The Seattle-centric postcards continue with Charlie and MRVP’s Kent Johnson visiting the locomotive ready tracks at BNSF’s Balmer Yard. From a prime street-side vantage point, the two investigate an eclectic range of vintage Santa Fe and BN equipment, plus modern BNSF diesel power idling and working the site. […]
A Fort Worth & Western mixed freight ascends a grade near Cresson, Texas, in May 2013. Steve Sweeney Q Do railroads have formulas managing the length or tonnage of a train based on how many engines are pulling it? What factors would be in such a formula? — Doug Gard, McCordsville, Ind. A Each railroad […]
Pulling the correct lever is an important matter for operators of Metra’s Tower A2 in western Chicago in September 2013. This pneumatic lever machine uses brass rods to trigger air pulses to switch more than 100 points on Union Pacific headed due west out of downtown. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]
LAS VEGAS – Railroad wheels wear over time. When they do, they affect the performance and reliability of the freight or passenger car or locomotive that they help carry down the tracks. Gordon Bachinsky, founder of Wheel Rail Seminars and the Wheel Rail Interaction conference lays out the basics for Trains‘ Steve Sweeney with model […]
Norfolk Southern maintenance-of-way crews recently severed the rails of its idled West Virginia Secondary. Here, orange spray paint identifies where the rails have been cut near Milepost 116.5 in Middleport, Ohio. CSX Transportation-owned track to the south remains in service, while the NS segment to the north has been mothballed. James C. Trivett III MIDDLEPORT, […]
Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449 at Bend, Ore., in October 2012. The fog horn is at the top of the smokebox on the fireman’s side, or the right, as you look at the engine. Alex Mayes Q I was watching a video about the Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449, and I noticed that […]
Coal empties for Danville, W.Va., roll by the W.E. MacCorkle Siding on CSX Transportation’s Coal River Subdivision in April 2013. Chase Gunnoe CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coal country’s railroaders keep a watchful eye on their train crew assignments these days. They’re waiting for further cutbacks to terminals throughout West Virginia and trying not to believe too […]
Because of a production error with our Spring 2016 issue, the map that should have accompanied the article “Calamity at Glenita” — about a 1968 coal train derailment on the Southern Railway — was omitted from the magazine. Here is the map. […]
A screen capture image of the Association of American Railroads’ latest updated Freight Rail Works website. Association of American Railroads’ website WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today debuted the newest installment of its Freight Rail Works campaign, which explores how freight rail’s ongoing private investments in building, growing and maintaining the nation’s rail […]
CSX Chairman Michael J. Ward CSX Transportation JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Chairman and CEO Michael Ward says he will be on the job three more years. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Trains Editor Jim Wrinn on Friday, Ward said the CSX board of directors asked him to stay on three more years. “I plan […]
DENVER — On Feb. 14 another piece of Colorado railroad history will slip away as Union Pacific closes its Burnham Shops in Denver. Once the second largest UP shop behind Jenks Shop in North Little Rock, Ark., the loss of Burnham closes another chapter in the history of the late and much beloved Denver & […]
Collection rate on railroad fines (by year) Federal Railroad Administration Reasons for railroad civil fines (for fiscal year 2015) Federal Railroad Adminisrtation WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today announced that it has stepped-up enforcement of railroad safety regulations led to the highest-ever civil penalty collection rate in the agency’s 50-year history. For fiscal year […]
