The Colebrookdale Railroad’s rebirth as a successful tourist railroad breathes new life into a former Reading Company branch in southeastern Pennsylvania. The revival was sparked by a determined man named Nathaniel Guest and a supportive community. Guest, a Pottstown native, learned the railroad was going to be officially abandoned. Believing the line’s history made it […]
Magazine: Trains Magazine
Norfolk Southern questions operational data behind activist investor plan
Norfolk Southern says that activist investor Ancora Holdings’ detailed plan for the railroad, released last week in a 193-page presentation, contains misleading operational data and vastly overstated cost-savings projections. Ancora says its proposed management team would reduce costs by $800 million through a full-blown implementation of the low-cost Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model at NS. […]
Five mind-blowing facts — Walt Disney’s railroads
Walt Disney’s railroads It is no secret that Walt Disney loved trains. His passion for railroads runs to the time of his youth and can still be seen throughout today’s Disney empire. For Walt, as you will see, railroading was an early job — one that made him little money — but one that put […]
Sold-out Reading & Northern special covers rare mileage
MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. — For the first time in decades, a passenger train Saturday (April 20, 2024) covered the full length of Reading & Northern Railroad’s Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch, carrying 194 riders aboard a trio of Budd Co. Rail Diesel Cars. Sponsored by the affiliated Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society […]
Beyond the byline with Mike Wilson
What was your first byline in Trains? Mike Wilson: My first byline in Trains was “Winter in Coal Country,” published in January 2022 featuring an in-depth look at the former Norfolk & Western, now Norfolk Southern, Pocahontas Division within the backwoods of southern Virginia and West Virginia. In my humble opinion, the Pocahontas Division serves […]
The Lincoln Funeral Train: A somber journey that left behind a historic memory
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, sent a Civil War-battered country into 20 days of national mourning. At the center of it all was a black-draped train, slowly and sadly carrying the former commander in chief’s body from Washington, D.C. to his hometown of Springfield, Ill. The U.S. rail network is no […]
South Dakota official sees Amtrak service as unlikely
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s transportation secretary has injected a note of reality into discussion of possible Amtrak service in the state. That discussion gained life in February with the inclusion of two routes serving South Dakota among the 15 in a Federal Railroad Administration report on its ongoing Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study [see […]
Brightline West groundbreaking set for Monday
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The Brightline West project is about to get its official kickoff. While various surveying and other preparation work has been in progress for several months, a formal groundbreaking ceremony is set for Monday in Las Vegas at the planned site for the high-speed project’s Las Vegas station. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Brightline […]
Two charged with stealing track from Connecticut heritage railroad
OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. — Two people have been arrested and charged with stealing nearly a half-mile of track used by the Essex Steam Train heritage railroad and selling it for scrap, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has announced. Jason Hubbard, 47, and Nicole Hooghkirk, 38, of Clinton, Conn., were arrested on April […]
Trains LIVE — Along the rails with JDI
Trains LIVE — Along the rails with JDI — 4-18-2024 — J. David Ingles — “Diesel Dave” — is among eight people to serve as editor of Trains. He was a member of the Kalmbach staff for 47 years, 1971 to 2018, when he transitioned to working as a contributing editor. Ingles was a prolific […]
Alstom sells North American signal business to Knorr-Bremse
SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, France — Alstom will sell its North American signal business to Knorr-Bremse of Germany for about €630 million, or about $671 million, the companies announced today. The sale, which Alstom describes as covering the conventional portion of its North American signaling business, is part of a plan announced in November to sell up to […]
Trains, June 2024
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