In August 2021, Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 ventured south to New Orleans, Louisiana, in a run through the mid-South. Join Trains contributor Steve Smedley as he takes video of the famed steam locomotive through small towns and over the massive Huey P. Long bridge. Only from Trains.com. […]
CHICAGO — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman stepped up his criticism of Class I railroads on Wednesday, saying the industry’s drive for ever-increasing profits resulted in a loss of market share to trucks over the past 15 years and is restraining growth today. Rail rates fell by 27% between 1985 and 2004, as […]
NEW ORLEANS — Union Pacific reports additional service has been restored in the New Orleans area as of Tuesday, including the reopening of its Avondale, La., intermodal facility. Also restored are interchange with CSX and the New Orleans Public Belt; interchange with the New Orleans & Gulf Coast, a 32-mile short line spun off from […]
Union Pacific’s fascination with large, single-unit freight locomotives did not end when it received the last of its 25 Big Boys in 1944. The railroad fielded fleets of powerful gas-turbine-electric and double-engined diesel locomotives in the 1950s and 1960s. […]
Crowds for Big Boy 4014’s 2019 and 2021 tours have been immense. I haven’t taken part in any concerted effort to chase for these tours, but I got a taste of the madness back in 2014 when Big Boy moved from Southern California to Cheyenne, Wyo., for restoration. I covered it for two days with […]
NEW ORLEANS — Union Pacific has reopened its line between St. James, La., and New Orleans, after Kansas City Southern restored service on Thursday. In a Friday notification to customers, UP said it has generators in place to operate signals and crossing gates until power is restored. The railroad’s Avondale, La., intermodal terminal remains closed […]
Lane Cutoff Brand-new in mid-1936, one of the two City of Denver trains poses on the Lane Cutoff west of Omaha, a favorite spot for Union Pacific publicity photos. The portholed cab and booster units rode on two trucks each, but were connected by a span bolster, not couplers. Union Pacific photo […]
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern is experiencing storm-related disruptions to freight service in the Northeast even as it and other railroads continue to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. In a service alert, the railroad said several NS facilities and lines are experiencing flooding and in some cases are inaccessible because […]
There is no joy in Mudville – er, Montreal – today because the mighty CN has struck out. Canadian National suffered a stinging defeat on Tuesday when U.S. federal regulators effectively killed its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern. CN won’t get to create the first railway connecting Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. And it […]
The Surface Transportation Board took 33 pages to explain why it rejected Canadian National’s request to put Kansas City Southern into a voting trust while their proposed merger would be placed under the regulatory microscope. Buried on Page 31 of the board’s decision is a 105-word passage that – aside from a potential Canadian Pacific-KCS […]
DENVER — A fire Monday has gutted the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Burnham Shops coach building. The Denver Fire Department reports it responded “an abandoned warehouse fire” early Monday. The building was fully involved by the time firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported and the cause is under investigation. The building had […]
‘San Francisco Overland’ Dressed in two-tone gray, FEF-1 816 and FEF-2 824 make 55 mph up Sherman Hill near Otto, Wyo., on October 21, 1949. Green flags and “1-27” in the 4-8-4s’ train indicator boxes tell that at least one other section of the San Francisco Overland is following. Ross B. Grenard Jr. photo […]
