Jim McLeod, Canadian National’s chief engineer, structures, design & construction, speaks at the NRC conference in Los Angeles on Friday. TRAINS: David Lassen LOS ANGELES — When it comes to capital spending, Canadian National has left behind “steady as we go” and is moving into a cycle of “the gangbuster variety.” That’s the assessment of […]
Metra F40PH Nos. 102 and 107 appear at Elmwood Park, Ill. Metra officials look to replace or re-manufacture much of the railroad’s aging motive power fleet. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Metra, Chicago’s commuter rail agency, plans to order 12 new or 15 re-manufactured locomotives in 2018, and may order dozens more if additional funding […]
A late December crash removed two of Boston’s remaining PCC cars from service. Justin Franz BOSTON — A collision between two Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority streetcars last week means the agency is down to just five operating PCCs on the Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line. The two PCCs that were damaged in the collision near the […]
This overall view shows cars off both sides of the tracks at the Interstate 5 bridge near DuPont, Wash. Two photos, Steve Carter SEATTLE – Several people are dead after a southbound Amtrak Cascades train derailed on an overpass above Interstate 5 near Olympia. Although several motorists were injured when the train fell off the […]
Amtrak No. 454 rolls a ‘Pacific Surfliner’ by the Thomas Fire at Emma Wood State Beach near Ventura before service was suspended north of Oxnard on Dec. 7. Alex Gillman LOS ANGELES – Wildfires in Southern California continue to disrupt Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service between Oxnard and San Luis Obispo on the Union Pacific Coast […]
Metra CHICAGO – Metra has painted a MotivePower MP36PH into the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad’s red and yellow livery in honor of CEO and Executive Director Don Orseno who is retiring this month. Orseno is retiring after 44 years in railroading and first worked for the Rock Island in the 1970s. Locomotive No. […]
NASHVILLE — The Music City has the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Old Opry, great food and impressive 21st century architecture. Many people move to this cultural metropolis every week, which contributes to a regional population of almost 2 million. While not currently served by Amtrak (The Floridian last stopped there in 1979), […]
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Technical difficulties brought Metrolink’s plans to unveil a new Tier 4 locomotive to a halt. On Nov. 18, crowds and officials gathered at Metrolink’s Southern California Newhall Station in anticipation of seeing the first locomotive in a $280 million-order from builder Progress Rail. By 5 p.m., some 70 minutes after the […]
GM’s 1947 Train of Tomorrow consisted of an E7 diesel and four cars, all of which had domes. This is the dome on chair car Star Dust. General Motors photo […]
Baltimore & Ohio’s Detroit-bound Cincinnatian, just pulling out of Deshler, Ohio, is missing its usual streamlined Pacific on this July 1956 day, but 4-6-2 5316 is a worthy substitute. Don Wood photo […]
A Talgo car body on a flatbed truck headed from Seattle to Milwaukee, Wis., for repairs. J. Johnson The Talgo trainset stayed mostly upright and did not jackknife when train 502 derailed on July 2, 2017, thanks to the semi-permanent couplings and steering linkage, shown here between the first and second units behind the locomotive. […]
Amtrak ACS64 No. 627 shortly after it crashed into a maintenance-of-way backhoe that was fouling a track on the Northeast Corridor near Chester, Pa., in April 2016. National Transportation Safety Board WASHINGTON — If Amtrak had deployed a familiar device that trips “stop” signals, it could have avoided an accident at Chester, Pa., on April […]
