A fresh BNSF Railway crew handling westbound stacks charges up the 10-mile grade from Belen, N.M., to Dalies on March 3, 2018. On the left, preliminary work continues on adding a third main line to this section of the Gallup Subdivision. Meanwhile, an eastbound vehicle train in the distance is first in line waiting as […]
PORT ARTHUR, Texas— The Port Arthur City Council voted Tuesday night to keep troubled Louisiana & Arkansas 4-6-0 No. 503, despite a last-ditch effort by preservationists to save the locomotive from scrap that would have meant taking the engine out of this Gulf Coast city. After hearing comments from about half a dozen citizens, the […]
No. 261 crosses the Kettle River at Sandstone, Minn., on a June 2016 excursion. Steve Glischinski MINNEAPOLIS – The Friends of the 261 will operate a steam excursion from Minneapolis to Duluth over BNSF Railway June 9-10, 2018, to raise funds for the installation of the positive train control system on Milwaukee Road steam locomotive […]
Big Boy No. 4014 in the Cheyenne, Wyo., steam shop in March 2017. Trains: Jim Wrinn DENVER – Union Pacific’s restoration of Big Boy No. 4014 enters yet another phase in coming days as the steam shop crew in Cheyenne, Wyo., plans to lift the boiler and roll out the 4-8-8-4’s trailing truck for inspection […]
Home for the heaviest rebuild, repair, and repaint work on the Norfolk Southern system is the sprawling former Pennsylvania Railroad Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pa. The backshop is the heart of this operation in the Keystone State. Alex Mayes Diesel locomotives are amazing. They are built to withstand the rigors of service, running 24 hours […]
Dots painted on trilevel auto racks indicate clearance heights. Rob Burnet Q I have seen colored painted dots on freight cars, mostly multilevel auto rack cars. What do they signify? – Rob Burnet, Etobicoke, Ont., Canada A Colored marks on auto multi-levels are to designate slightly different deck height clearances on trilevels. Orange dots indicate […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific will discontinue its pioneering Expressway short-haul intermodal service on June 1, ending a nearly two-decade experiment of luring trucks off Highway 401 between Toronto and Montreal. From its launch in May 1999 as the successor to the Iron Highway concept developed by CSX Intermodal, the Expressway roll-on, roll-off trailer-on-flatcar trains […]
We’ll ride the nose of a GE C30-7 for the trip from LaOroya to Hauncayo, Peru. We were riding on a Ferrocarril Central Andino railroad branch down a gorge that sees about one train a week. We’ll also herd llamas by train, cross bridges, pierce tunnels, see a display steam locomotive, and get a final […]
Norfolk Southern terminal dwell times TRAINS; Norfolk Southern data NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern is taking steps to unclog congested areas of its system in Alabama and Georgia, where a combination of traffic growth and bad weather have gummed up yards and single-track main lines. For the year-to-date compared to the first quarter of 2017, […]
Union Pacific EMD24B order will look similar to demonstrator PRLX No. 24 built in 2016. Carl M. Lehman PATTERSON, Ga. – Union Pacific is acquiring 10 Progress Rail EMD24B locomotives to be built at the manufacturer’s Patterson, Ga., facility. The locomotive model was previously called PR24B before the consolidation of the Progress and EMD line […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway reported higher revenue and earnings for 2017 amid volume growth and pricing increases. The railroad’s pre-tax earnings rose 11.2 percent last year, to $6.3 billion, as revenue climbed 7.9 percent, to $21.4 billion, BNSF’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. BNSF’s operating ratio was 65.7 percent, an improvement […]
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific has wrestled some international intermodal traffic away from congested rival Canadian National. Beginning April 1, CP will begin hauling 85 percent of the Ocean Network Express traffic at the Port of Vancouver, CEO Keith Creel told investor conferences last week. Ocean Network Express, or ONE, is the new combination of […]
