A Montana Rail Link local with a GP35 running backward (long hood forward) rolls along the Jefferson River west of Sappington, Mont. Tom Danneman Q In the 2010 movie, “Unstoppable,” movie makers create a lot of drama about running a locomotive backward at high speed. How capable are road and switch engines of operating in […]
A CSX conductor holds onto a boxcar during a reverse shove in Thurmond, W.Va., in the winter of 2009. Chase Gunnoe JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation workers are now permitted to step on and step off moving equipment while switching freight cars on the railroad’s system. In an employee document obtained by Trains News Wire, […]
Canadian Pacific’s Bensenville Yard as seen from the window of a commercial flight that just took off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in September 2015. Chris Guss CHICAGO — Canadian Pacific is embroiled in a high-stakes battle with Illinois officials over use of the railroad’s vitally important yard next to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Now that E. Hunter Harrison is calling the shots at CSX Transportation headquarters, he faces the same daunting problem that former CEO Michael Ward had to grapple with: How to replace nearly $2 billion in coal revenue that vanished over the past five years and is likely gone for good. Ward’s answer […]
Join Trains Magazine Assistant Editor Brian Schmidt for a day trackside at West Chicago, Ill., in July 2016. We’ll see Canadian National and Union Pacific freight action, along with ubiquitous Metra commuter trains. We’ll also look at JB Tower, which guards the junction of the two freight carriers. […]
DURANGO, Colo. — Iowa Pacific attorneys claim the company that licenses Polar Express trains in the U.S. authorized other railroads to use the Polar Express name too close to Iowa Pacific’s own railroad operations. Iowa Pacific’s claim is part of its response to a Jan. 11 lawsuit filed by Rail Events Inc. in Colorado District […]
E. Hunter Harrison Associated Press JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — E. Hunter Harrison was named the CEO of CSX Transportation today, less than seven weeks after stepping down early from the top job at Canadian Pacific. Harrison, 72 — widely regarded as the industry’s best operations CEO — will begin immediately, CSX said today. He transformed Illinois […]
Konkolville, Idaho Google Maps WASHINGTON — BG & CM Railroad will acquire the easternmost 27.5 miles of Watco’s Great Northwest Railroad this month. BG & CM will acquire the line between Konkolville and Jaype, Idaho, according to regulatory filings with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. The transaction is scheduled to close on March 15. The […]
Spikes are part of a system that keeps rails in service. Redundant numbers of spikes are present in most tracks. Bob Johnston Q During a recent trip to the U.S., I visited rail lines in Chicago used by both freight and passenger trains. I noticed how many spikes are torn out or completely missing in […]
Join Trains for the first run of Georgetown Loop Railroad 2-8-0 No. 111 in October 2016. The locomotive was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1926 for the International Railway of Central America in El Salvador. […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation expects to save at least $175 million annually by laying off more than 20 percent of its management employees, the railroad said in a regulatory filing on Monday. The reduction of up to 1,000 management positions, announced last week, is expected to be complete by the middle of March, the […]
Locomotives lined up in East St. Louis, Ill., to become mother-slug sets for Union Pacific. Kevin Burkholder EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Union Pacific is embarking on a program to modernize its hump yard locomotives system-wide as the first in a new generation of mother-slug sets take shape. The railroad already uses two SD38-2s or […]
