RailTrends notebook: Locomotive news, farmers vs. railroads, steam supremacy, and gunbattles

NEW YORK – Here are notes, quotes, and quips from the annual RailTrends conference, held Nov. 14-15. CPKC plans to build more hydrogen fuel cell locomotives Canadian Pacific Kansas City CEO Keith Creel says the railway’s handful of hydrogen fuel cell locomotives are proving themselves in revenue service every day. There are a lot more […]

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Former Union Pacific media representative Mark W. Davis dies

Mark Davis

OMAHA, Neb. — Former Union Pacific spokesman Mark W. Davis, 69, died Oct. 28 following a brief bout with cancer. Davis’s 34 year-career with Union Pacific is remembered as one of steady calm no matter what the adversity. Known mostly for being the media contact for the eastern part of the railroad, he could also […]

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Two arrested in derailment of Union Pacific train

Union Pacific logo without slogan. UP Bailey Yard explosion appear to be accidental.

BARTONVILLE, Ill. — Two Bartonville men were arrested Monday for allegedly derailing a Union Pacific locomotive, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office announced. Caleb Finley, 18, and Jimmy Johnson, 20, were arrested for criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to property, reckless conduct, and placing an object on railroad tracks, the Sheriff’s Office said in a […]

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Union Pacific chief legal officer to retire

Smiling white-haired man in suit

OMAHA, Neb. — Craig Richardson, Union Pacific’s executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary, will retire March 31, 2025, the railroad has announced. UP said in a post on its website that, in anticipation of Richardson’s departure, Christina Conlin will join the railroad as of Dec. 2 as senior vice president and deputy […]

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At RailTrends, CPKC and UP CEOs talk about higher levels of service

Orange locomotive on freight train

NEW YORK — The RailTrends conference in New York has been called the greatest single collection of rail investors in one place, and has featured in recent years a level of introspection by an industry that hasn’t grown much despite regular promises to do so. But the event this year wrapped up Friday with presentations […]

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Railroads have turned the corner on service and resiliency, analysts say

NEW YORK — The U.S. Class I railroads have turned the corner on service and resiliency and are poised for volume growth for the first time in years. That’s the view of a trio of analysts – Anthony B. Hatch, Rick Paterson, and Larry Gross – who spoke at the RailTrends conference last week. Paterson, […]

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Regulators scold Union Pacific for lack of cooperation (updated)

Man in suit in front of U.S. flag

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has taken Union Pacific to task for an ongoing lack of cooperation in a new decision regarding an issue with the railroad’s effort to construct a 6-mile rail line in Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties. The primary matter concerns UP’s request for an exemption for construction of the Pecos […]

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Mexican man sentenced in human smuggling case using fake Union Pacific truck

U.S. Department of Justice seal

LAREDO, Texas — A Mexican national illegally living in Laredo has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for a human smuggling operation using a fake Union Pacific vehicle, the U.S. Attorney’s office has announced. Jesus Aleman-Serrano, 34, had previously pleaded guilty in the case in May. Following the end of his prison term, he […]

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Railroads ask federal courts to order FRA to take action on waylaid safety waivers

WASHINGTON – BNSF Railway, CSX, and Union Pacific filed lawsuits against the Federal Railroad Administration today for its failure to act on a half dozen safety waiver requests that in some cases would allow railroads to scale back visual inspections in areas where they have deployed new high-tech train and track inspection systems. The litigation […]

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Union Pacific executives tout carload and intermodal growth prospects

HUTCHINS, Texas — Inside a spartan warehouse the size of 10 football fields, the loud hum of plastic pellet packaging machinery may as well be the sound of carload and intermodal growth on Union Pacific. UP gathers covered hopper loads from Gulf Coast petrochemical plants and delivers them here, to the Katoen Natie packaging plant […]

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ScaleTrains N scale EMD SD40T-2

Title screen from product review video showing N scale diesel painted yellow and gray.

The ScaleTrains N scale EMD SD40T-2 diesel locomotive recently visited our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy State Line Route. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he provides a short history of the tunnel motor locomotive and Union Pacific 8803; highlights the many prototype-specific details on the Rivet Counter line model; and demonstrates the sound […]

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ScaleTrains N scale EMD SD40T-2

Title screen from product review video showing N scale diesel painted yellow and gray.

The ScaleTrains N scale EMD SD40T-2 diesel locomotive recently visited our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy State Line Route. Join Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno as he provides a short history of the tunnel motor locomotive and Union Pacific 8803; highlights the many prototype-specific details on the Rivet Counter line model; and demonstrates the sound […]

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