In some of my early “Sketching with Steve” articles – in particular, “What is a station?” and “Big industries for small spaces” – I admit to having an ulterior motive. I was building toward something. Specifically, I had been thinking for a while about building an L shaped N scale shelf layout in my basement office. […]
Without an ampersand, directional vector, or superlative in its title, the Lehigh Valley Railroad was of understated geographical reach. Its 440-mile New York-Buffalo line was slightly longer than competing routes of the Erie, New York Central, and Lackawanna, but shorter than the Pennsylvania’s. LV’s earliest component dated to 1836, but “the Valley” owed its existence […]
NEW YORK — On a second consecutive day highlighting plans to support rail infrastructure projects, President Joe Biden said today (Tuesday, Jan. 31) that the federal government would provide $292 million in grants for the early stages of the effort to build new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River to connect New York and New […]
ELKINS, W.Va. — Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad has announced plans to begin operation of a new train this spring between Cass and Durbin, W.Va. The Greenbrier Express will operate over 15 miles of the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Greenbrier Subdivision. Cass Scenic Railroad operated excursions over this stretch until a calamitous 1985 flood […]
STRASBURG, Pa. – Personnel from the Strasburg Rail Road, Virginia Museum of Transportation, and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania moved famed Norfolk & Western Railway 4-8-4 No. 611 from the Strasburg’s track across Pennsylvania Route 741 to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania for winter storage on January 31. The move was made to free up track […]
PORTER, Ind. — Work on the South Shore’s Double Track project remains on schedule, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District was told at its Monday board meeting, with a full resumption of revenue service likely in about 16 months. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that NICTD President Michael Noland told the board that trains […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority project to bring Metro-North commuter rail service to Penn Station via Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line, while building four new stations in the Bronx, has barely begun — but is already facing notable delays. Bloomberg reports Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction and Development, told an MTA board committee […]
GOLETA, Calif. — Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner resumed service between Goleta and San Luis Obispo on Monday, Jan. 30, following a two-week suspension. The updated schedule of service to and from San Luis Obispo is available here. Operations north of Goleta had been suspended while Union Pacific repaired a storm-damaged trestle on the grounds of Vandenberg […]
SALT LAKE CITY — The Arizona Spike, one of four created for ceremonies marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, sold for $2.22 million in an auction that concluded last week, far more than had been anticipated. KSL-TV reports Christie’s had set a pre-auction estimate of $300,00 to $500,000 for the spike, with […]
POCATELLO, Idaho — Cleanup continued Monday after 25 railcars derailed at Union Pacific’s yard in Pocatello Sunday night, the Idaho State Journal reports. The accident occurred about 11 p.m. No injuries were reported and mainline operations were not affected. No hazardous materials were involved. The railroad said the cause of the derailment was under investigation. […]
A Baltimore & Ohio P-7 Pacific has the Detroit–Baltimore Ambassador in tow as it crosses famous Thomas Viaduct at Relay, Md., just outside Baltimore, in November 1953. Having pulled into the stub-end Washington Union Station, the train is running “backward” – two sleepers right behind the engine, then two coaches, and a combine on the […]
BALTIMORE — President Joe Biden today announced that the project to replace the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel, a Northeast Corridor bottleneck dating to 1873, will receive more than $4 billion in federal infrastructure funding. “The structure is deteriorating. The roof is leaking. The floor is sinking. This is the United State of America, for God’s […]
