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Yes it is, Brian. In fact, intermodal passed coal in 2013 as railroads’ biggest revenue source. In 2014, U.S. railroads tacked more than a half million intermodal loads onto their 2013 totals, notching a record 13.5 million shipments. Intermodal is likely to become even more significant in coming years as the industry spends […]
Sure thing, Angela. Since the Baltimore & Ohio began hauling flour from Ellicott’s Mills to Baltimore in 1830 — grain, flour, and seeds have been an important part of railroading. Grain moved in boxcars for decades, but in the early 1960s, Southern Railway’s new, 100-ton — Big John — covered hopper revolutionized grain […]
For an industry which hauls the heaviest, densest loads overland, no other material has proven itself more useful to railroads than that combination of iron, carbon, and trace minerals. For more than 150 years, U.S. steelmakers have needed railroads to efficiently haul their heavy iron ore, taconite pellets, and coal, and also to transport […]
Join Trains editors on a brief tour of the historic Case Scenic Railroad in Cass, West Virginia. See video of restored and operating Heisler and Climax logging locomotives in dense foliage in the Appalachian Mountains. […]
But this new source of revenue has a troubling side. Rapid growth strains the capacity of railroads to move crude oil. And, safety has become an even bigger issue following the tragic derailment of a crude oil train in Quebec in July 2013 that killed 47 people and leveled a town. Other spectacular […]
Thanks, Jim. Canadian National is the No. 1 lumber-hauling railroad in the U.S. It takes particleboard out of British Columbia and moves it across the continent to where its needed. If you see new homes or condos or apartments being built, chances are that the wood for them came by rail. CN moves about […]
Friday morning rail news: Biden coronavirus plan includes $20 billion for transit Some $20 billion in “relief for the hardest hit public transit agencies” is part of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan released by President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday, a wide-ranging legislative package including $1,400 per-person payments to most households, a national COVID-19 vaccination […]
NEWARK, N.J. — The first of 25 new ALP-45A locomotives for NJ Transit has arrived at Port Newark, N.J. The Tier IV-compliant locomotives, built by Bombardier in Germany, was offloaded at the port’s Berth 17. The new engines will replace some of NJ Transit’s older locomotives, as well as some PL42s, according to the NJ […]
More Friday rail news: MARC to suspend operations Jan. 17-20 because of inauguration security Maryland’s MARC Train commuter rail service will suspend operations on all three of its routes — the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines — beginning Sunday, Jan. 17, in response to expanded security efforts associated with the upcoming Presidential inauguration, the Maryland […]
Friday morning Canadian rail news: Metrolinx announces service cuts for GO Transit, UP Express Toronto-area transit agency Metrolinx will make changes to GO Transit and UP Express schedules effective Jan. 23 as Ontario begins a state of emergency and stay-at-home order because of increasing COVID-19 cases. The website Daily Hive reports buses will replace trains […]
This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. BNSF Needles Subdivision stretches from the Arizona/California state line at Needles west to Barstow, California across almost 170 miles of desert that tests man and machine every day in the struggle to keep the railroad moving. For the majority of its […]
This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. Canadian Pacific’s transcontinental mainline across Canada traverses a wide range of terrain, from the Rocky mountains in the west, across the plains in its midsection to the Canadian Shield in the east. One of the most beautiful and inaccessible locations is […]
