BNSF puts plans for Texas logistics facility on hold

Two orange diesel lead train past "Gunter" station sign

GUNTER, Texas — BNSF Railway is pulling back from plans to develop a 950-acre logistics center north of Dallas in light of community opposition. The railroad announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing an application to rezone and annex property in the community of 2,200 in Grayson County, about 45 miles from downtown Dallas, “based on […]

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High winds derail BNSF train in Oklahoma

Aerial view of overturned container well cars and containers

FAIRMONT, Okla. — High winds are being blamed for the derailment of a BNSF train today (July 21) near the town of Fairmont. BNSF said 29 cars derailed while the train was stopped because of high winds, according to the Associated Press. The railroad said no one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved. […]

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Big Boy’s Home Run Replay (with video)

Big Boy steam locomotive rounds curve on a sunny day.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 made its 2023 debut in June and July with the Home Run Express to the NCAA Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Though a tradition for the Class I railroad to showcase its various equipment at the 12th Street display site outside Charles Schwab Field, […]

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Fight over BNSF bridge moves to North Dakota Supreme Court

Steam-powered passenger train on large truss bridge over water

BISMARCK, N.D. — The group seeking to prevent BNSF Railway from demolishing a 141-year-old bridge over the Missouri River is taking its long-running effort to the North Dakota Supreme Court. The Bismarck Tribune reports that the Friends of the Rail Bridge preservation group, joined by the Downtown Business Association of Bismarck, is seeking to overturn […]

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Blue Streak Merchandise

Streamlined diesel locomotive with Blue Streak Merchandise freight train

Was the Blue Streak Merchandise the last Great American Freight Train?     “You define a passenger train by its cars, its menu, its route — even its patrons,” says railroad historian Fred W. Frailey in his 1991 book on the Blue Streak. “But the Blue Streak defined the railroads over which it runs — seized […]

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Weather a factor as UP train derails in North Texas

Union Pacific logo without slogan. UP Bailey Yard explosion appear to be accidental.

POWELL, Texas — Severe weather is believed to have played a part in the derailment of a Union Pacific train Wednesday evening in Powell, WFAA-TV reports. About 26 cars of an intermodal train derailed during a period that the Navarro County Office of Emergency Management says included storms with winds up to 80 mph. No […]

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Texas budget includes funding for heritage railroad

Front view of red and yellow F unit

PALESTINE, Texas — The Texas State Railroad, a heritage railway in East Texas, will receive $10 million under the budget passed last month by the state legislature. The Palestine Herald-Press reports funding will go toward capital projects that could include tie and ballast work, replacement of 100-year-old rails, railcar maintenance, safety improvements, and other projects. […]

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Austin adopts new plan for Project Connect light rail

Map of planned light rail in Austin, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin’s City Council and the board of directors for its transit agency and the Austin Transit Partnership have formally adopted a plan for Phase I of the city’s revised Project Connect light rail project, a 9.8-mile route to run from 38th Street in the city’s Northwest to Yellow Jacket Lane in the […]

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0-6-0 on a name train

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Ferrocarril Mexicano 0-6-0 No. 619 departs El Paso Union Station with the three through cars of Nacionales de Mexico train 8, El Presidente Juarez, in June 1950. The train will use Santa Fe tracks to the border bridge. At Juarez, an NdeM road engine will take over and more cars will be added. R. S. […]

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