Southbound Amtrak San Joaquin train 710, operating former New Jersey Transit Comet equipment on BNSF tracks, passes under the American Avenue overpass south of Fresno, where California High Speed Rail construction segment CP-2 begins. The high speed rail right-of-way west of those tracks has been cleared in the foreground. Bob Johnston Behind the trees on […]
An inbound Metrolink Ventura County Line train approaches the Corbin Avenue grade crossing in Northridge, Calif., on Jan. 10, 2020. Metrolink will end its operating contract with Amtrak, according to an Amtrak memo. TRAINS: David Lassen LOS ANGELES — Commuter railroad Metrolink will not renew its operating contract with Amtrak, Amtrak executive Stephen Gardner has […]
CORONADO, Calif. — A few final notes from last week’s National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Conference at the Hotel Del Coronado: NS communications restructuring: One unique aspect of Norfolk Southern’s “reimagining,” — its label for Precision Scheduled Railroading-style changes — is that it has spun off its communication and signals group, historically part of its engineering […]
Amtrak Pacific Surfliner No. 785 heads north through Del Mar, Calif., just before sunset on Jan. 4, 2020. The San Diego Association of Governments is putting together a project to stabilize the slide-prone bluffs in Del Mar, but eventually wants to relocate the rail line inland. TRAINS: David Lassen CORONADO, Calif. — Transit agencies from San […]
A Tri-Rail train parallels Interstate 95 as it heads south from West Palm Beach toward Miami. The commuter railroad set a ridership record in 2019. TRAINS: David Lassen MIAMI — The Miami-area Tri-Rail commuter service set a ridership record in 2019, carrying 4,495,039 passenger, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority announced last week. The figure […]
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 […]
HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 diesel locomotive. Boston & Maine (as-delivered scheme in two road numbers, all blue and black repaint in one number), Canadian Pacific (non-standard simplified repaint in one number, with gold beaver herald and red-and-white frame stripe in two numbers), Norfolk Southern (black and white, three numbers), Southern Pacific (scarlet and […]
No. 1216 leads an Escanaba & Lake Superior freight east of Channing, Mich., on Oct. 25, 1982. Steve Glischinski WELLS, Mich. – The owner of the only two surviving Baldwin RF-16 “Sharknose” diesel locomotives says they will eventually go to a museum. Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad owner and President John Larkin, in an exclusive […]
BNSF locomotives remain in the Kootenai River following a Jan. 1 derailment. Idaho State Police BONNERS FERRY, Idaho – BNSF Railway is going fishing for locomotives. More than a week after a derailment along Idaho’s Kootenai River closed BNSF Railway’s main line to the Pacific Northwest for nearly three days, two locomotives are still in […]
CHICAGO – Two British heritage railways connected to the embattled Iowa Pacific have been put up for sale. The Weardale Railway and Dartmoor Railway, as well as an engineering and equipment leasing business, were all recently listed. The properties are being sold for between $610,000 and $854,000. The railroads are owned by British American Railway […]
Ron Batory, Federal Railroad Administration administrator TRAINS: David Lassen CORONADO, Calif. — Ron Batory, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, was one of the final-day speakers at the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association Conference that concluded Wednesday. At the beginning of his talk, he said wanted to leave time for questions from the audience. […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in December that a railroad can countersue allegedly negligent employees who have already sued the railroad for injuries they received in an accident they may have caused. The court ruled that counterclaims filed by a railroad against its allegedly negligent employees are not prohibited by the Federal […]
