BURLINGTON, Vt. — Vermont Rail System has reached an agreement to purchase assets and operating rights of the New Hampshire Central Railroad to expand its operations in northern New Hampshire, the companies announced Tuesday. “VRS has a 60-year tradition of helping local businesses with efficient and reliable freight service,” Selden Houghton, Vermont Rail System president, […]
SYDNEY, Australia — Well, that’s a horse of a different color. Passengers at a Sydney commuter train station were startled last Friday night to discover they suddenly were sharing the platform with an escaped horse from a nearby stable, which — showing good horse sense — properly remained behind the yellow safety line as a […]
WASHINGTON — Nighttime visibility made it impossible for the train engineer to prevent or mitigate the accident in which a Norfolk Southern conductor trainee was struck and killed by protruding metal from a gondola car on an adjacent track in a incident in Bessemer, Ala., the National Transportation Safety Board said in the final report […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain’s entire 51-mile electrification corridor between San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., has been successfully energized and tested for the first time, the commuter rail agency has announced. The milestone in the project by Caltrain, power company Pacific Gas & Electric and contractor Balfour Beatty enables full-speed testing of the electric trainsets […]
WASHINGTON — Alvin Brown and J. Todd Inman have joined the National Transportation Safety Board, filling two vacancies and restoring the board to its full five members. Both members were sworn in on Monday. Brown’s term runs through 2026 and Inman’s concludes in 2027. Brown, mayor of Jacksonville, Fla., from 2021 to 2015, was previously […]
CHICAGO — Quentin Schulte has been named president of Northern Lines Railway, Anacostia Rail Holdings has announced. Schulte has previously been the general manager of the 25-mile railroad that operates BNSF Railway trackage in the St. Cloud, Minn., area, handling more than 10,000 carloads annually. He joined the short line after 15 years with BNSF […]
MIAMI — Florida’s railroad industry is applauding one provision of a wide-ranging transportation bill signed last week by Gov. Ron DeSantis that increases penalties for failure to yield or provide sufficient clearance at a grade crossing. The updated provisions in HB 1301 set penalties of a fine of $500, 25 hours of community service, and […]
From short lines to Class I railroads, you’ll likely come across a mainline steam excursion with one or more tenders/tank cars coupled right behind the locomotive’s main tender. Water is the primary commodity, all for the steam locomotive when out on the road. The use of an auxiliary water car, sometimes referred to as a […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern, which remains under pressure from an activist investor, today took the unusual step of releasing preliminary first quarter financial results, which included a $600 million proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit related to the East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials wreck. Including the impact of the settlement, the railroad’s operating income […]
DENVER — Colorado legislation limiting train lengths and requiring wayside detectors, among other provisions, has passed the state’s House of Representatives and been introduced in the Senate. HB24-1030 is sponsored in the House by state Rep. Javier Mabrey (D-Denver) and in the Senate by Sens. Lisa Cutter (D-Lakewood) and Tony Exum (D-Colorado Springs.). As passed […]
Nobody can say the Menards doesn’t push the envelope in their line of O gauge structures. From power plants, to hotels, and office buildings, the company doesn’t just take an old design and slap new signage on the exterior. The Vehicle Showroom (275-9281) counts as a spectacular design and and an innovative way to construct […]
PHILADELPHIA — Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and other officials on Monday marked the opening of the rebuilt and renamed Drexel Station at 30th Street, the transit up for transit and bus lines adjacent to the station served by Amtrak and SEPTA Regional Rail. The new station name reflects a $3.1 million endowment from Drexel University, […]
