CHICAGO — Amtrak continues to assess efforts to operate in subzero Midwest temperatures and make cancellation decisions less than 24 hours before departures. In a remarkably candid email addressed this morning to “Supporter of Passenger Rail” and obtained by Trains News Wire, Amtrak’s veteran Chicago-based government affairs director, Derrick James, outlined the latest cancellations through […]
This Milwaukee Road 4-6-4 is an oil-burner — note the lack of an open coal bunker on the tender. The rear stenciling indicates a capacity of 18,000 gallons of water and 7,000 gallons of oil. The engine has been converted from coal-firing for service in Idaho and Washington. Milwaukee Road photo […]
Private cars, also called “private varnish”, represent a mode of passenger railroading that’s intriguing and seemingly elusive to most viewing trackside. Who’s in that car? Where is it going? How are they able to do that? All questions that Trains.com staffer Bryson Sleppy has also pondered…and can now help us answer! Follow video highlights of […]
Wabash Railway passenger trains: All through January 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Wabash. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Wabash Railway passenger trains, originally published online in May 2019. […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — One final batch of notes from this week’s Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting, marking the organization’s 100th anniversary: Blending cultures Merging railroads can be difficult, simply as a matter of blending cultures. The Penn Central merger famously was hindered by the clashing views of longtime competitors Pennsylvania and New York […]
GRANITE CITY, Ill. — Port Harbor Railroad SW1200 No. 9335 sits gleaming in fresh paint — a scheme reminiscent of its former Conrail livery — at America’s Central Port in Granite City on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The switcher was built by EMD in November 1957 for the Pennsylvania Railroad, went to Penn Central in 1968 […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — A lot has happened since Class I railroads averted a strike in 2022. CEOs and other officials at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting were happy to point to progress in labor relations. Which is good, because — believe it or not — the whole national contract process is about […]
Gerry Leone’s Spaces to Places rolls on! He’s back to build out yet another section of his Bona Vista HO scale model railroad. But first he shares quick insights on how he finished of a small portion of scenery just outside the city limits of Westcott. Then he’s ‘Back on Track’ for laying down the rails […]
Gerry Leone’s Spaces to Places rolls on! He’s back to build out yet another section of his Bona Vista HO scale model railroad. But first he shares quick insights on how he finished of a small portion of scenery just outside the city limits of Westcott. Then he’s ‘Back on Track’ for laying down the rails […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — Notes from Day 1 of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting: Border battle Union Pacific found itself involved in headlines not of its own making in December when U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut down border rail gateways at Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, quickly throwing U.S-Mexico rail traffic […]
Perched high above the tracks, interlocking Tower A controlled the many signals and switches at Cincinnati Union Terminal. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak has announced a significant number of cancellations beginning Thursday, Jan. 11, for long-distance and state-supported trains serving Chicago in anticipation of a major winter storm expected to hit the Midwest Friday and Saturday. The majority of cancellations are Friday and Saturday. Also affected are St. Louis-Kansas City trains and, on the West […]
