In 2006, then-CTT Associate Editor Bob Keller wrote that the doodlebug held “an interesting place in railroad history.” These self-propelled railcars were developed in the early part of the 20th century and initially powered with gasoline engines (some later were converted to diesel). These railcars were popular with railroads looking to economize service on lightly […]
Chicago & North Western passenger trains: All through December 2023, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the C&NW. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Chicago & North Western passenger trains, originally published online in May 2015. […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is touting service improvements in an update to customers. “We know that delivering consistent and reliable service is what you expect, and we continue to make improvements to our service product. I’m pleased with the progress that we have sustained over the past few months,” Kenny Rocker, executive vice president […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will open an intermodal terminal in Phoenix early next year to handle international traffic moving to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The terminal will be located in UP’s downtown yard, which has capacity to allow expansion of the terminal as demand warrants, UP said today. […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific will expand its international intermodal service from Port Houston to four additional markets beginning Dec. 1. The service will link the on-dock Barbours Cut Container Terminal with UP terminals in Chicago; Kansas City; Marion, Ark.; and Port Laredo, Texas, UP announced Tuesday (Nov. 28). The addition of the four lanes […]
If you’ve read Model Railroader magazine for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed the hobby journey for many of our authors started with a train set. For baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, the set was often produced by Lionel or American Flyer. Fast forward a generation or two, and those sets were […]
NEW YORK — Canadian Pacific Kansas City CEO Keith Creel is not the least bit surprised at how rival Class I railroads have responded to the CP-KCS merger by launching new and faster cross-border intermodal service. “We’re creating competition and this industry is getting stronger as a result,” Creel told the RailTrends conference on Thursday. […]
In need of reliable medium-horsepower six-axle road switchers, Union Pacific’s Mike Iden turned to Progress Rail’s EMD subsidiary to rebuild a batch of out-of-service EMD 3,800-hp SD60s into more modern 3,150-hp units with new prime movers for secondary road freights. Twenty-eight — Nos. 9900 to 9927 — were built in the late 2000s. Progress later […]
Class I railroads, which pruned their interline intermodal service as the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model spread in the U.S. over the past few years, have rediscovered joint service and say it’s a way to capture freight moving on the highway. Several interline intermodal initiatives have been announced since May. Among them: The Canadian National-Union […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One of the first decisions that Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena made after rejoining the railroad in August was to take 24 hours out of the schedule for Falcon Premium interline cross-border intermodal service. At an investor conference on Tuesday, he was asked whether there were other similar opportunities to improve intermodal […]
This is the one I’ve been waiting for: The Lionel VisionLine Big Boy. Anyone in model railroading knows that the Big Boy is an incredibly popular model. Only 25 of these 4-8-8-4 steam locomotives were built by The American Locomotive Company (Alco) with a primary purpose for high-speed freight and climbing grades over the Wasatch […]
PINECLIFFE, Colo. — Fifteen cars of a BNSF freight train derailed early today (Sunday, Nov. 12) in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of Denver, leading to a closure expected to block Union Pacific’s main line for 36 hours, according to preliminary estimates. KCNC-TV reports the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office was informed of the derailment at […]
