New York MTA sells branch for conversion to rail trail NEWSWIRE

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sold a little-used route between Danbury, Conn., and Beacon, N.Y., for conversion in to a rail trail. The conversion will come in the next three years, through a state-funded, $33.6-million design-build contract awarded to Arch Associates LLC, in concert with rail trail design firm McLaren. The MTA […]

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Grant to help in restoration of Lackawanna Cutoff NEWSWIRE

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SCRANTON, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority has been awarded a $400,000 grant for engineering costs associated with restoration of the Lackawanna Cutoff, already under construction in New Jersey. The Local Share Account grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority covers engineering costs for construction of track and structures for the passenger rail project. […]

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NJ Transit faces engineer shortage this summer NEWSWIRE

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NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey commuters can expect cancellations and delays this summer for a lack of qualified locomotive engineers. After taking a tour of NJ Transit’s Emergency Operation Center in Maplewood, N.J., on Tuesday afternoon, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told media members present that having just eight graduates in May from engineer training […]

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Pennsy RS1

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The Pennsylvania owned 22 Alco RS1s, acquired 1950–51. In this late 1950s view, No. 5620 idles at South Amboy, N.J., in the company of P5a electric 4709. Don Wood photo […]

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Ore train on a PRR branch

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In September 1955, Pennsylvania Railroad M1 4-8-2 6894 leads an ore train west at Alexandria, Pa., on the road’s Hollidaysburg & Petersburg Branch, part of a route that enabled mainline trains to bypass Altoona. Unseen at the rear, a 2-10-0 pushes behind the cabin car. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Liberty Limited at Baltimore

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GG1 4901’s nose door is ajar as it leads sister 4894 on the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited out of Baltimore in September 1954. The train came in from Chicago behind diesels; the track arrangement at Baltimore required it to be hauled backwards to Washington (note the observation car behind the second G). H. N. Proctor photo […]

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0-4-0T amid smoke and steam

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Four-wheel saddle-tanker No. 3, a 1910 product of Alco’s Cooke works, is enveloped in clouds of smoke and steam at the Colorado Fuel & Iron facility in Birdsboro, Pa., east of Reading, in September 1957. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]

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FTA releases Washington Metro to local control NEWSWIRE

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WASHINGTON — More than three years after the Federal Transit Administration took the unprecedented step of assuming direct safety oversight of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail system, the FTA has returned supervision back to local control. The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, an independent body established by Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia in […]

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