Fast freight on the Nickel Plate

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Well into the 1950s, the Nickel Plate Road believed its superb 2-8-4 Berkshires to be better than diesels for its fast freight service. Because it dieselized late, NKP had no freight cab units, only road-switchers. Don Wood photo […]

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SP piggyback train

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For a time in the 1950s, Southern Pacific had the most extensive piggyback operations in the land. Here a train bound from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area climbs Santa Susana Pass near Chatsworth, Calif. Classic Trains coll. […]

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Do you know where your boxcar is?

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In the December 2014 Model Railroader, Seth Neumann and Chris Drone wrote an article about using radio-frequency identification (RFID) and a computer to track rolling stock and new possibilities for operation. Prototype railroads have been using scanning technology since the late 1960s. Automatic Car Identification (ACI) used an optical reader and a color-coded plate to […]

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Big Sky local

Northern Pacific Railway in Montana

Pacific 2119 leads Northern Pacific train 288 east in Silver Bow Canyon, a dozen miles west of Butte, Mont., in the late 1940s. Linn H. Westcott photo […]

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The merger puzzle

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A westbound trackage rights train is seen at Otis, Ind., in March 2014 with Canadian Pacific and CSX Transportation power. Bruce Stahl Procter & Gamble agrees to buy Gil­lette. Kmart takes over Sears. Federated Department Stores gobbles up rival May. Mergers filled the business news in 2004 and early 2005, and experts predict the trend […]

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Utah looks to build new railroad to tap oil boom NEWSWIRE

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An early rendering of a bridge on the proposed line. Utah Department of Transportation An early rendering of a yard on the proposed line. Utah Department of Transportation SALT LAKE CITY – New oil development in eastern Utah could spur the largest railroad-building project in a generation. The Utah Department of Transportation is looking at […]

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