Intermodal engineering Wood planks were common for building piggyback ramps. Large planks formed rub rails (well-used judging by the scars) along the edges, with a notch for the flatcar coupler and a steel bridge plate on the right. Classic Trains magazine collection […]
NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk Southern’s chief financial officer says the term “one-person crew” is a misnomer that has only stoked controversy about the rail industry’s proposal to use ground-based conductors on routes protected by positive train control. “It’s unfortunate the terminology on one-man crew or one-person crew … because I don’t think it’s really the […]
Trains Senior Editor David Lassen spends much of his free time in the Chicago area. This is the first in a series of Trains.com articles on his favorite rail photography locations. UPDATED Dec. 15, 2021, with removal of shoofly. BNSF Railway’s celebrated “racetrack” — the triple-track mainline of the Chicago Division between downtown Chicago and […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway and Union Pacific are locked in a dispute over BNSF haulage rights traffic that moves over UP rails along the Texas Gulf Coast. As part of UP’s acquisition of Southern Pacific in 1996, BNSF gained access to customers along UP between Houston and Brownsville, Texas, which also is a gateway to […]
Midwest memories The sun shines down on Northern Pacific-painted S2 705 at Jamestown, N.Dak., on NP S2 705 in early 1970, just eight weeks after the creation of Burlington Northern. J. David Ingles photo […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National today filed its Kansas City Southern merger agreement with federal regulators, and asked the Surface Transportation Board to adopt an expedited schedule for reviewing its request to put KCS into a voting trust. In what CN termed a procedural move, the STB on Monday denied CN’s request to place KCS into […]
Demolition work began Monday on Union Pacific’s Lenox Tower in Mitchell, Ill., about 20 miles north of St. Louis. The tower is being razed to streamline the interlocking and remove a troublesome puzzle switch as part of a realignment project that will allow increased speeds for Amtrak Lincoln Service trains between Chicago and St. Louis. […]
SIBLEY, Iowa — The evacuation order resulting from the derailment of a Union Pacific train in Sibley was lifted Monday evening, after fears of an explosion eased greatly authorities discovered a car believed to be carrying ammonium nitrate was actually empty. KCAU-TV reports about 400 people had been affected by the evacuation order, which was […]
U.S. Supreme Court asks Solicitor General for opinion in case involving injured Union Pacific engineer The U.S. Supreme Court is asking the Biden Administration to take a position in a case involving Union Pacific that could affect the railroad’s liability for worker injuries. Reuters reports the court asked the U.S. Solicitor General’s office for an […]
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have dealt a blow to Canadian National’s proposed acquisition of Kansas City Southern. The Surface Transportation Board today denied CN’s request to place KCS into a voting trust while the merger is under review. The board said CN’s application was incomplete, however, because CN has not yet filed its merger application. And […]
The Northern Pacific Railway is Classic Trains‘ Railroad of the Month for May 2021. Please enjoy this freight train photo gallery sourced from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. Only from Classic Trains! […]
PITTSBURGH — Wabtec says the next step in its development of a battery-electric locomotive will be a locomotive with a battery capacity of more than 6 megawatt hours, which could reduce the fuel consumption and carbon emissions of a locomotive consist by up to 30%. Such a second-generation locomotive would be offered commercially and could […]
