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For more than thirty years, photographer Steve Schmollinger prowled some of the most iconic locations in Western railroading, hoisting his telephoto lenses to out-of-way vantage points and recording dramatic images that formed the backbone of several significant large-format photography books. Schmollinger died Dec. 24 at a hospital near his home in Dallas, Texas. He was […]
By: Steve Sweeney One of Trains’ sources of information on positive train control and signaling from 2016 to present has been materials from a University of Wisconsin-Madison Engineering Professional Development signaling basics course taught in Philadelphia. Trains published an article on the course in June, but as the final deadline for a nationwide PTC rollout […]
By: Steve Sweeney One of Trains’ sources of information on positive train control and signaling from 2016 to present has been materials from a University of Wisconsin-Madison Engineering Professional Development signaling basics course taught in Philadelphia. Trains published an article on the course in June, but as the final deadline for a nationwide PTC rollout […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak’s Moynihan Train Hall, the facility connected to and across 8th Avenue from New York Penn Station, will be completed Dec. 31 and open Jan. 1. The opening of the facility in the historic James A. Farley Post Office Building will conclude a $1.6 billion project that has taken more than three […]
Montana Rail Link has unveiled its latest special locomotive, SD70ACE No. 4404, which pays tribute to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Montana Television Network reports the locomotive, wrapped with 1,600 square feet of graphics by Alphagraphics of Missoula, Mont., at the MRL shops, was unveiled in Missoula on Dec. 23, with the railroad’s […]
Thursday afternoon rail news: UP train derails near Dixon, Ill. Thirty-nine cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near Dixon, Ill., on Thursday morning. WIFR-TV reports UP initially informed the Lee County, Ill., Sheriff’s Office of the derailment at 1:49 a.m., and just before 5 a.m., updated its initial report to say diesel fuel, nut […]
More Thursday morning rail news: Bombardier to provide maintenance for Toronto’s Finch West light rail Bombardier has signed a 30-year contract to maintain Toronto’s Finch West Light Rail Transit project. Under the contract, Bombardier will maintain the light rail vehicles, track, and catenary for the system being built by a public-private partnership of transit agency […]
Thursday morning rail news: Environmental assessment finds no significant damage from BNSF derailment, fire An initial assessment of the site of Tuesday’s derailment and fire of a BNSF oil train in Custer, Wash., found no significant environmental damage, according to a Washington state official. The Bellingham Herald reports five cars caught fire after the seven-car […]
Continuing the Trains News Wire countdown of 2020’s top stories: No. 4: The PTC deadline It was a long, expensive process, but the railroad industry has met the huge technological challenge of positive train control. When NJ Transit announced on Dec. 18 that its PTC system had been certified, it meant the last railroad considered […]
WASHINGTON — Carload traffic took a dip but intermodal strength kept overall rail volume above 2019 levels in the lastest release of weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending Dec. 19, U.S. Class I railroads moved 230,838 carloads, down 5.8% against the same week a year earlier, while intermodal volume […]
Still more Wednesday morning rail news: Honolulu gets extension for federal funds withheld because of rail system issues Honolulu has secured a year-long extension for $250 million in federal funding for its troubled light rail system, but must make enough progress in that year to earn the release of that money from the Federal Transit […]
More Wednesday evening rail news: BNSF train derails after hitting truck A BNSF train derailed near Mabton, Wash., after hitting a truck carrying farm equipment. KING-TV reports three locomotives and seven cars derailed in the accident at State Route 22 and Phillips Road on Wednesday morning. Some diesel fuel was spilled from two of the […]
