Digest: Colorado governor signs major transportation bill

Colorado state flag

Colorado transportation bill helps advance Front Range rail plans Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed a major transportation bill including a provision allowing creation of transportation planning organizations to exercise the powers of a regional transportation authority — a step toward creation of a Front Range Passenger Rail Authority. Full text of the bill is […]

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Diesel disruptor

Four high-nose diesel locomotive with freight train in mountains

Diesel disruptor Four U25B demonstrators climb upgrade on the Northern Pacific near Blossburg, Mont., in 1961. The U25B brought GE into the heavy diesel market, and within a few years the company had eclipsed Alco for the No. 2 spot among locomotive builders. General Electric photo […]

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Rocky Mountain rail adventure set for August

A man in a railroad uniform signals a locomotive crew with the thumbs up sign.

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Trains and Special Interest Tours are still welcoming guests for an epic Rocky Mountain rail adventure this August and September. Guests on this Colorado and New Mexico rail tour will help the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad celebrate its 50th anniversary of operations with a meal aboard a narrow gauge dining car […]

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Digest: Bill to create Colorado passenger rail district advances

Colorado state flag

Legislation to create Front Range Passenger Rail District passes Colorado House The effort to create a special district to help fund proposed passenger rail service along Colorado’s Front Range neared success on Thursday as the state’s House of Representatives passed the bill on Thursday. Colorado Public Radio reports the state Senate has already approved its […]

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Big Skies & Iron Rails, Spring, Episode 3

American’s Western frontier is where Tom Danneman goes to renew and recharge his spirit every springtime. Settle back and allow his captivating video explorations along meandering rail lines, rolling rivers, and blossoming mountain valley meadows to help you emerge from your own hibernation. Big Skies & Iron Rails. Season 1, Episode 3, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]

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Big Skies & Iron Rails, Spring, Episode 3

American’s Western frontier is where Tom Danneman goes to renew and recharge his spirit every springtime. Settle back and allow his captivating video explorations along meandering rail lines, rolling rivers, and blossoming mountain valley meadows to help you emerge from your own hibernation. Big Skies & Iron Rails. Season 1, Episode 3, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]

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Two railfan friends take a great F-unit safari

Five road-switcher and one streamlined diesel locomotives on freight train

  By the mid-1960s, the appearance of F units on freights along Union Pacific’s main line through southern Wyoming was rare to nonexistent at best. All of the road’s F3s and F7s had been traded to EMD by the end of 1964 for replacement units in the form of GP30s, GP35s, and DD35s. However, there […]

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Digest: UP train derails in New Mexico

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

UP train derails near Lordsburg, N.M., disrupting Sunset Limited No injuries were reported when about 50 cars of a Union Pacific intermodal train derailed Monday afternoon near Lordsburg, N.M. The Grant County Beat website reports the accident occurred about 3:30 p.m. local time. Sunset Limited service in both directions was disrupted, with trains holding in […]

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Doug Harrop’s Utah

Sun highlight diesel locomotive exhaust of train in curve

Doug Harrop retired from Union Pacific in 2003. He hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1967 in Arizona. He left the management ranks a decade later to return to Utah to enter engine service out of Ogden. Known for his photographic coverage of Utah, Harrop’s enthusiasm for railroads took him across the continent. He […]

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