Amtrak passenger arrested for carrying marijuana NEWSWIRE

Empire Builder

Empire Builder Darin D. Larabee GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A passenger on Amtrak’s Empire Builder was arrested April 3 for carrying $44,000 worth of high-quality marijuana while the train was stopped in Grand Forks, the Grand Forks Herald reports. According to Grand Forks County Sheriff Bob Rost, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol informed his […]

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Amtrak to detour Coast Starlight over Tehachapi Loop NEWSWIRE

LOS ANGELES – Amtrak is planning to detour its southbound Coast Starlight between Oakland and Los Angeles in March and April due to track work. Instead of its normal route along the California Coast, train No. 11 will travel Union Pacific’s ex-Southern Pacific route via the San Joaquin Valley and Tehachapi Loop. The detours are planned for March 13-15, March 24-30, […]

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Give my regards to the Broadway

A Conrail executive locomotive, E8 No. 4022, leads the eastbound Broadway Limited, train No. 40, into Chicago Union Station on April 11, 1977. Amtrak is in the midst of a motive power shortage, caused by problems with its EMD SDP40F fleet, and is leasing extra locomotives wherever it can. Photo by Gary Dolzall […]

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Waiting on go

An Amtrak AEM7 rests between assignments at Washington Union Station on Jan. 14, 2009. Those motors don’t stay idle for long, and soon enough she’ll be racing along at up to 135 mph. Photo by Matt Van Hattem […]

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Classic Depot

Norfolk Southern (Crewe-to-Hopewell turn) freight V-11 passes the Petersburg, Va., Union Station as it heads eastbound toward Broadway Yard on May 11, 2012. Photo by Michael S. Murray […]

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Amtrak long-distance trains by night and day

TM1103

This Map of the Month was featured in the November 2003 issue of Trains magazine. Amtrak advertisements showcase images of passengers looking out windows at breathtaking scenery, and gleaming trains winding through spectacular canyons or along scenic river- banks. But that’s only half the story. Long-distance trains (those on routes of 750 miles or more) […]

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From Sweden to Rhode Island

As a prelude to today’s high speed Acela Express service, Amtrak tested two types of European high speed trains, a German ICE trainset and this tilting X2000 train from Sweden. The demonstration equipment made revenue runs on the Northeast Corridor and toured other parts of the country. Pushed by two Amtrak Tubroliner power cars, the […]

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Roger Williams new employer

Amtrak inherited from Penn Central these self-propelled Rail Diesel Cars with distinctive front ends built for the New Haven Railroad’s Roger Williams. Budd Co. delivered six RDCs in an A-B-B-B-B-A formation to the New Haven in 1956. The slapped-on Amtrak logo from this February 1975 view would be replaced four years later with the company’s […]

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Amtrak offering employee buyouts NEWSWIRE

WASHINGTON – Amtrak announced to employees yesterday that it would be offering buyouts to employees not covered by labor agreements. In a special employee advisory, Amtrak said starting next week it would be offering non-agreement employees a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment in order “to better allocate its resources and align the structure of the company […]

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Turbine power all the way

High speed in New England in the 1970s meant these turbine-powered trainsets built by United Aircraft, which sprinted between Boston and New York from 1969 to 1976. The two Turbotrains (Amtrak later bought a third set from VIA Rail Canada) achieved the route’s best-ever timings — 3 hours and 48 minutes between Boston and New […]

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