Great American Steam Locomotives: Articulateds DVD Trailer

Great American Steam Locomotives: Articulateds DVD | 16126 The Articulateds are the largest steam locomotives ever built. Starting as slow speed monsters hauling heavy trains over mountain ridges, they became a regular feature of many of the largest Class 1 railroads, handling everything from slow drag freights, to fast time freights, and even were able […]

Read More…

Work in progress to upgrade BNSF’s old Sandpoint bridge

Train on bridge, with work in progress on adjacent bridge

SANDPOINT, Idaho — With BNSF Railway  and Montana Rail Link trains now using the new 4,873-foot long Lake Pend Oreille bridge opened in late November 2022 outside Sandpoint, Idaho, the adjacent bridge opened by Northern Pacific in 1904 is undergoing reconstruction. BNSF says the work involves “replacing all 59 of the remaining original 1904 bridge […]

Read More…

Union Pacific announces Big Boy trip to Omaha

A Big Boy locomotive leads a yellow passenger train through the Great Plains.

Big Boy trip 2023 OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 will travel to Omaha, Neb., for 11 days of display during the NCAA College World Series baseball championship tournament, the railroad announced today. The locomotive and its train of heritage passenger cars will depart Cheyenne, Wyo., on the “Home Run Express Tour,” […]

Read More…

UP derails 20 cars in Idaho yard

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

POCATELLO, Idaho — One of Union Pacific’s main lines out of its Pocatallo railyard was blocked for a day following a derailment of about 20 cars on Tuesday evening, the Idaho State Journal reports. The derailment occurred about 8:50 p.m. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were spilled. Most cars were empty and […]

Read More…

Rocky Mountaineer in the Rockies

The Rocky Mountaineer began as a VIA Rail service in Canada in the late 1980s. Operating over Canadian National tracks from Vancouver, British Columbia to Jasper, Alberta, the service was privatized in 1990 and the Rocky Mountaineer now operates three routes in Canada and a new route in the United States. We caught up with […]

Read More…

News report says Colorado Pacific has ended pursuit of Tennessee Pass line

Colorado Pacific logo

Colorado Pacific Railroad, the rail enterprise of Colorado billionaire Stefan Soloviev, is no longer pursuing purchase of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western Tennessee Pass line, according to the nonprofit website Colorado Newsline. The railroad’s general counsel, William Osborn, told the site Soloviev — a major New York developer and chairman of Crossroads Agriculture, […]

Read More…

Weekend disruptions hit VIA, Amtrak long-distance trains (updated)

Amtrak passenger train with two locomotives

EDMONTON, Alberta — Early-season forest fires in Alberta temporarily shut down Canadian National’s main line between Jasper and Edmonton over the weekend, forcing VIA Rail Canada to turn the westbound and eastbound Canadians at those locations and bus passengers between them. Meanwhile, a variety of issues inflicted significant delays on Amtrak long-distance trains. This included […]

Read More…

Clearing a Rio Grande rotary

20180516

During an epic battle to reopen Cumbres Pass after a late December 1951 storm, a worker uses a shovel to clear the discharge chute of Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge rotary OM of heavy, wet snow. John Norwood photo […]

Read More…