Passenger frustration and confusion reigned in early April after emergency track repairs at Penn Station snarled commuter train schedules for five days. Joseph M. Calisi New York Penn Station track diagram Trains Magazine: Rick Johnson NEW YORK — Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman’s April 6 mea culpa laid bare what went wrong in two relatively minor […]
East Penn Railroad SW900 No. 52 leads the last train of cars on the Venice Branch north of Philadelphia on April 4 over the Schuylkill River. The branch will now sit idle from lack of business. Gary Pancavage The East Penn Railroad locomotive crew pose for a final run photograph with No. 52 on April […]
Williston, Vt. Google Maps WILLISTON, Vt. — In spite of a state report that downplayed the feasibility of commuter rail service in northern Vermont, a private company last week announced the purchase of 12 Budd Rail Diesel Cars with the intent to use them for commuter service between Montpelier, Burlington and St. Albans, Vt. AllEarth […]
Augusta, Ga. Google Maps AUGUSTA, Ga. — Norfolk Southern, BNSF Railway, and CSX Transportation have dispatched executive trains to the 2017 Masters Golf Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta. The trains are run for the benefit of shippers and other guests of the railroads, with the primary purpose of providing overnight accommodations […]
Baltimore’s current rail tunnel alignment Federal Railroad Administration Baltimore tunnel project overview Federal Railroad Administration BALTIMORE — For Amtrak passengers in Baltimore, the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel is like a jump back to medieval times. The train slows, tunnel walls close in, and take on the appearance of a dungeon, illuminated by occasional lights and […]
A Department of Defense train hauling a spent nuclear fuel cask in an undated photo. U.S. Department of Energy WASHINGTON — The resurrection of a controversial plan to store nuclear waste under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain could also mean a revival for a proposed rail line to the remote site. In late March, the Trump Administration […]
On Sept. 25, 2007, a Montana Rail Link local in Livingston, Mont., heads onto an old branch line that once went to Gardiner, Mont., and the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The GP35s are taking four wood chip cars and a caboose (for the return back-up move) to a lumber mill about a mile […]
Vertical split rims affect the outer edge of the wheels and are caused by pent-up pressures and stresses in the wheel material. Two photos, Transportation Safety Board of Canada A rare wheel defect is posing a mystery for researchers. The problem is called a vertical split rim, but why it happens and how to prevent […]
Chicago-America’s Railroad Capital Kalmbach Publishing, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Approx. 60 minutes kalmbachhobbystore.com Generations of railfans have been impressed at the magnitude of railroad operations in and around the Windy City. Currently, the Chicago area sees 25 percent of US rail traffic and almost half of the nation’s intermodal shipments. Chicagoland, of course, […]
LSOX No. 1001, a new Tier 4 switcher built by Knoxville Locomotive Works in east Tennessee. James Graham KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville Locomotive Works has begun delivery of its largest order of low-emissions Tier 4i locomotives. The order for nine switch locomotives, KLW SE10B and SE15B models, are being supplied to Locomotive Solutions for service […]
The manufacture and maintenance of rail is as old as railroading — and so are broken rails. Though today’s rail is much harder, stronger, and of higher quality than rail made even 40 years ago, railroads and metallurgists have just recently begun to understand why rails still are breaking. As railroads installed new rail in […]
Hydraulic flange greasers are activated when a wheel rolls over an actuator, as shown on CSX’s Indianapolis Line Subdivision. Two photos, Eric Powell Forgive the pun, but it’s a slippery slope that railroads have to deal with, in terms of rail and flange lubrication. Too much or too little grease on the track can cause […]
