Privately operated overnight train proposed in California

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SAN FRANCISCO – A privately funded project to operate a nightly first-class passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles is underway, the SFGATE reported. Dreamstar Lines Inc., based in Newport Beach, says it’s working on lining up passenger cars, financing, staffing and agreements to operate the new service on the route once served by […]

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The Lionel SD40T-2 ‘Tunnel Motor’

Front pilot details on the Southern Pacific Lionel SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor

The Lionel SD40T-2 ‘Tunnel Motor’ is now on the rails. For those of us with a few SD40s and SD40-2s in our collections, this model provides a great variation and a touch of color in a consist. It’s safe to say these are popular engines with hobbyists. Lionel offered the SD40T-2 in its 2022 Volume […]

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Caltrain to reduce weekday service for two weeks

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SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain will reduce weekday service for two weeks beginning Monday, April 17, to accommodate construction and testing for its electrification project. Daily service will be reduced from 104 trains to 82 for the weeks of April 17-21 and April 24-28. Monday through Thursday of those weeks, the last northbound train of […]

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More Midwest Venture cars enter service; California still waits

Train with four matching Siemens Venture passenger cars

Second of two parts CHICAGO — The introduction of Venture business/coach cars on some state-supported Amtrak routes in the Midwest reflects an increase in availability of the Siemens-built equipment, delayed by a variety of production and acceptance issues. Meanwhile, there is still no firm date for the introduction of California’s Venture equipment, although a spokesman […]

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ASLRRA honors Pacific Harbor Line with two awards

Two black and silver locomotives with strings of containers

NEW ORLEANS — Southern California’s Pacific Harbor Line was recipient of two awards Monday — the inaugural Environmental Award and the Veterans Engagement Award — at the American Short Line and Regional Rail Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition. Also, the ASLRRA posthumously awarded its Schlosser Distinguished Service Award to Jack Parliament, retired from the D&I […]

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Del Mar Bluffs project receives state funding

Amtrak passenger train moves along tracks on coastal bluff in light fog.

DEL MAR, Calif. — The California Transportation Commission has awarded more than $37 million to the San Diego Association of Governments for its continuing project to stabilize the rail line along Del Mar Bluffs, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The next phase in the project, scheduled to begin in November, is expected to cost more […]

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Runaway UP ore train derails in California desert (updated)

Badly damaged railcars and track at derailment site

KELSO, Calif. — Two locomotives and 55 cars of a runaway Union Pacific train carrying iron ore derailed near the Mojave Desert community of Kelso today (Monday, March 27), officials from the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District reported. Union Pacific spokesman Mike Jaixen has confirmed that there was “uncontrolled train movement” of the southbound […]

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Closing the gap on the Santa Fe

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A crane places one of four 100-foot deck girders between piers 1 and 2 of the Santa Fe’s new bridge over the Colorado River at Needles, Calif. The double-track bridge opened in 1944 to replace a single-track span from 1890. Santa Fe photo […]

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Three suffer minor injuries in Sacramento light rail derailment

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three people suffered minor injuries Thursday when a Sacramento Regional Transit light rail train derailed today (Thursday, March 23), the Sacramento Bee reports. The derailment occurred on the light rail Green Line at the intersection of 7th and B streets, north of downtown Sacramento in the Railyards neighborhood, about 12:30 p.m. Two […]

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