A recent photograph of a Swiss-built Stadler bilevel EMU that the rail supplier will begin making for Caltrain commuter rail services. Stadler U.S. Swiss railcar building Stadler says it received the contract to design and manufacture 16 six-car KISS bilevel electric multiple-unit trains for Caltrain in California. The contract, with an option for an additional […]
A Providence & Worcester aggregate train seen at Reeds Gap, Conn. Scott A. Hartley WORCESTER, Mass. — Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced Monday that it would buy the Providence & Worcester for $126 million later this year. The P&W owns more than 163 miles of track in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut and has operating […]
A less common crossing signal warned motorists of oncoming trains by blinking “stop.” Kevin King Q As a child in the 1950s and 1960s, I saw a number of railroad grade crossings on the Wabash that were protected by a row of vertical lights on the signal mast in addition to the standard red alternating […]
Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 acts as a shop switcher to place 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 on a turntable at the railroad’s Cheyenne, Wyo., shops in July. Hayley Enoch CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two weeks after Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844’s successful excursion for the 2016 Cheyenne Frontier Days, the railroad says that the Heritage Operations team […]
A new mother-slug combination arrives at South Carolina’s Lancaster & Chester Railroad recently. David B. Clarke New power recently arrived on the Lancaster & Chester in Chester, S.C., with fresh blue paint. The mother-slug combination is the first six-axle power the railroad has ever received, with the mother being the SD40T-2 (ex-Union Pacific No. 8802, […]
A southbound Norfolk Southern freight takes the clear signal at South Leesburg, Ind., on May 16, 2011. The former New York Central branch line was upgraded with Pennsylvania-style position light signals recycled from other routes during Penn Central ownership. Photo by Bob Jordan […]
Norfolk Southern’s Norfolk & Western-painted heritage unit leads northbound train No. 124 through South Fork, Ky., and into the Green River valley on May 31, 2016. Photo by Jeff Wagoner […]
Join Trains for a trackside look at Sept. 2015 steam and diesel excursions the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum orchestrated out of Chattanooga, Tenn. Only from Trains! […]
Seventy-five years ago on Nov. 25, 1939, Electro-Motive Corp.’s FT demonstrator diesel locomotive No. 103 left its birthplace at the company’s La Grange, Ill., plant. Nobody, not even its builders, knew what the new creation could do. True, the 17-year-old Electro-Motive had been a pioneer in diesel propulsion for railroad use, having built a successful […]
Boston Surface Railroad Co.’s chartered Providence & Worcester passenger train pauses at Woonsocket, R.I., July 30, 2016. Scott A. Hartley WORCESTER, Mass. — Commuter trains could be running between Woonsocket and Providence, R.I., by late 2017, if all goes according to Vincent J. Bono’s plans. Bono is Boston Surface Railroad Co.’s CEO. He founded the […]
On West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad, engine crews with three Shay locomotives signal each other with whistles for moves and stops. Steve Sweeney Q In the days of steam, when railroaders didn’t have radios or other one-to-one communication, how did the engineer on the lead locomotive communicate to the engineers in the “helper” locomotives as […]
BIG STONE GAP, Va. — Within a year of mothballing a section of its former Clinchfield line between Frisco, Tenn., and McClure, Va., CSX Transportation has witnessed a notable upswing in coal traffic over the past two weeks. Newly-formed Contura Energy LLC is now leading the way to increased rail traffic out of southwestern Virginia. […]
