Closure of US-Mexico border would hurt rail traffic NEWSWIRE

Trump

President Donald Trump The White House WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threat to close the border with Mexico this week would quickly have an impact on railroads and wreak economic havoc on both sides of the Rio Grande. Cross-border traffic represents about 11 percent of Union Pacific’s total volume and nearly 30 percent of volume […]

Read More…

American Civil Liberties Union sues to uncover the extent of cooperation between railroad police and US immigration officers NEWSWIRE

UPlogo

LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has filed a lawsuit it hopes will shed light on alleged operations conducted between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Union Pacific Railroad Police. According to a statement issued by the SoCal ACLU, the lawsuit is based upon alleged violations by ICE of the […]

Read More…

Reefer block of California potatoes

20190321

Santa Fe refrigerator cars loaded with potatoes from Kern County, Calif., head eastward at Topock, Ariz., in 1953. Even though it’s a solid train of one commodity, the cars have many different destinations. The train has just left California by crossing the Colorado River. Santa Fe photo […]

Read More…

Spiffy Mallet

20190307

Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3404, nicely turned out with white tires, running boards, and cylinder-head covers, assists a train up Tennessee Pass in July 1941. Up front is a 4-8-2; at the rear is another 2-8-8-2 helper. J. W. Maxwell photo […]

Read More…

Cleaning a grain boxcar

20190305

The Soo Line used what it called Mobile Cleaning Units — trucks with a power sweeper, power washers, and other cleaning and repair equipment — to clean and prep boxcars for grain shipment at its yards in Schiller Park (Chicago) and Shoreham (Minneapolis) in the early 1960s. The rig, with two workers, could clean a […]

Read More…

What’s in a photograph?: C&O’s ‘Sportsman’ at Staunton, Va.

StauntonVa

Frank and Tom Novak collection 1 Freight house. Staunton (“Stan-ton”) in 1950 had a population of 19,927. All towns of this significance once had a freight house where less-than-carload (LCL) freight was handled. Warehousemen used a forklift or hand truck to “platform” freight between boxcars and local trucks. By 1958 most railroads were getting out […]

Read More…