Steel: a Critical Building Block

Modern steel mill

    For an industry which hauls the heaviest, densest loads overland, no other material has proven itself more useful to railroads than that combination of iron, carbon, and trace minerals.  For more than 150 years, U.S. steelmakers have needed railroads to efficiently haul their heavy iron ore, taconite pellets, and coal, and also to transport […]

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Steel: a Critical Building Block

Modern steel mill

    For an industry which hauls the heaviest, densest loads overland, no other material has proven itself more useful to railroads than that combination of iron, carbon, and trace minerals.  For more than 150 years, U.S. steelmakers have needed railroads to efficiently haul their heavy iron ore, taconite pellets, and coal, and also to transport […]

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The Persistence of Crude Oil

Tanker cars

    But this new source of revenue has a troubling side.   Rapid growth strains the capacity of railroads to move crude oil.   And, safety has become an even bigger issue following the tragic derailment of a crude oil train in Quebec in July 2013 that killed 47 people and leveled a town.   Other spectacular […]

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The Persistence of Crude Oil

Tanker cars

    But this new source of revenue has a troubling side.   Rapid growth strains the capacity of railroads to move crude oil.   And, safety has become an even bigger issue following the tragic derailment of a crude oil train in Quebec in July 2013 that killed 47 people and leveled a town.   Other spectacular […]

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The Transportation of Lumber

Lumber being stored on a train

  Thanks, Jim.  Canadian National is the No. 1 lumber-hauling railroad in the U.S.   It takes particleboard out of British Columbia and moves it across the continent to where its needed.   If you see new homes or condos or apartments being built, chances are that the wood for them came by rail.   CN moves about […]

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The Transportation of Lumber

Lumber being stored on a train

  Thanks, Jim.  Canadian National is the No. 1 lumber-hauling railroad in the U.S.   It takes particleboard out of British Columbia and moves it across the continent to where its needed.   If you see new homes or condos or apartments being built, chances are that the wood for them came by rail.   CN moves about […]

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BNSF’s Needles Division

TRN_locomotive_video_power_chapter_7_0121

This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. BNSF Needles Subdivision stretches from the Arizona/California state line at Needles west to Barstow, California across almost 170 miles of desert that tests man and machine every day in the struggle to keep the railroad moving. For the majority of its […]

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BNSF’s Needles Division

TRN_locomotive_video_power_chapter_7_0121

This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. BNSF Needles Subdivision stretches from the Arizona/California state line at Needles west to Barstow, California across almost 170 miles of desert that tests man and machine every day in the struggle to keep the railroad moving. For the majority of its […]

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Automobiles on the Rails

Car stored in a train car

    Originally, cars didn’t have it so good. They went in boxcars. They went on flatcars, stacked one on top of the other. Trains were important in making cars, too, and auto-parts special trains with nicknames like the *Sparkplug* began to appear. It didn’t take long to realize that something better had to come […]

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Automobiles on the Rails

Car stored in a train car

    Originally, cars didn’t have it so good. They went in boxcars. They went on flatcars, stacked one on top of the other. Trains were important in making cars, too, and auto-parts special trains with nicknames like the *Sparkplug* began to appear. It didn’t take long to realize that something better had to come […]

Read More…

Operations on the Delaware Lackawanna

TRN_locomotive_video_power_chapter_53_0121

This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD.   The northeast United States continues to be an Alco and MLW stronghold. The largest percentage of active units from these two builders call many short line railroads in this region home. Two of these railroads, Western New York & Pennsylvania […]

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Operations on the Delaware Lackawanna

TRN_locomotive_video_power_chapter_53_0121

This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD.   The northeast United States continues to be an Alco and MLW stronghold. The largest percentage of active units from these two builders call many short line railroads in this region home. Two of these railroads, Western New York & Pennsylvania […]

Read More…