Brightline introduces satellite-based internet service from Starlink

Yellow and white streamlined locomotive at station

MIAMI — Brightline passenger service is now featuring wi-fi service provided by Starlink, the satellite-based high speed broadband internet service engineered by SpaceX. It becomes the first rail operator to use the service, already used by some aviation and marine firms, as well as businesses and residences. “Brightline will be the first train sets in […]

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Amtrak preparing procurement plans for new maintenance facilities

Men working on passenger car in shop

WASHINGTON — Amtrak is preparing plans for new maintenance facilities in Seattle, Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., and is providing advance notice of its procurement plans to allow companies time to prepare bids for those projects. The facilities will handle maintenance, repairs, inspections, and cleaning for new Acela, Airo, and long-distance equipment. Each […]

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New CSX-served facility creates feedstock for renewable fuels

Logo for renewable energy feedstock firm Oleo-X

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — A new plant to create feedstock for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel has opened at a Pascagoula site served by CSX Transportation. The Oleo-X facility has the potential to produce up to 300 million gallons of premium feedstock per year. The innovative facility enables the processing of low-carbon, inedible oils, including […]

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How railroads design grades and curves

A red caboose trails a short freight train powered by a steam locomotive

Given a choice, railroads will always follow a straight, level path. Trains use less energy, speeds are higher, and there’s less wear on equipment when railroads can build on an arrow-straight line. But land rises and falls, obstacles must be avoided, and this requires grades to compensate for changes in elevation and curves to reorient […]

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Best-selling early GE diesel locomotives

Black-and-white diesel locomotive in rail yard

The best-selling early GE diesel locomotives are familiar to fans of mid-century diesel power.   General Electric has a long relationship with railroad motive power. The company began building heavy electric locomotives in the 1890s, furnished traction motors and electrical equipment to other builders through the 1950s, and eventually become the dominant diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer […]

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Elmira Railway Museum profile

PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation logo

Housed in the historic Elmira Station, the Elmira Railway Museum offers a look at railroading on the Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. Choices The museum features a re-created station master’s office and waiting room inside the station as well as displays and artifacts. A miniature train operates around the museum, and interactive experiences […]

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MacBride Copperbelt Mining Museum profile

MacBride Copperbelt Mining Museum logo

Located in copper country, the MacBride Copperbelt Mining Museum is part of the overall MacBride Museum institution with a focus on the area’s mining and railroad history. Choices The museum’s exhibits provide a focus on the history of copper mining around the Whitehorse region, the Pueblo Mine Disaster, and an interpretive train ride. The train […]

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Cole Land Transportation Museum profile

Cole Land Transportation Museum logo

The Cole Land Transportation Museum’s educational mission is to collect, preserve and display a cross-section of Maine’s land transportation equipment from which this and future generations will gain knowledge of the past. The overall collection includes 200 antique land transportation vehicles and 2,000 photographs. Choices The railroading side at the museum is represented by one […]

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Princeton Railroad Museum profile

As a replica of the station that stood in Princeton for more than 70 years, the Princeton Railroad Museum shares the stories of the Virginian Railway and other rail-related history throughout the region. Choices The museum features exhibits full of artifacts and photographs surrounding the history of both the Virginian Railway and the Norfolk & […]

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Grand Bellevue Rail Dining Experience profile

Grand Bellevue Rail Dining Experience logo

Along the scenic Narragansett Bay, the Grand Bellevue Rail Dining Experience operates several different excursions on the Newport & Narragansett Bay Railroad. Choices The Grand Bellevue is a relaxing 2.5-hour excursion that provides elegant dinner train services of full-course meals, wine and cocktails in restored 1940s Budd dining cars. Another excursion offering is a dining […]

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Beyond the byline with Dan Cupper

Dan Cupper holding a magazine

What was your first byline in Trains? Dan Cupper: It was a 10-page cover feature for January 1984, detailing Conrail’s E8-model passenger locomotive No. 4022, used for powering the road’s office-car fleet on inspection tours. At the time, I was working as a reporter for the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News newspapers and had written a full-page […]

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Union Pacific’s new paint scheme

A pair of yellow locomotives, lettered in red for Union Pacific

Union Pacific is in the final stage of modifying the paint scheme of its locomotive fleet. Announced in July 2022, company employees at Jenks Locomotive Shop in North Little Rock, Arkansas, created the new design which relocated the flag logo from the long hood to a smaller version placed on the side of the nose, […]

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