SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Don Toles, avid Southern California railfan and caretaker of Hill 582 on Cajon Pass, died Jan. 17, 2026, in San Bernardino, Calif. He was 97. Toles was well known in the local train-watching community thanks to his constant tending of the Hill 582 site, getting rid of leaves, cleaning out garbage, […]
Tag: Railroader
CRRC plant in Massachusetts to lay off workers because of customs seizures
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — CRRC MA, the Massachusetts affiliate of Chinese rail manufacturer CRRC, will lay off 161 employees beginning March 16 because shells for subway cars being imported from China remain held up by U.S. customs officials. The Springfield Republican reports the company, which employs more than 400 people at its Springfield, Mass., plant, announced […]
Kansas DOT awards $11.2 million for rail infrastructure projects
TOPEKA, Kan. — Ten rail infrastructure projects will receive a total of $11.2 million in funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Rail Service Improvement Program, the state announced last week. The projects awarded were selected from 20 applications seeking a total of more than $33.5 million in funding. The projects also will receive more […]
Two shipper groups voice support for STB decision on UP-NS merger application
WASHINGTON — Other railroads were not the only parties welcoming the Surface Transportation Board’s decision to reject the initial application for the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. Shipper groups also voiced their approval. The board, citing three areas in which it said the almost 7,000-page application was incomplete, rejected the UP-NS application on Friday, Jan. 16 […]
Regulators reject UP-NS merger application (updated)
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today issued a setback to Union Pacific’s effort to acquire Norfolk Southern, rejecting the railroads’ merger application as incomplete — although that move offers little clue to the eventual prospects for the first transcontinental merger. The decision will slow the merger process, requiring the two railroads to rework three […]
Alstom, Toronto finalize deal for new subway trainsets
TORONTO — Alstom and the Toronto Transit Commission have finalized an agreement for Alstom to build 70 six-car Metropolis subway trainsets for the New Subway Train program to replace the fleet on the TTC’s subway Line 2, as well as for use on subway extension projects. The purchase of the new equipment had been announced […]
House bill would require study of tank car pressure relief valves
WASHINGTON — House members from Pennsylvania and Ohio have introduced a bill requiring the Federal Railroad Administration to study tank car pressure relief valves, and provide a report to Congress on their findings, nearly three years after the disastrous February 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials derailment. The Under Pressure Act was announced Thursday (Jan. […]
J.B. Hunt says UP-NS merger filing lacks intermodal detail
LOWELL, Ark. — J.B. Hunt executives are disappointed that the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application did not include more details about the railroads’ intermodal plans. “We continue to digest the application and had expected more intermodal-specific questions to be addressed in the merger application than there were,” Darren Field, president of J.B. Hunt Intermodal, said […]
Steam locomotive profile: 2-6-6-2 Mallet
In the 1890s, the Gotthard Railway in Switzerland operated the first Mallet locomotives. They were compound articulated locomotives developed by, and named for, Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet. A Mallet locomotive has two engines, which are independently mounted on an articulated frame. A high-pressure engine is located at the rear. Steam exhausted from it is conveyed […]
Senate bill would increase legal protections for passenger rail crews
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would extend to passenger train crew members the same legal protections that exist for airline flight crews and attendants. U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) on Thursday, Jan. 15, introduced the “Passenger Rail Crew Protection Act.” It would carry penalties of up […]
Sixteen U.S. unions ratify agreements with CPKC
CALGARY, Alberta — A total of 16 tentative bargaining agreements covering Canadian Pacific Kansas City workers with various U.S. unions in recent weeks have all been ratified, the railroad announced on Thursday (Jan. 15). The five-year agreements cover approximately 700 railroaders in 11 states. “We are very pleased to see all these agreements ratified and […]
MARS Notebook: Meeting becomes ‘Vena Comedy Club’
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena had the crowd laughing Thursday (Jan. 15) throughout his talk to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, to the point that analyst Anthony B. Hatch, the event’s final speaker, said that he appreciated getting the chance “to do a set at the Vena Comedy Club.” One example […]
