NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk Southern has expanded capacity at its Landers international intermodal terminal in Chicago amid record volume. “In the wake of recent record demand, NS is making multiple changes and upgrades at Landers to increase capacity and prepare for future growth and improve the driver experience,” NS said in a customer service advisory […]
Zone & Region: Midwest
News photos: Amtrak ‘Day One’ Charger continues east for delivery
CHICAGO — After a much-delayed arrival in the city, Amtrak’s “Day One” Siemens ALC42 Charger locomotive continued toward its official handover to Amtrak on Tuesday evening, heading east on the Capitol Limited. Trailing P42 locomotive No. 142 were ALC42 No. 301 and a six-car consist including a dormitory car, sleeper, Cross-Country Café, baggage-coach, and full […]
Great Lakes outpost
Great Lakes outpost Chesapeake & Ohio SW9 No. 5251 idles by the carferry City of Midland 41 in Milwaukee in 1978. The C&O’s Milwaukee trackage was reached only by the carferries across Lake Michigan. Brian Buchanan photo […]
BNSF restricts flow of containers from LA and Long Beach to Chicago
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway is limiting the flow of international containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to its Logistics Park Chicago intermodal terminal for two weeks to work off a backlog of boxes that have built up in the Windy City. “BNSF is metering traffic from the West Coast […]
Illinois Central Railroad freight trains photo gallery
All through July 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the grit and glory of the Illinois Central Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of IC freight selected from the image archive of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
Kansas City Southern locomotives reviewed
Mergers or acquisitions of two or more railroads always bring a blending of motive power rosters. Kansas City Southern, like all Class I railroads today, relies on its fleet of A.C. (alternating current) traction locomotives for most of its operations, similar to both Canadian National’s and Canadian Pacific’s motive power philosophies. Kansas City Southern’s grade-intensive […]
Riding a caboose in central Illinois in the mid-20th century
In the late 1960s and in to the ’70s, I had numerous rides on Toledo, Peoria & Western freight trains in both directions out of Peoria, Ill., where I grew up. The TP&W interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors 108 miles east at Effner, Ind., and with the Santa Fe 114 miles west […]
Junction of CN’s former Illinois Central and Elgin, Joliet & Eastern provides lots of photo options
Introduction to the Matteson, Illinois, railfan hotspot Matteson’s status as a truly significant railroad junction dates only to October 2011, when Canadian National completed a new connection between its north-south former Illinois Central line, and its recently acquired Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, the belt line that gave it a way to avoid much of […]
Western railroads struggle with off-rail intermodal supply chain problems
CHICAGO — Union Pacific may temporarily reopen its idled Global III intermodal terminal in Rochelle, Ill., to help relieve congestion at its Global IV terminal in Joliet, Ill. UP informed customers Wednesday it will temporarily halt shipments of international containers from all West Coast ports to its Global IV terminal for up to a week, […]
Monticello Railway Museum visit
Join Trains for a 2021 visit to Illinois’ Monticello Railway Museum located in the central part of the state. The museum is home to plenty of rare Midwest gems including equipment railroads including the Wabash; Southern Railway; Illinois Central; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago & Illinois Midland; and Illinois Terminal. […]
Monticello Railway Museum visit
Join Trains for a 2021 visit to Illinois’ Monticello Railway Museum located in the central part of the state. The museum is home to plenty of rare Midwest gems including equipment railroads including the Wabash; Southern Railway; Illinois Central; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago & Illinois Midland; and Illinois Terminal. […]
Norfolk Southern launches expedited, less-than-carload service
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — Norfolk Southern has dipped its toes into a market that railroads abandoned decades ago: Expedited less-than-carload service. NS launched the door-to-door service this month as an experiment in the Chicago-Atlanta-Miami corridor. Trucks pick up small loads and deliver them to a rail-served warehouse where the shipments are cross-docked into waiting boxcars. The […]