The Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill., straddle the Mississippi River, creating an historic intersection of river and rails. In April 1856, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific’s predecessors opened the first Mississippi River crossing, known as the Government Bridge, at Davenport. Later, a riverboat struck the bridge […]
Pastoral Belen remained a New Mexico farming village after the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway pushed track down the Rio Grande River valley toward Texas and Mexico in 1880. Even Bronco Bill and Kid Johnson killing the sheriff and a deputy in a gunbattle after robbing a train south of town proved only a temporary sensation. Then the Belen Cutoff, the Santa […]
Sandpoint, Idaho, is near Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced “pond oray”) in Idaho’s Panhandle. Sandpoint features the main line of BNSF’s Kootenai River Subdivision, the busy northern transcontinental route, as well as Union Pacific’s Spokane Subdivision from Eastport, Idaho. UP trains to and from Eastport use trackage rights on BNSF’s Newport Subdivision from North Sandpoint (where […]
Locust Grove is a city of 5,600 about 35 miles south of Atlanta, located just off Interstate 75 for easy access. It is situated along the Norfolk Southern Atlanta South District, which runs from Atlanta to Macon. The line was completed in 1882 as part of the East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad to connect […]
Although Marias Pass is among the lowest railroad crossings of the Continental Divide in the United States at 5,213 feet, nothing is small about BNSF Railway’s route through northwest Montana. Built by James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway in the 1890s, the line across Marias Pass remains a critical transcontinental route to the Pacific Northwest […]
Located 45 miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, Joliet is a city of 147,000, the fourth largest in Illinois. Just as much of the former Santa Fe Railway accompanies the former Route 66 across the Southwest, the two pair up briefly in Joliet — now as BNSF Railway and Illinois Route 53. TRAIN WATCHING For […]
La Crosse, Wis., is a city of 51,000 people located about 150 miles southeast of Minneapolis, Minn. The city was once home to the G. Heileman Brewing Co., maker of Old Style beer. For a city its size, there is a remarkable variety of railroading, with scenery to boot. Train-watchers frequently see motive power of […]
Lynchburg, Va., marks the crossing for Norfolk Southern’s Southern Railway main line from Washington to Atlanta with the former Norfolk & Western main from Roanoke to Norfolk, and CSX’s former Chesapeake & Ohio James River line from Clifton Forge to Richmond and Newport News. The former Southern main sees 15-20 trains per day, including passenger, […]
About 20 miles east of Tucson, Ariz., is a vastly underrated train-watching location: Cienega Bridge. The bridge carries Union Pacific’s former Southern Pacific Sunset Route over itself and Cienega Creek. The main line is split through this section of the desert, and each main track has its own dedicated right-of-way. In 1880, SP built what […]
Bobby Troup called out Flagstaff, Ariz., in “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” and railfans will too. The city of 65,000 is surrounded by ponderosa pines and flanked by the San Francisco Peaks. At 7,000 feet, Flagstaff offers comfortable summers, snowy winters, and fall colors. The city is home to BNSF’s Seligman Subdivision, part of […]
Chicago is still the railroad capital of the country in most people’s opinion. What puts it on top over other cities like Kansas City is the strong passenger-train presence. It’s Amtrak’s midwestern hub (8 routes), and hundreds of Metra commuter trains (11 routes) hustle in and out of the city daily. Much of the railroad […]
Friday midday rail news: Three members of VIA Rail Canada board reappointed Canada’s Minister of Transport, Marc Garneau, has announced three appointments to the VIA Rail Canada board of directors. Daniel Francis Gallivan of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Kennth Ching Whay Tan of Richmond, B.C., both of whom joined the board in June 2017, were reappointed for […]
