AYER, Mass. — Norfolk Southern marked a milestone on Tuesday morning when its first New England double-stack train arrived in Ayer, Mass., behind its Conrail and Delaware & Hudson heritage units. With NS engineer Matt Bushart at the throttle and conductor Adam Feeley in the left-hand seat, Chicago-Ayer intermodal train 264 made its inaugural run […]
Athearn HO Johnstown America BethGon Coalporter Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Single car, $49.99; five-pack, $239.99 Era: 2006+ to 2014+ (varies based on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Athearn HO Johnstown America BethGon Coalporter features: 36” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry scale lower shelf couplers […]
WILLARD, Ohio — CSX Transportation has added merchandise capacity at its Willard, Ohio, rail yard after phased improvements helped convert the idled hump yard to a flat switching facility. Railroad officials say the former Baltimore & Ohio terminal can now handle 600 railcars per day, up from 300 two years ago. CSX shut down the […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio — STG Logistics, the nation’s fourth-largest asset-based intermodal marketing company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New Jersey federal court today (Monday, Jan. 12). The pre-negotiated plan wipes out 91% of the company’s nearly $1 billion debt load and gives it $150 million in new capital to support core business operations […]
WASHINGTON — The rail industry’s largest union is raising concerns about CSX’s plans to eliminate Operation RedBlock, a decades-old, union-run program for substance abuse prevention and worker support. The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division calls Operation RedBlock, founded in 1984, “the gold standard” for such programs in the rail […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX has laid off 166 management employees, about 5% of the non-union workforce, in cuts announced to employees today (Jan. 7). Other cost-cutting moves, according to Trains sources, include cuts to some management benefits and furloughs to 193 conductors, including 61 covered by the railroad’s Baltimore & Ohion union agreement and 132 […]
Norfolk Southern next week will shift its Chicago-New England intermodal trains to a faster CSX trackage-rights route east of the Albany, N.Y., area thanks to the completion of bridge-clearance projects on CSX’s former Pan Am Railways main line between Worcester and Ayer, Mass. NS trains 264 and 265 currently run single-stack to and from the […]
TRENTON, Ky. — A shelter-in-place order has been lifted following a CSX derailment today (Dec. 30, 2025) near the Kentucky-Tennessee state line that saw a leak of molten sulfur from one car. Thirty-one cars were involved in the derailment about today at about 6:15 a.m., according to CSX. Ash Groves, director of emergency management for […]
WASHINGTON — Other Class I railroads have found no shortage of deficiencies in the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application and are urging the Surface Transportation Board to reject the document for its failure to address key aspects of the transcontinental combination. Comments from interested parties on the completeness of the application were due on Monday, […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX made headlines in the fall when it completed a pair of massive projects within weeks of each other: The opening of the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore after a long-awaited double-stack clearance project, and the rebuilding of the hurricane-damaged Blue Ridge Subdivision in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. CSX shut […]
Blaring locomotive horns announce the presence of four new passenger trains every day at most of the 170 grade crossings on the 144 miles between New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal and a temporary platform at Mobile, Ala. Two daily Amtrak Mardi Gras round trips have been running since Aug. 18, days after throngs turned out […]
Comings and goings are a natural part of any industry. People retire, move to better jobs, or are told their services are no longer needed. But three moves in the latter category particularly raised eyebrows in railroading in 2025: The resignation of Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, the firing of Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus, […]
