Union Pacific train derails in northern Iowa

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

ROCKWELL, Iowa — Thirty-five cars of a Union Pacific grain train derailed in Iowa’s Cerro Gordo County, KIMT-TV reports. No injuries were reported. A Union Pacific representative told the station on Friday that the locomotives and railcars involved in the Thursday derailment had been cleared from the right-of-way, and track repairs were in progress. Restoration […]

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Equipment run-through a factor in return of Texas Eagle-Capitol Limited daily service: Analysis

Going-away view of four-car passenger train

CHICAGO — Shared trainsets, running through between Washington D.C. and San Antonio, Texas, via Chicago, are part of the plan when the Texas Eagle and Capitol Limited resume daily operation on Monday, March 28. This will end a reduction to five-day-a-week departures that began in January. The Eagle, between Chicago and San Antonio, and the […]

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Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad adjusts plans for excursions with Nickel Plate No. 765

765fall2013Wrinn

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Ongoing riverbank-stabilization work in Cuyahoga Valley National Park is leading to some changes in departure locations for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s “Steam in the Valley” excursions set for May. The excursions, featuring the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, are set for May 13-15 and May […]

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CP asks federal regulators to resolve key CN Chicago interchange question

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific logos

WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific has asked federal regulators to determine whether the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard is a reasonable location to interchange traffic with Canadian National. It’s the latest twist in the Canadian railways’ long-running dispute over where to exchange traffic in Chicago. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in December vacated […]

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Federal judge allows BNSF suit over Cicero sewer rates to proceed

Metra_Cicero_Lassen

CHICAGO — A federal judge has brushed off efforts by Cicero, Ill., to block a BNSF Railway lawsuit over a $1 million increase in sewer rates, saying the ordinance targeted at the railroad’s yard “does not simply impact railroads — it effectively holds them hostage.” The Cook County Record reports that U.S. District Judge Steven […]

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Nine hurt in vehicle-light rail accident in East St. Louis, Ill.

Logo of St. Louis Metro and MetroLink

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Nine people were injured, two critically, in a collision between a St. Louis MetroLink train and a vehicle near the Washington Park station on Sunday afternoon. The driver of the vehicle and one person on the train were in critical condition, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. The car caught fire after […]

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Jury says truck driver, BNSF engineer equally at fault in Minnesota collision

BNSF Railway logo

MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — A Minnesota jury has found a truck driver and BNSF locomotive engineer equally negligent in a suit brought by the engineer over a 2017 collision near Maynard, Minn. The West Central Tribune reports the jury in Chippewa County attributed 45% of the negligence in the accident to engineer William Schmitz, 45% to […]

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Scout plans train meet as fundraiser for club

GFW Trainfair flyer

A northern Illinois model railroader is using his – and others – love of the hobby as a Boy Scout project to raise funds for a large-scale railroad group to expand its facilities. George Werderich, who appears on the toy-train oriented GFW Trains Channel on YouTube, is organizing GFW Trainfair as a community service project […]

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Adventures of a railroad station agent

Orange and red diesel locomotives

I’d been hired as second-shift railroad station agent at Channing, Mich., for the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad in June 1980. The railroad had taken over operation of the Milwaukee Road’s lines north of Green Bay, Wis., three months earlier. I was 23 years old and had no qualifications for the job, other than I […]

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Metra to add trains on BNSF line

Overhead view of commuter train

CHICAGO — Metra will make major changes to the weekday schedule on the BNSF line, historically its most-used route, with a net increase from 86 to 91 trains as the route moves closer to its pre-pandemic level. The new schedule, effective March 28, will include four new trains, restoration of three trains dropped in November […]

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