado on Wednesday, July 23, en route to an extended stay for testing in Pueblo, Colo. P42 No. 22 was in charge special train No. 964, ferrying the new equipment from Siemens Mobility’s Sacramento plant. […]
Denver & Salt Lake train No. 1, the day train to Craig, rounds a sharp curve in Rollins Canyon just east of Rollinsville, Colo. The D&SL’s low-drivered 2-8-0s like No. 122 were ideal for its route, but not much good for heavier trains. Few lasted long after the 1947 merger with the Denver & Rio […]
No railroad was better equipped to shoulder the heavy burden of wartime traffic thanks to the three types of Union Pacific steam locomotives that constituted its front line of defense: the 4-6-6-4 Challenger, arguably the most successful simple articulated ever made; the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, which easily wore the mantle “world’s largest steam locomotive”; and […]
GREELEY, Colo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy began its only scheduled trip of 2025 today (July 17), heading from its home base in Cheyenne, Wyo., to Denver as part of a round trip for the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. The 4-8-8-4 is accompanied by the railroad’s Abraham Lincoln diesel, No. 1616. Today’s servicing stop […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway and Union Pacific settled their Salt Lake City trackage rights dispute yesterday prior to a scheduled meeting with federal regulators. The deal allowed BNSF to begin international intermodal service between Southern California ports and a new intermodal terminal on Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railway. In a filing posted on the […]
ELY, NEVADA — With all three of its restored steam locomotives down for repair and the busy summer season in full-swing, Nevada Northern Railway in Ely, Nev., has launched a “Steam Up Sweepstakes” to fund needed repairs and restore its iconic locomotives to full steam before the season slips away. More than $100,000 in prizes […]
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s Texas Zephyr, with Colorado & Southern-lettered E5 No. 9955 on the point, pauses at Pueblo on Jan. 23, 1966. The Burlington acquired control of the C&S in 1908, gaining a route from Denver to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, Texas, and a route from Denver north into Wyoming. Steve Patterson photo […]
Our wide-ranging latest installment of News Wire Recommended Reading includes articles on a Wyoming landmark; a massive space under San Francisco built for currently nonexistent train service;, and how things went wrong for a deal to involve German’s Deutsche Bahn to remake Toronto’s GO Transit commuter rail operations. — You may be familiar with the […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway wants to launch international double-stack service this week between Southern California and Salt Lake City via trackage rights over Union Pacific’s former Western Pacific route through the Feather River Canyon. Not so fast, UP says. UP says that BNSF has not provided sufficient notice so that UP can hire and train […]
GOLDEN, Colo. — The Colorado Railroad Museum has unveiled plans to restore ex-Rio Grande Southern narrow-gauge caboose No. 0404, with the goal of having it ready to accompany RGS 4-6-0 No. 20 to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad for special excursions in early 2026 [See “Colorado Railroad Museum, Durango & Silverton announce plans…” […]
Westbound and eastbound Western Star streamliners meet along Whitefish Lake near Whitefish, Mont., in the 1950s. Great Northern photo […]
