Union Pacific Challengers as they appeared in service

Challenger locomotive hauling a freight train on the plains.

Union Pacific Challengers in service were one of the great sights of American railroading in the 1940s and 1950s, when they were near the pinnacle of super-powered steam. Please enjoy this digitized 8mm video originally take by Dick Wallin in 1959 east of Cheyenne, Wyo. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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Union Pacific reopens Dry Canyon Bridge (updated)

Train crossing bridge next to construction equipment

WEED, Calif. — Union Pacific has reopened the Dry Canyon Bridge a month ahead of its original estimate, allowing the railroad to resume operations on its I-5 Corridor line between California and the Pacific Northwest. The railroad initially estimated the bridge would not be completed until Sept. 1, but last week said it could be […]

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‘California Zephyr’ route closed by Colorado mudslides

Man unloads luggage from Superliner car

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Massive mudslides have washed out Union Pacific’s former Denver & Rio Grande Western route through Glenwood Canyon, east of Glenwood Springs, while also blocking part of adjacent Interstate 70. The slides not only have disrupted Amtrak’s California Zephyrs, which normally pass in the area between crew change points in Denver and […]

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News photo: UP fire train at Keddie Wye

Men spraying water off train on bridge under smoky skies

Union Pacific has posted photos to its Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts showing a firefighting train at work on the bridge at the famous Keddie Wye on its ex-Western Pacific Feather River Canyon route, with the message: “Thanks to our crews on our fire trains, working tirelessly to help control fires in northern […]

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Union Pacific plans to end container embargo after one week

LOS ANGELES — Union Pacific will resume international container shipments to Chicago from the West Coast at the end of its current seven-day suspension of such service, CEO Lance Fritz told Reuters on Thursday. “We’re starting to see containers clear, so I anticipate in the seven-day period … we should get back down to a […]

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M-10001

M-10001 In the late 1930s, the Union Pacific’s streamliner M-10001 is serviced between runs in Chicago; although dirty, the streamliner stands out from older steel and wood cars in the yard. Alexander Maxwell photo […]

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