Enola bound

20191202

Pennsylvania Railroad M1 class 4-8-2 No. 6987 heads a freight toward Enola Yard near Harrisburg, Pa., in July 1955. The railroad had 301 such locomotives in the M1 and M1a classes built in-house and by Baldwin and Lima. Don Wood photo […]

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Sauer named SEPTA interim general manager

Head shot of man in coat and open-collar shirt

PHILADELPHIA — Scott Sauer has been named interim general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and assumed those duties this week, the agency has announced. Sauer joined SEPTA in 1990 as a train operator, following in the footsteps of his late father, Robert, who worked for SEPTA and the predecessor Philadelphia Transportation Co. for […]

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New preservation group buys Amtrak AEM7 No. 927

A new preservation group, Northeast Rail Heritage, Inc., announced Tuesday (Dec. 3) that it has purchased former Amtrak AEM7 electric locomotive No. 927, built in 1981 for high-speed passenger service on the Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor. It was retired in 2016. Using technology from ASEA-built Statens Järnvägar (Swedish State Railways) Rc4 B-B locomotives, General […]

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Baltimore & Ohio toy train display

Toy steam and streamlined passenger trains on multiple levels of Baltimore & Ohio toy train display

  Years ago, it was not unknown for railroads to promote themselves via railroad models. This actually began in the toy train sphere of model railroading. Scale model railroading as a hobby emerged from toy trains, which began to come to prominence in the early 20th century. As evidence, I’ll cite the fact that Al […]

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Season arrives for commuter, transit holiday trains

EMU trainset with holiday lights at sunset

Increasingly, the holiday season is also a team for brightly decorated trains on major commuter and transit systems. The New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas will all see such trains this year, including a new train on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro North Railroad, and Metra trains with more elaborate decorations. Here’s […]

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First arch now in place on New Jersey’s Portal North Bridge

View of bridge under construction with tugboat in foreground

KEARNY, N.J. — The first of three massive arches that are part of the new Portal North Bridge has arrived by barge and been lifted into place at the construction site on the Hackensack River, a significant advance in the project to replace the current structure, a long-time operational headache on the Northeast Corridor. Three […]

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Fire damages Amtrak equipment at Washington yard

Locomotive surrounded by flames

WASHINGTON — At least one locomotive appears to have suffered significant damage in a fire late Monday night at Amtrak’s Ivy City Maintenance Facility in Washington, D.C. DC Fire and EMS Department, in posts on X.com, reported responding with units including foam equipment to a fire possibly involving diesel fuel at the yard about 11:10 […]

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MBTA removes last slow orders on Red Line

Subway station with crews working on track and platform

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s recent maintenance shutdown of a portion of the Red Line has cleared the route of slow orders for the first time in at least 20 years, the MBTA says. The work between the Harvard and Broadway stations Nov. 17-23, and between Harvard and JFK/UMass on Nov. 24, allowed […]

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MBTA says new Orange, Red Line cars are now exceeding requirements

Rapid transit train operates on open-air track with city skyline in distance

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s issues with new rapid-transit equipment built by China’s CRRC have eased, CEO Phillip Eng said last week, with the equipment now arriving on the revised schedule developed earlier this year and performing reliably. “Just last month was the first month they were required to deliver three married pairs, […]

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