A groundsman watches while an overhead crane lowers another truck trailer onto a flatcar at BNSF’s Willow Springs intermodal facility. Matt Van Hattem You can feel the heat rising from the asphalt beneath you on this humid summer evening. But your attention is directed elsewhere, at two men in reflectorized vests who-without saying a single […]
If you want to know railroads, you’ve got to know Chicago. And Trains Magazine takes you there in its July 2003 Special Issue. You’ll see how 500 freight trains a day thread their way through the city, check in at the 30 active interlocking towers, pay homage to the city’s six great passenger stations, and […]
CSX AC4400CW 37 rolls past Fostoria, Ohio’s F Tower on the point of southward grain train G061 on February 18, 2001. With two railroads, three main lines, diamonds, and an active tower, Fostoria provides countless opportunities and angles for train watchers. James B. Winters A triangle of steel rails cross each other, the echoes of […]
TRAIN-WATCHING HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TWIN CITIES HIAWATHA LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT LINE Runs from: Warehouse District/Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis along Hiawatha Avenue to MSP International Airport and Mall of America in Bloomington, 11.6 miles. Train frequency: Trains run daily, every 7-8 minutes during rush hours, every 10 minutes between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, every […]
Rich Mountain is one of two sites in Arkansas profiled in Kalmbach’s Guide to North American Hot Spots by TRAINS Senior Editor J. David Ingles. Read below for Rich Mountain information. Site: Rich Mountain, Arkansas/Oklahoma Nearest City: Fort Smith, Arkansas (50 miles north) Location: Arkansas F-1, Oklahoma G-20, H-20 (Rand McNally Atlas) Directions: From Fort […]
Slant-nosed Metra F40PH-2Ms are seen powering Rock Island district trains, approaching Chicago’s LaSalle St. Station on December 15, 1997. Howard Ande Commuter trains have long been a part of Chicago’s railroad scene, appropriately enough for the railroad capital of the world. Illinois Central, the first railroad west of New York and Philadelphia to offer commuter […]
A pair of NICTD South Shore MU cars, led by #15, traverse the streets of Michigan City, Ind., with train 508 on June 13, 1998, at 1:28 p.m. Street running is one of the highlights of this interurban’s operations. George Fletcher Passenger service on the South Shore dates back to 1903, with the opening of […]
Slant-nosed Metra F40PH-2Ms are seen powering Rock Island district trains, approaching Chicago’s LaSalle St. Station on December 15, 1997. Howard Ande Chicago has been North America’s railroad capital for 150 years, and Trains Magazine showed you why in special issues devoted to the city in July 2003 and July 1993. But while Chicago is a […]
Metrolink F59PHI 880 pauses with Orange County Line train 688 at the Fullerton, Calif., station at 5:39 p.m., on August 7, 1998. The Los Angeles commuter rail system has grown dramatically since its 1992 startup. George Fletcher Metrolink, the working name of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, operates commuter service in the Los Angeles […]
Ann Arbor RS1 No. 20 unloads freight cars off the Lake Michigan carferry Arthur K. Atkinson at Frankfort, Mich., in April 1982, the railroad’s last year of carferry operation. Forrest L. Becht For over 100 years, trains and ships were partners in serving the eastern and western shores of Lake Michigan. This unique form of […]
The year was 1966; I was 19 years old and starting my second summer working on the Great Lakes. This year I was called to be a deckhand on the Leon Falk Jr. of the Hanna fleet. At 730 feet overall, she was one of the largest boats on the Great Lakes, and could haul […]
Merger? What merger? Two tariffs equal one trip By J. David Ingles As railroad mergers were sweeping the land through the 1960’s, passenger services of individual carriers were on a one-way trip to oblivion, culminating in Amtrak’s formation in 1971. For most roads, this couldn’t happen soon enough, and this attitude, couple with the regulatory […]
