Hiawatha logo stolen from Milwaukee Road observation car

Metallic logo of person with oval outline

ST. PAUL, MINN. — A Hiawatha “Running Indian” logo from famed Milwaukee Road Skytop lounge observation car Cedar Rapids has been stolen, car owner Friends of the 261 reported. The car was recently used on the Autumn Colors Express excursion trains in West Virginia and had been returned to its home base in St. Paul […]

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Denver-area light rail line remains shut down at site of September derailment

Night view of RTD derailment

AURORA, Colo. — More than a month after a derailment disrupted service on the Regional Transportation District’s light rail R line in Aurora, service has not been restored through the accident site. And, as of Sunday, a bus bridge around the site has been discontinued, ending the ability to use the route for through service […]

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Classic railroad stations to be honored with postage stamps

Postage-stamp art of train station

WASHINGTON — Five classic railroad stations will be featured on a series of postage stamps issued in 2023 by the U.S. Postal Service. Stations included in the series are the Art Deco landmark Cincinnati Union Terminal, which opened in 1933; the Victorian structure at Point of Rocks, Md., completed in 1876; Richmond, Va., Main Street […]

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Companies selected for preliminary work on Glassboro-Camden light rail

Image of light-rail train arriving at station

CAMDEN, N.J. — South Jersey Transit Partners, a joint venture of infrastructure consulting firm AECOM and architectural and enginerering company STV Inc., will handle preliminary engineering and design and project management for the Glassboro-Camden Line light rail project. The 18-mile, 14-station project is being managed by the Delaware River Port Authority with NJ Transit and […]

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Swiss narrow gauge railway sets record for world’s longest passenger train

Very long red passenger train winding through mountains

After months of preparations, Swiss meter gauge rail company Rhätische Bahn/Rhaetian Railway (RhB) set a new world record for the longest passenger train Saturday, Oct. 29, with a 100-car special train, formed of 25 identical electric multiple-unit trainsets. The train ran on the world-famous UNESCO World Heritage ‘Albula/Bernina’ route from Preda to Bergün via its […]

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Virginian & Ohio photo tribute

Photo of a train passing over a bridge with rocky outcroppings above and below

Virginian & Ohio photo tribute. W. Allen McClelland, builder of the freelanced HO scale Virginian & Ohio, passed away on October 28, 2022. You can read his obituary here. In this photo gallery, we’ll take a look at images from both versions of the V&O. The photos are from Andy Sperandeo’s article “Allen McClelland’s trendsetting […]

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Jury awards $28.6 million to man who lost legs when hit by Amtrak train

Amtrak logo.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A jury on Friday awarded $28.6 million to a man who lost his legs when hit by an Amtrak train while laying on railroad tracks in Marysville, Calif, in 2016, finding varying degrees of negligence by Amtrak, a hospital, and a doctor who released him before the accident, as well as the […]

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Man killed in Texas railcar accident

Logo of ExxonMobil

BEAUMONT, Texas — A 66-year-old Beaumont man has died in what is being described as “a railcar accident” at an ExxonMobil plant in Beaumont on Friday. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said it has ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death for Richard Garza, a contractor at the plant. No other information […]

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Massachusetts, Amtrak make ‘Valley Flyer’ service permanent

Cab car leads short passenger train past station

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Valley Flyer service between New Haven, Conn., and Greenfield, Mass., will be made permanent, Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Amtrak officials announced Friday. The extension of New Haven-Springfield service to Greenfield was launched as a two-year pilot program on Aug. 30, 2019 [see “‘Valley Flyer’ shuttles … to being Aug. 30,” Trains […]

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More Gulf Coast STB hearings set as mediation efforts fail (updated)

People on station platform to welcome special Amtrak train

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has scheduled two more days of hearings next month on Amtrak’s efforts to launch Gulf Coast passenger service after the passenger carrier, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile, Ala., failed to reach an agreement through board-sponsored mediation. The evidentiary hearings will be Nov. 17-18, beginning at […]

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