Digest: Amtrak 50th anniversary ticket sale ends Wednesday

Amtrak logo.

Amtrak sale, offering 50% off or $50 for anniversary, ends Wednesday As part of events marking its 50th anniversary, Amtrak is offering a non-refundable “50% off or maximum $50 fare” sale that ends Wednesday, May 5. The offer is good on any train in coach or Acela Business Class for travel between June 2 and […]

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Seatrain Georgia

Ship carrying railroad freight cars

Seatrain Georgia Seatrain Georgia, built in 1951 as one of the last two 1928-style rail car ships, is on the Hudson River at the start of a voyage. The vessels carried mostly boxcars, with tank cars and gondolas a distant second and third. Her colors are gray and white, with red funnel markings. U. S. […]

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Sgt. Saunders and the Kansas City Southern

Streamlined diesel locomotive passing depot

Throughout the 1960s, my grandfather owned a filling station in the tiny town of Lanagan, south of Joplin in the southwestern corner of Missouri on the Kansas City Southern main line. Every weekend I would be at the station, and once my chores were done, I was free to wander about the area. The KCS […]

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Digest: TSA extends transportation mask requirement through Sept. 13

Masked people wait for train

Mask requirement for trains, planes, transit extended through Sept. 13 The Transportation Security Agency has extended the face mask requirement for public transportation, including trains, commuter operations, and commercial aircraft, through Sept. 13. The requirement,which went into effect Feb. 1,  had been set to expire May 11. “Right now, about half of all adults have […]

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CSX details plans for Pan Am Railways track, locomotives, and service

Train coming around curve

WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation will gradually rebuild Pan Am Railways’ slow main line track, pare its aging locomotive roster, and extend positive train control over the full route of Amtrak’s Downeaster service that links Boston and Maine. CSX detailed its plans for the New England regional in a more detailed merger application filed this week with […]

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Northern Pacific Railway: A History

Steam locomotive leading freight train over long trestle

History of the Northern Pacific Railway In 1864 Abraham Lincoln signed the charter of a railroad to be built from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound — the Northern Pacific Railroad. The Philadelphia banking house of Jay Cooke & Co. undertook to sell the bonds, which were to yield 7.3 percent interest, and sold $30 […]

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Wabtec, BNSF conclude initial tests of battery-electric locomotive

Red and gray battery-electric locomotive

Initial test of Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive have concluded, with both the manufacturer and testing partner BNSF Railway saying the locomotive’s revenue testing in Southern California — which covered more than 13,000 miles — indicate the promise of the technology. During Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call — as the locomotive was making its way back to […]

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