CHICAGO — Metra has added to its fleet of specially painted locomotives with an F40PH-3 honoring veterans. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the unit, introduced last week at a luncheon to honor veterans who work at the commuter rail operator, will enter service on the Rock Island District, moving to the BNSF and Milwaukee District lines […]
Louisville & Nashville train 92 between Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis pulls into the old depot at Ashley, Ill., in September 1957. An FP7 and a Geep head the all-heavyweight consist of several head-end cars and two coaches. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
One of the Milwaukee Road’s dashing F7 4-6-4s accelerates the Hiawatha out of Chicago at the start of the streamliner’s run to Minneapolis on a winter day in 1939. Alfred W. Johnson photo […]
CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority has returned to pre-pandemic levels of rail service, with a 20% increase in weekly train trips, the agency said on Monday, Nov. 4. The change means more than 1,200 additional rail trips per week compared to the spring 2024 schedule, according to the CTA, and covers all eight rail […]
In September 1954 at New Douglas, Ill., on the Nickel Plate Road’s old Clover Leaf line to St. Louis, 2-8-4 703 on westbound freight 49 holds the siding as the caboose of eastbound 98 speeds past on the main. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
LIMA, Ohio — Rail and logistics firm OmniTRAX has been selected to provide switching for Procter & Gamble’s laundry-products factory in Lima, the third P&G manufacturing served by the OmniTRAX network. The new agreement became effective Nov. 1. OmniTRAX affiliate OmniTRAX Lima Industrial will switch daily inbound cars to the plans and return empty cars […]
CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority train operator involved in last year’s collision between a Yellow Line train and snow-removal equipment likely faces firing, the CTA says, but it has been unable to act because the individual remains off work because of injuries suffered in the incident. The worker was found to have a blood-alcohol […]
CHICAGO — Operation Lifesaver’s “See Tracks-Think Train!” nationwide information blitz during the last week of September was the latest attempt to heighten public awareness of inherent dangers around railroad property. A recent symposium sponsored by the Chicago-area DuPage Railroad Safety Council took that initiative a step further, featuring presenters who discussed the scope of recent […]
Workers at Chicago Union Station load mail aboard Burlington Route train 29 — the Fast Mail — prior to its 9 p.m. departure for Omaha in early 1964. John Gruber photo […]
Few, if any railroads, duplicated what the Wabash Railroad did in 1930 and ’31 when it ordered 50 big locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Co., split half and half between the tried-and-true 4-8-2 wheel Mountain type and the still relatively new 4-8-4 Northern. It was a remarkable decision, given the slight differences between the […]
The Illinois Terminal Railroad might be one of the most misunderstood Class 1 railroads of the 20th century. If you think “the I.T.,” as most called it, was just a creaky electric interurban that gave up on passengers and got some diesels to haul freight to a few customers, think again. Illinois Terminal was […]
HARTFORD, Wis. — Soo Line 2-8-2 No. 1003 will make its annual appearance for the Hartford Santa Train on Saturday, Nov. 9. The 1913 Alco, operated by the non-profit Steam Locomotive Heritage Association, is a fixture at the Hartford event, held in conjunction with the community’s annual Christmas Parade. The Santa Train will be at […]
