BURNET, Texas — An aggregates company’s proposal to build a 26.9-mile railroad to haul rock in Texas’ Hill Country is on hold in the wake of public opposition. Texas Materials Group had initiated the Surface Transportation Board’s environmental review process for construction of a new line in Burnet and Lampasas Counties to serve four quarries […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers did not include funding for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer in a budget bill passed last week, placing the future of the train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City in jeopardy after a year that saw a 11% increase in ridership. The Texas Department of Transportation had sought $3.53 million for the […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has signed into a law a bill creating funding to improve safety at railroad grade crossings, legislation sparked by the death of a Houston high school student late last year. Senate Bill 1555 passed the house by a 101-16 vote earlier this month, after passing the Senate by […]
Four red-and-white GP40s lead fast freight train 33, the Texas Special, into Valley Park, Mo., on Nov. 25, 1980, four days after merger with Burlington Northern. […]
HAVILAND, Kan. — A tornado is being blamed for the derailment of about 100 cars of a Union Pacific train late Sunday (May 18) in rural Kansas, the Hays Post reports. The incident occurred about 11 p.m. while the train was stopped near the town of Haviland after receiving a tornado warning, UP spokeswoman Robynn […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Metropolitan Council, which oversees transit and other governmental functions in the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, has approved a plan to lease surplus Northstar commuter rail equipment to Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Amtrak. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the council, at a May 14 meeting, agreed to lease […]
Texas & Pacific ended regular steam operations in 1952. When Red River flooding near Boyce, La., became too deep for diesels to wade through in 1957, T&P borrowed a 2-8-2 from the Fort Worth & Denver to haul trains in the high water. In January 1958, T&P bought a different FW&D Mike, No, 410, and […]
AUSTIN, Texas – Among the daring practitioners who revolutionized railroad photography in the 1950s and early ’60s, none reached a more receptive audience or garnered more praise than J. Parker Lamb. A mechanical engineer by profession, he worked hard to have his photos tell a story about people and technology, especially if it involved diesel […]
ABILENE, Kan. — The operating season is ramping up for the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. The same is true for major work on the railroad’s former Rock Island branch — between Abilene and Enterprise — and its Santa Fe steam locomotive No. 3415. Accoring to a May 7 article from KSAL radio, the railroad’s […]
MEXICO CITY — Grupo Mexico’s transportation division — which includes Ferromex, Ferrosur, Florida East Coast Railway, and Texas Pacifico — reported sharply lower first-quarter revenue and profits as a plunge in automotive and minerals traffic drove an overall volume decline. For the quarter, GMXT’s operating income declined 18.5%, to $225 million, as revenue declined 12.1%, […]
DENTON, Texas — The Denton County Transportation Authority’s A-Train, a 21-mile commuter line operating between Denton and Carrollton, Texas, has announced plans for a 2-mile extension, allowing a direct connection to rail service to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The agency announced last week that it will extend the line from its current southern endpoint — […]
EL PASO, Texas — Fort Bliss, the 1,700-square-mile Army post in Texas and New Mexico, is undergoing an expansion of its rail capacity. The El Paso Times reports that groundbreaking was held April 22 for construction of 4.3 additional miles of track at its rail yard, built to accommodate 565 railcars in 72 hours — […]
