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Celebrating Amtrak’s 50th +1! No force of nature or pandemic fears could keep Trains.com Executive Producer Kent Johnson from pressing ahead with his Amtrak victory lap across America in the summer of 2021. There’s no better way to reveal the highlights and highjinks of present-day rail travel, than to document the ride along routes of […]
The St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad was a survivor and an innovator. It weathered some very rough times, including at least five bankruptcies. It started running unit coal trains from Fort Smith, Ark., the city across the Arkansas River from my hometown of Van Buren, in the 1930s. It helped move Texas and Oklahoma oil east […]
MONTICELLO, Ill. — The Monticello Railway Museum kicked off its opening weekend of 2022 operations using former Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad RS1325 No. 31 as power for its passenger train. The museum acquired the RS1325, one of only two of the model built by Electro-Motive Division, in late 2020. New this year was the […]
Conrail locomotives: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, heritage, and style of Conrail all through April 2022. Enjoy this photo gallery of Conrail locomotives selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail was formed in 1976 with the consolidation of several bankrupt Northeastern railroads: Penn Central, Central of New Jersey, […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 on a case involving an injury suffered by a Union Pacific employee in a decision announced Thursday, meaning a lower court ruling stands that absolves the railroad in the case. The case involved UP engineer Bradley LeDure, who was injured when slipping on oil on the walkway […]
Diesel locomotive single order units: In the modern era, locomotive orders are typically measured in the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of units. But orders early in the dieselization of North American railroad would often come in much smaller quantities, down to a single unit. It was commonplace decades ago when customers were more plentiful […]
OMAHA, Neb. and MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Union Pacific Railroad and the non-profit Railroading Heritage of Midwest America today announced an agreement that will see Challenger No. 3985, 2-10-2 No. 5511, DDA40X No. 6936, and other equipment from UP’s Heritage Fleet donated to RRHMA, which plans to restore both steam locomotives to operating condition. Also being […]
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — CSX Transportation has repainted a General Electric C30-7 locomotive into the “Family Lines” paint scheme of predecessor Louisville & Nashville, completing a cosmetic restoration of the locomotive for the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp., which will display the diesel at its facility in Ravenna, Ky., a former CSX rail yard. “CSX has been […]
Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-0 1138 watches as four brand-new GP9s bring an eastbound freight into Salida, Colo., on the Tennessee Pass line in December 1955. Trains for the narrow-gauge Monarch Branch operated out of this yard, hence the dual-gauge track. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
FILLMORE, Calif. — Sierra Northern Railway’s Ventura Division began another step to introduce itself to local communities by operating a photo freight from Fillmore to Santa Paula and return. The train, powered by EMD F7A 100, consisted of a variety of freight cars with a heavyweight coach bringing up the rear. The railroad is aggressively […]
In the fall of 2021, Trains.com staff rode Amtrak train no. 5, California Zephyr from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Denver, Colorado, with the expressed intent of capturing seasonal operations of Rocky Mountaineer’s Colorado-Utah excursion. While best known for day treks into the Canadian Rockies, this new Rocky Mountaineer route offers patrons a similar mountain canyon experience […]
1950s EMD customer relations: At the height of dieselization circa 1950, the volume of orders pouring into Electro-Motive Division was sufficient to require three production locations: La Grange, by far the largest; Plant 2, a former Pullman Co. facility in South Chicago; and Plant 3, the ex-Cleveland Engine Corp. facility in Cleveland, Ohio. However, by […]
