NEW YORK — Railroads will not regain market share lost to trucks unless they shift to traffic growth mode, transform their operations, and provide service that’s far more reliable than ever. That’s the view of Oliver Wyman partner Adriene Bailey, who this week outlined four big steps railroads must take in order to deliver the […]
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – R.J. Corman Railroad Co., has reached an agreement to purchase a 43-mile branch line and lease another 20-mile branch in North Carolina from Norfolk Southern. This will be the 19th railroad operated by Corman. The sale is subject to customary regulatory approvals. The newly created Raleigh & Fayetteville Railroad, LLC (RFCC) […]
HARTFORD, Wis. — On Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, a cold, crisp fall morning in central Wisconsin, Soo Line No. 1003, a 1913 Alco 2-8-2 operated by the Steam Locomotive Heritage Association, rambled across the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad as part of a Trains Magazine photo excursion. Pulling a period-correct freight train, attending photographers were treated […]
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. — Regional Rail LLC, a holding company with 10 U.S. short lines and other rail-related companies, has announced it will expand into Canada with acquisition of the Great Sandhills Railway, along with interests in three other freight rail assets in western Canada. The new companies, acquired from grain firm 3G Canada Limited, […]
ALAMOSA, Colo. — An outdoors group has filed an objection to plans by OmniTRAX to buy the bankrupt San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, saying it will permanently damage the group’s effort to expand recreational trails in Colorado’s San Luis Valley along the railroad’s right-of-way. The Mineral County Miner reports San Luis Valley Great Outdoors […]
MIAMI — Tri-Rail commuter operations resumed this morning (Friday, Nov. 11) after being suspended Wednesday evening and Thursday because of Hurricane Nicole. In the Orlando area, SunRail remains shut down. Tri-Rail crews spent much of Thursday inspecting the right-of-way for the 73.4-mile, 18-station system and reinstalling crossing gates, the operator said on its Twitter feed. […]
WASHINGTON — Having been told there is a “substantial probability” the parties involved can reach an agreement through mediation, the Surface Transportation Board has agreed to postpone the final two days of hearings over Amtrak’s efforts to launch Gulf Coast passenger service until Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The hearings had been scheduled for Nov. […]
ROCHELLE, Ill. — The city of Rochelle has broken ground on its new Intermodal Transload Center, which will offer both intermodal service and transloading for a variety of commodities. Intermodal service could begin as early as spring 2023, the city says. “The Union Pacific Global III Intermodal facility abruptly idled in 2019, leaving local industries […]
STRASBURG, Pa. — Strasburg Rail Road’s ex-Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 steam engine No. 475 returned to excursion passenger duty this week after the company’s mechanical department worked overtime to repair smokebox damage from a Nov. 2 collision with a tracked excavator. The locomotive was back in service on Monday [see “Strasburg No.475 back in service […]
The Mineral Range railroad of Michigan is a family-owned and -operated railroad in the state’s Upper Peninsula. It’s actually the second railroad of the same name. The “original” began as a north-south, 14-mile narrow gauge mineral hauler, connecting the Osceola Mining Co.’s Osceola copper ore mine near Calumet, Mich., and the company’s stamp mill at […]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Former Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield, who was instrumental in the state’s purchase of the Alaska Railroad from the federal government and went on to serve as the railroad’s president, CEO, and board chairman, has died. Sheffield died on Nov. 4. He was 94. “There are just no words to encompass all that […]
Model an enginehouse scene. Last year, I wrote about an old 40-foot insulated boxcar being used as a storage shed on the Sisseton Milbank RR (SMRR) in Milbank, S.D. I thought it would be fun to take another look at the 38-mile line, a subsidiary of the Twin Cities & Western RR, this time focusing […]
