Relics

  A westbound Napoleon, Defiance & Western train crosses a short trestle over a country road near Antwerp, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 2014. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]

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Stadler wins big contract for Caltrain bilevel EMUs NEWSWIRE

Red and white Caltrain at station.

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 […]

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Vertical crossing signals

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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 […]

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BIG BOY WORK BEGINS NEWSWIRE

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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 […]

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Lancaster & Chester receives new six-axle power NEWSWIRE

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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, […]

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Highball

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 […]

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Scenic South Fork

  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 […]

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1939’s big breakthrough: The FT

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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 […]

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A privately run commuter railroad for New England NEWSWIRE

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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 […]

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