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 […]
Zone & Region: Mountain West
Work in progress to upgrade BNSF’s old Sandpoint 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 […]
Union Pacific announces Big Boy trip to Omaha
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,” […]
Hopper car load — chemical used in explosives — disappears during shipment
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A hopper car loaded with 30 tons of ammonium nitrate — a chemical used as fertilizer and as a component in explosives — was empty by the time it arrived at its destination last month, triggering investigations by state and federal authorities, as well as the manufacturer and Union Pacific, the railroad […]
UP derails 20 cars in Idaho yard
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 […]
New BNSF intermodal service to link Port Houston with Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway will add service from the port of Houston to Alliance, Texas, and Denver next month. “As part of our continued commitment to adjusting to our customers’ and the marketplace’s needs to enable growth and the efficient movement of shipments, BNSF is expanding our network of lane offerings with new […]
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 […]
News report says Colorado Pacific has ended pursuit of Tennessee Pass line
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, […]
Weekend disruptions hit VIA, Amtrak long-distance trains (updated)
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 […]
Clearing a Rio Grande rotary
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 […]
4-8-4 entering Moffat Tunnel
Rio Grande engine 1703, from the road’s first group of 4-8-4s, heads a westbound train out of Denver into the 6.2-mile darkness of Moffat Tunnel in August 1950. W. R. Berg Jr. photo […]
RTD resumes service to Golden, Colo., station where light rail train ran off track
GOLDEN, Colo. — The Regional Transportation District has resumed light rail service to the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden, about seven weeks after halting service because of a derailment. Operations to the station had been disrupted since March 11, when a W Line train ran off the end of track at the station, injuring […]