WASHINGTON — An engineer’s failure to operate his train in accordance with restricted speed rules, and his prohibited use of a personal electronic device, were the probable cause of a fatal collision with track maintenance equipment on the Alabama Export Railroad in November 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board said in an accident report issued […]
ALAMOSA, Colo. — The San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, a 154-mile short line operating a former Denver & Rio Grande Western route in Southern Colorado, is about to be sold by auction as part of the ongoing bankruptcy sale of former Iowa Pacific Holdings properties. Bankruptcy Trustee William A. Brandt Jr. has announced his […]
SILVIS, Ill. — Chinese-built No. 6988, a QJ 2-10-2, traveled the Iowa Interstate Railroad on Saturday, June 11, and Sunday, June 12, 2022, for a final time before its FRA 15-year inspection and rebuilding. Although the locomotive’s certification has expired the FRA granted a one-time extension for the two trips. The QJs — Nos. 6988 […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has turned down an application from a company seeking to revive a long-dormant portion of the former Northwestern Pacific route in Northern California after the company missed a filing deadline. The North Coast Railroad Co. was seeking to purchase 176 miles of rail line between Willits and Eureka, Calif., […]
THOROLD, Ontario — An agreement with shortline holding company GIO Rail has returned rail service to an industrial park in Thorold, near Niagara Falls, for the first time in more than two decades. GIO Rail’s switching agreement with HOPA Ports — the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority — and Bioveld Canada, owner of the Thorold Multimodal Hub, […]
Built during the gold rush years of 1904-05, Nevada’s Tonopah & Goldfield ran 100 miles southeast from an SP connection in the desert near the California border. An Air Force base near Goldfield brought traffic to the road during World War II — these two slide-valve 2-8-0s are hauling aviation fuel — but the boom didn’t […]
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The National Museum of Industrial History and Reading & Northern Railroad are partnering for a July excursion by Budd Rail Diesel Car, featuring the first visit by an excursion train to Tremont, Pa., in more than two decades. The July 29 trip, departing from Outer Station in Reading, Pa., at 9 a.m., […]
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 […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has joined the RailPulse joint venture that will provide customers with real-time location information for freight cars wherever they are on the North American rail network. UP becomes the second Class I railroad to participate in RailPulse, alongside founding member Norfolk Southern. The company’s other partners include shortline holding companies […]
Video by Mark Elias, Mark Elias Media Services JUPITER, Fla. — Florida East Coast Railway’s new Loxahatchee River drawbridge that will begin carrying frequent Brightline passenger trains in early 2023 is now being raised for boat traffic and lowered for trains. Dismantling of the former 96-year-old bridge on the site began in mid-April, when accommodations […]
WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration on Thursday announced more than $368 million in Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program funds to 46 projects in 32 states and the District of Columbia. The grants were awarded to passenger and freight projects, as well as several technology and safety development programs. The Bipartisan […]
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Officials in Fillmore, Calif., have asked short line operator Sierra Northern Railway to leave the city-owned railroad yard, the railroad announced on June 1. The move, effective immediately, affects the railroad’s Ventura Division, the former Fillmore & Western. “It is unfortunate that the city does not want to continue to work […]
