A switch crew shuffles sand cars at the south end of Butler Yard, March 2015. Trains: Brian Schmidt BUTLER, Wis. – A Union Pacific yard in Milwaukee’s suburbs on former Chicago & North Western tracks is feeling the impact of UP’s adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading, observers and those close to the yard tell Trains […]
A southbound Metra Electric train arrives at the 11th Street/Museum Campus station in August 2016. Metra Electric service has been restored on this part of the line, but remains cancelled south of Kensington; South Shore service has been fully restored. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Full South Shore Line commuter rail service has been restored […]
A screen image capture from a Metra video of natural gas-fired switch heaters. Media outlets covering the late January freeze in the Midwest have reported that Chicago’s Metra sets its tracks on fire. METRA CHICAGO — From ABC to the British Broadcasting Corp. with Stephen Colbert in between, the national and international media is obsessed […]
A South Shore commuter train approaches the Hegewisch station in South Chicago on a frigid March 16, 2017. South Shore and Metra Electric service has been stopped by downed wires. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Downed power lines have halted service for South Shore and Metra Electric District routes through Friday, part of the continuing […]
The engineer of Amtrak’s train 22, the Texas Eagle, assists an employee climbing aboard P42DC No. 17 on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. The northbound train was stopped at Shirley, Ill., with mechanical issues related to maintaining main reservoir air pressure. At the time of the photo the air temperature was minus-9 with a windchill of […]
A Metra Rock Island train approaches the 95th Street station on the Beverly Branch on Jan. 2, 2018, a day when temperatures hovered near zero. Even more extreme weather will lead to modified Metra schedules on Wednesday. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Metra has announced modified schedules for its operations on Wednesday, Jan. 30, reflecting […]
No. 422 rests at Kansas City, Mo., prior to shipment. The unit is expected to receive a larger logo upon delivery to the railroad in Minnesota. Zack Pumphery ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Burlington Northern’s Cascade green paint scheme was consigned to history with BN’s merger with Santa Fe in 1995, but the colors are making […]
Led by the “Salute to Veterans” cab car, an Amtrak Hiawatha kicks up snow as it passes through the Healy Metra station in Chicago on Dec. 30, 2018. Service on the Hiawatha and other trains from the Chicago hub is being modified in advance of severe winter weather. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — With extreme winter […]
Rock Island passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”, passes through Trenton, MO., Des Moines, Nevada, Clear Lake Jct., IA., and Albert Lea, MN., on its journey from Kansas City to St. Paul / Minneapolis. This train is operating on my Rock Island-based HO scale model railroad. Video by Michael Armstrong. […]
Rock Island passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”, passes through Trenton, MO., Des Moines, Nevada, Clear Lake Jct., IA., and Albert Lea, MN., on its journey from Kansas City to St. Paul / Minneapolis. This train is operating on my Rock Island-based HO scale model railroad. Video by Michael Armstrong. […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., will serve as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, according to a committee announcement Thursday. Lipinski’s subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes all federal laws and programs regulating railroad transportation, including railroad safety, rail infrastructure programs, economic regulation, and railroad labor […]
FRANKFORT, Ill. — Metra CEO Jim Derwinski is scheduled to appear at a town hall meeting by an Illinois state senator on safety concerns arising from a November incident at a grade crossing in Mokena, Ill. State Sen. Michael E. Hastings, D-Tinley Park, Ill., will host the Feb. 12 meeting at the Lincoln-Way East High […]
