Food and service I like railroad station restaurants, especially those that thoroughly grasp their heritage, offer views of the tracks, and consistently provide great service and delicious food. Over the years, I’ve visited a great many, including traditional establishments in active railroad stations. As a youngster, my father brought me to Grand Central’s famous Oyster […]
This story originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. Train wreck Two very similar passenger trains approach a standing locomotive at slow speed in an over-under video produced by the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. On impact, one train crumples with the lead car, but stays in […]
WASHINGTON — Fifteen new or revived long-distance routes are presented in a new Federal Railroad Administration presentation to accompany the next round of meetings for its ongoing Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study. The 163-page PowerPoint presentation was issued prior to the third round of six regional workshops for stakeholders including Amtrak and state transportation officials, […]
CONCORD, N.H. — The state of New Hampshire is now reviewing bids for purchase of the Flying Yankee, the 1935 Budd Co. articulated streamliner built for the Boston & Maine Railroad — including a bid from the non-profit group that has long tried to support restoration of the train that is a virtual duplicate of […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has halted the awarding of new contracts for capital programs of uncertainty over the planned congestion pricing program, a daytime toll program intended to discourage driving by charging $15 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. The program is intended to start this year, and will help fund MTA […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The California Transportation Commission has awarded an additional $7.2 million in emergency funding to address the landslide issues that have halted Amtrak and Metrolink passenger service through San Clemente, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced. The new funds, awarded Friday, follow an earlier $2 million award from the state for cleanup […]
MOBILE, Ala. — The city of Mobile has taken umbrage at the idea that it is preventing the launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service, as was suggested in last week’s Surface Transportation Board hearing on delays in launching that service. The lack of a lease between Amtrak and the city for land needed for a […]
SELLERS, S.C. — Seventeen cars of a CSX train derailed early today (Saturday, Feb. 17) in South Carolina’s Marion County, blocking a highway and disrupting Amtrak operations. WBTW-TV reports the derailment occurred about 5 a.m., blocking a portion of U.S. Route 301, which will remain closed at least through the weekend, according to the South […]
REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Two crew members were injured when a CPKC train rear-ended a stopped train and derailed Friday night east of Revelstoke, the CBC reports. Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it was deploying to the scene of another CPKC collision in Field, B.C., that occurred on Saturday. The incident occurred about […]
Steam locomotives dropped their fires for last time in everyday use in China in mid-January with the end of operations at a coal mine in Xinjiang Province, ending three decades during which the country became famous with railfans worldwide as the last refuge of steam operation. New steam locomotives were still being built in the […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennyslvania Transportation Authority has received a $317 million federal grant to replace the railcar fleet on its Market-Frankford Line, which will help fund an $800 million order for 200 new cars, the news site Philly Voice reports. On Friday, members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority eliminated eight speed restrictions during a 10-day shutdown of portions of the rapid transit Red Line that concluded Feb. 14, the agency announced Friday. The latest shutdown, part of a year-long effort to eliminate slow orders on the rail network, saw the Red Line shut down completely between […]
