Scheduling freight trains

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Northbound CSX Transportation aggregates train K944 is seen meeting intermodal train Q145 at Opelika, Ala., in 2010. Class I railroads use different kinds of schedules to keep their networks fluid and profitable, even on single-track lines. Frank Orona What time will the train depart? When will it arrive? While most people associate schedules with passenger […]

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Ewbank gas-electric locomotive

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Gene Mendonca’s painting of Ewbank Electric Transmission Co.’s train. Gene Mendonca Q Can you tell me anything about the Ewbank Electric Transmission Co. that is the subject of a picture I painted from a very old newspaper clipping? – Gene Mendonca, Folsom, Calif. A H.B. Ewbank Jr. built No. 333, a 75-foot-long gas-electric locomotive with […]

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Trains Presents: Peru 2017 tour, day 3

Join us for the next video diary entry of our rail tour through Peru. Having crossed the Andes, our chartered Ferrocarril Central Andino train travels across the Altiplano from LaOroya to Cerro de Pasco through immense scenic beauty and raw industrial scars. We’ll pass wetlands where flamingos winter, inspect an abandoned narrow gauge diesel, and […]

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Charlie’s Trackside Postcards: Milwaukee Road 5057

An orange-painted BNSF Railway locomotive leads a freight train with a signal bridge in the background.

Charlie’s road trip with Karl and Nicholas along the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State continues with a visit to the locomotive shops of the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Chief Mechanical Officer Brad Byrd explains what remains to be done to bring the Cascade Rail Foundation’s GE U25B back to life. […]

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Trains Presents: Peru 2017 tour, day 2

Trains’ tour of Peru’s spectacular Ferrocarril Central Andino railroad goes high into the Andes via extreme railroading. Watch as our chartered train tackles switchbacks, bridges, and tunnels to reach the 15,0000-summit – one of the highest railroads in the world. Hold your breath as we pass through the final bore! Watch part 1 of the […]

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Steam locomotive paint

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Sporting a red cab roof, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 4-8-4 No. 5632 departs Chicago Union Station in spring 1962 with an excursion. The locomotive’s graphite smokebox and firebox are also readily apparent. Ed DeRouin, Barbara DeRouin collection Restored Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-0 No. 315 shows off its contrasting graphite smokebox. Martin E. Hansen […]

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Making your rail mileage count

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An NS 21st Century Steam excursion adds to the mileage totals for riders at Williamstown, Ky., in May 2014. Two photos, Robert S. McGonigal Railroads are all about places – where the rails go to transport freight and passengers. In the 1920s, the “Index of Railroad Stations” at the back of each edition of The […]

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A pain in the abutment

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A Canadian National train heads north through Wisconsin over a bridge in 2015. Regardless of the location or railroad, bridges pose problems for track. Steve Sweeney Track can sag, bounce, and shift a bit, within reason. It flexes under the weight of heavy freight trains, but bridge ends don’t. And that’s a problem. When most […]

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