Crude by rail

  BNSF Railway ES44DC No. 7339 heads up train U-TNDNSD through East Dubuque, Ill., on Jan. 19, 2014. The crude oil train will be interchanged to Norfolk Southern in Chicago for delivery to an East Coast refinery. Photo by Matt Krause […]

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America’s fastest rail lines

How many places in the United States can a railroad passenger travel more than 70 miles in one hour? This map spotlights those locations, based on the schedules in Amtrak’s Fall/Winter 2007 system timetable and its Spring 2008 Northeast Corridor timetable. (Where precise information was not available, the speeds factor in 1 minute of dwell […]

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Cosmetic restoration completed on Wabash E8 No. 1009 NEWSWIRE

No. 1009 Norfolk Southern CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Norfolk Southern has completed the cosmetic restoration of the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s Wabash E8 No. 1009. The unit was the 10,000th diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, commemorated on June 14, 1951, at its La Grange, Ill., facility. The locomotive saw service pulling streamliners such […]

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Walthers HO scale SW1 diesel locomotive

Walthers HO scale SW1 diesel locomotive After a lengthy hiatus, the HO scale Electro-Motive Division SW1 has returned to the Walthers product lineup. The WalthersMainline model features upgrades from the original 1993 version, including a new drive mechanism with 14:1 helical-cut gears, factory-installed plastic and wire handrails, and an eight-pin plug for a Digital Command […]

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Train-watching in Bellevue, Ohio

Railroad enthusiasts from across the country flock to Bellevue, Ohio, for its train-watching opportunities. The city offers many safe locations to view the action, endless variety on Norfolk Southern and Wheeling & Lake Erie trains, and a small-town atmosphere that’s hard to beat. This video shows a sampling of train-watching in Bellevue, including NS and […]

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Photo gallery: Amtrak’s Michigan Line track improvements

FULL SCREEN Ties await installation on the unused brick platform at Chelsea, Mich., east of Jackson. FULL SCREEN A Norfolk Southern tie gang finishes up for the day east of Chelsea. FULL SCREEN One mile further east, a tamper pushes gravel under and around newly installed ties at Chelsea, Mich. FULL SCREEN A laser beam […]

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Great Photography in Bad Weather

FULL SCREEN Mark Llanuza The headlights of an eastbound Metra train slice through the rain and heavy fog setting in over Elgin, Ill., in November of 2012. FULL SCREEN Mark Llanuza An early morning mix of rain and sleet greets commuters as they board a Metra train at the Bartlett, Ill., station in 2012. FULL […]

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Bachmann N scale F7A and B unit diesel locomotives

Bachmann N scale F7A and B units Bachmann Trains is introducing an N scale model of one of the most iconic locomotives ever built, equipped with a Digital Command Control decoder. The N scale locomotives, which come in A and B versions, have sharp paint jobs, are powered by can motors with dual brass flywheels, […]

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Kansas City tonnage: 1971 and 2003

Chicago might have more trains, and St. Louis a big shiny arch, but Kansas City is the ton-mile king, with over 1 billion tons passing through the city (or above it, on flyovers) in 2003. That is 15 percent more tons than Chicago. What is remarkable about K.C. is its sheer growth, from 378 million […]

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