Seatrain Georgia

Ship carrying railroad freight cars

Seatrain Georgia Seatrain Georgia, built in 1951 as one of the last two 1928-style rail car ships, is on the Hudson River at the start of a voyage. The vessels carried mostly boxcars, with tank cars and gondolas a distant second and third. Her colors are gray and white, with red funnel markings. U. S. […]

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Sgt. Saunders and the Kansas City Southern

Streamlined diesel locomotive passing depot

Throughout the 1960s, my grandfather owned a filling station in the tiny town of Lanagan, south of Joplin in the southwestern corner of Missouri on the Kansas City Southern main line. Every weekend I would be at the station, and once my chores were done, I was free to wander about the area. The KCS […]

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CSX details plans for Pan Am Railways track, locomotives, and service

Train coming around curve

WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation will gradually rebuild Pan Am Railways’ slow main line track, pare its aging locomotive roster, and extend positive train control over the full route of Amtrak’s Downeaster service that links Boston and Maine. CSX detailed its plans for the New England regional in a more detailed merger application filed this week with […]

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Digest: MARC commuter service to West Virginia in jeopardy

MARC commuter rail logo

West Virginia fails to fund MARC service, placing future in doubt The future of MARC commuter rail service to West Virginia is again in doubt after the state legislature failed to include service for the funding in its 2021-22 budget. The Martinsburg Journal-News reports state Senate President Craig Blair said he struck the commuter train […]

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Gulf Coast passenger filings pit Alabama against Mississippi

Blue sign with white lettering, with some information removed

Selected comments of politicians, organizations, and communities on the fight over Gulf Coast passenger service, as expressed in letters to the Surface Transportation Board [see “Analysis: Amtrak defends its Gulf Coast access request in new STB filing,” Trains News Wire, April 29, 2021]: Calling for completion of traffic modeling Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R): “For […]

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U.S. rail volume continues to show increase

Table showing weekly U.S. rail traffic statistics

WASHINGTON — While U.S. rail freight traffic continues to far outdistance 2020 volume, which was depressed at this time a year ago because of shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it also continues to show week-to-week improvement in 2021. The latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads show U.S. railroads moved 240,075 carloads in […]

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Grain train on the prairie

Diesel powered freight train switches cars at wooden grain elevator

Grain train on the prairie A Canadian Pacific GP9 switches the grain elevator at Headingley, Manitoba, in August 1980. In this time of transition, the cars to be loaded are a mix of cylindrical covered hoppers and boxcars. John Uckley […]

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