Amtrak E44 electric locomotives are eight roster oddities that likely never turned a wheel in revenue service for the passenger carrier. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired 66 of the 5,000-hp, six-axle E44 electric locomotives from General Electric, Nos. 4400-4465. Built at Erie, Pa., between 1960 and 1963 the motors were 69-feet, 6-inches long and […]
CHICAGO — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw says the railroad remains steadfast in its commitment to taking a long-term view and a strategy that prioritizes service and growth. NS will continue to be a customer-centric, operations-driven railroad that realizes it makes and sells just one product: service. “Our customers have options. They’re really smart. And […]
BOSTON — Major improvement in Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail operations will take a year or more, MBTA board chair Thomas Glynn said in an online forum Thursday. “I think people will see a different T a year from now,” Glynn said, according to a Boston Herald report, “but I don’t know if they’ll see […]
When the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Great Northern; Northern Pacific; and Spokane, Portland & Seattle merged to create the Burlington Northern on March 2, 1970, the new railroad had an interesting fleet of cabooses. While there were plenty of cars built by commercial builders, mainly International Car Co., BN’s fleet was also filled with cabooses […]
These eight forgotten Amtrak trains are largely unremembered by railfans today. The shortest duration lasted just short of 14 months. Black Hawk The Black Hawk began service on the Illinois Central Iowa Division main line between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, on Feb. 14, 1974. It operated at first with Budd Rail Diesel Cars […]
NEW YORK — Excessive work hours pose a high safety risk for many Long Island Rail Road workers, the Office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector General says in a report issued Thursday. The audit, addressing hours for workers not covered by Federal Railroad Administration hours-of-service regulations, found that engineering department employees, particularly track workers, […]
Second of two parts Part 1 of this report, available here, examined how lack of capacity has adversely impacted Amtrak’s long-distance trains compared with the mobility the company has been able to provide in the Northeast Corridor. Part 2 considers possible solutions. Foreseeable shortfall The shortage of active bilevels was evident when deployment plans for […]
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that that the government had extended a concession of rail operator Grupo Mexico’s Ferrosur unit for 8 years to compensate the company for the government’s seizure last month of a section of railway operated by Grupo Mexico. BNAmericas reports the extension covers the Medias […]
REDBANK, Queensland — Australia’s largest freight rail company, Aurizon, has contracted with Progress Rail to build what the companies are calling the first zero-emission-capable freight locomotive to be constructed in Australia, a battery-electric unit. Progress Rail will retrofit one of Aurizon’s existing 4000-class diesel locomotives, Clyde Engineering units built by Walkers, at the Progress Rail […]
WASHINGTON — The 164th car of a Norfolk Southern train triggered a critical hot box detector alert before a May wreck in Pennsylvania, but the train continued on its journey for 15.34 miles before derailing because neither the crew nor the railroad’s network operations center received the warning that would have required the train to […]
Meet Bill Barnwell In a paragraph, how did you get started in the hobby? I got started in trains at the age of six with a Lionel 027 steam freight set and an oval of track under the Christmas tree. I still remember the smell of electric ozone in the air, laying on the rug at […]
Soo Line diesel locomotives came from four builders and sported two distinctive paint schemes. The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie had long been known by its nickname, the Soo Line. The railroad adopted that name officially in 1961 when it merged the Wisconsin Central and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, both […]
