Two of Rio Grande’s Krauss-Maffei diesel-hydraulics spent almost three weeks testing on the New York Central in early 1963. Here crews on New York Central Advance BF-3 change at Bellefontaine, Ohio, on February 24, 1963. Photo by Si Herring […]
Type of Train: Freight
Hoseshoe helper
Conrail 6070, a former Erie Lackawanna SD45, assists a westbound freight up Pennsylvania’s Horseshoe Curve on July 25, 1981, just a few months after removal of one of the Curve’s four tracks. Photo by Robert S. McGonigal […]
Great grains
Jumbo 100-ton covered hoppers revolutionized rail handling of grain in the 1960s. The Great Northern staged this publicity photo near terminal elevators in Minneapolis after receiving a new order of cars in 1967. Photo by Great Northern […]
Remembering Great Northern freight trains
All this month — September 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Great Northern Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include GN diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might also enjoy this […]
Digest: CP, Maersk announces plans for transload facility in Vancouver
More Tuesday morning rail news: CP, Maersk announce Vancouver transload, distribution facility Canadian Pacific and Maersk, the world’s largest container-ship operator, will build a new transload and distribution facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, expanding CP’s existing Vancouver Intermodal Facility. CP says the facility will apply Maersk’s container logistics strategy and will rely on substantial use […]
CN volume approaching 2019 levels thanks to intermodal, grain
MONTREAL — Canadian National’s traffic is accelerating back to normal levels, driven by strong growth in intermodal, grain, lumber, and frac sand traffic. “We are clearly seeing a recovery happening,” Chief Financial Officer Ghislain Houle told an investor conference on Thursday. Last week the railway’s domestic intermodal volume was up 30%, international intermodal gained 19%, […]
Class I railroad executives tout rebound of intermodal traffic
CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific executives touted strong domestic intermodal growth during an investor conference today, noting that volumes are now running above pre-pandemic levels. UP’s intermodal traffic is up nearly 8% so far in the third quarter, boosted by double-digit percentage growth in parcel and truckload shipments due to e-commerce and the […]
CN works to build ‘intermodal of the future’
MONTREAL — Canadian National is working to build what it’s calling “intermodal of the future” by experimenting with terminal improvements and fully integrating the operations and people from its recent trucking-company acquisitions. “We know that in order to compete down the road with the truck, that we have to not only be safer, more efficient […]
Canadian National sees traffic rebound, particularly in Western Canada
MONTREAL — Canadian National is recalling furloughed train crews and pulling locomotives and freight cars out of storage as traffic rebounds. “We are pivoting to recovery,” Chief Financial Officer Ghislain Houle told a webcast on Wednesday, noting strong growth trends in domestic intermodal, Canadian grain, and Canadian coal traffic. Overall, CN’s July traffic was 5% […]
In rare joint letter, FRA, STB warn railroads to be ready for rebound in traffic (updated)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unusual joint letter to the chief executives of Class I railroads, the leaders of the Federal Railroad Administration and Surface Transportation Board on Monday urged railroads to ensure they have enough people and equipment available to handle rising freight volumes. The letter notes that regulators have received positive reports about […]
South Shore Baldwin
Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic DRS-6-6-15 road-switcher No. 201 stands with a bulkhead flatcar of pulpwood, a major commodity in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The South Shore had 4 of the 82 six-motor, 1,500-horsepower units that Baldwin Locomotive Works built between 1948 and 1950. Photo by A. C. Kalmbach […]
Mohawk at Waterloo
New York Central 4-8-2 2952 storms through Waterloo, Indiana, 367 miles west of Buffalo, with a westbound freight in 1948. NYC called its 600 4-8-2s “Mohawks” after the river the road’s main line followed across New York state. Photo by Robert A. Hadley […]