An unusual, short, BNSF Railway train heads south on the Joint Line between Denver and Pueblo, Colo. Trains Staff A version of this article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of Trains. 1 NORTH PLATTE, NEB. The world’s largest yard merits a spike-shaped observation tower. It covers more than 2,800 acres of land. 2 […]
KNAPP, Wis. — Union Pacific says a broken rail was the apparent cause of Sunday’s derailment in western Wisconsin. Thirty-five cars of a 192-car train derailed about 4 p.m., closing parallel U.S. Route 12 [see “Union Pacific train derails in western Wisconsin,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 12, 2020]. The finding is preliminary and a detailed […]
TRAINS: David Lassen LOMBARD, Ill. — Fewer unit trains are helping bring better performance for Union Pacific. That was one of several points emphasized by UP President and CEO Lance Fritz on Wednesday morning as he addressed the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers on the railroad’s efforts to improve its customers’ experience. The move away […]
Union Pacific will close the hump at Davidson Yard in Fort Worth, shown in November 2008, according to a company memo. Steve Schmollinger OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific plans to idle the hump at Davidson Yard in Fort Worth, Texas, this month, the fifth such move since the railroad adopted a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating […]
KNAPP, Wis. – A Union Pacific freight train derailed near Knapp on Sunday, blocking UP’s former Chicago & North Western Milwaukee-St. Paul main line. The eastbound train, the MNPAL (North Platte, Neb., to Altoona, Wis.) derailed about 35 cars around 4 p.m. at U.S. Highway 12 and 190th Street near the Village of Knapp. The […]
Crews at work re-building a washed out Norfolk Southern bridge near Kansas City, Mo. Norfolk Southern CORONADO, Calif. — Generally, presentations by Class I railroads at the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association Conference focus on projects the assembled rail contractors can hope to bid on in the year ahead. But after a year of […]
Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific shut down Armourdale Yard in Kansas City, Kan., last week, shifting its switching work to the adjacent 18th Street Yard. The move, which union officials say affected 20 to 100 jobs, is UP’s latest in the Kansas City area. In October UP closed Neff Yard, its hump yard […]
For Trains editors, the story of 2019 is — and has to be — the return of a Big Boy. Yes, we mean Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 — a speedy 700-tons of steel and steam when fully fueled and ready to go. Despite being out of service since the time Dwight Eisenhower was President, […]
CHICAGO — Union Pacific’s desire to get out of the business of operating Metra commuter trains has landed in federal court. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that UP filed suit earlier this week. The exact nature of the dispute is unknown, since the filing is sealed at UP’s request, and neither side provided details in response […]
SPOKANE, Wash. — A 39-year-old man was arrested in Spokane Valley this week after allegedly boarding a Union Pacific locomotive, assaulting the engineer and apparently trying to take control of the train. According to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a Home Depot on Wednesday night after receiving a report of a disorderly […]
UP 4014 on display in West Chicago in July. Trains: Jim Wrinn OMAHA, Neb. — How many people saw Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 run in 2019? That is a question whose answer we’ll never know with full certainty, but estimates are coming in. UP says it counted 115,000 visitors who went through its […]
An eastbound Union Pacific auto rack train passes through Lombard, Ill., on Nov. 16, 2019. UP announced it has completed positive train control implementation. TRAINS: David Lassen OMAHA — Union Pacific says it has completed positive train control implementation by activating the final segment of track requiring the safety system. More than 17,000 miles of […]
