Vertical split rims affect the outer edge of the wheels and are caused by pent-up pressures and stresses in the wheel material. Two photos, Transportation Safety Board of Canada A rare wheel defect is posing a mystery for researchers. The problem is called a vertical split rim, but why it happens and how to prevent […]
The manufacture and maintenance of rail is as old as railroading — and so are broken rails. Though today’s rail is much harder, stronger, and of higher quality than rail made even 40 years ago, railroads and metallurgists have just recently begun to understand why rails still are breaking. As railroads installed new rail in […]
Hydraulic flange greasers are activated when a wheel rolls over an actuator, as shown on CSX’s Indianapolis Line Subdivision. Two photos, Eric Powell Forgive the pun, but it’s a slippery slope that railroads have to deal with, in terms of rail and flange lubrication. Too much or too little grease on the track can cause […]
Host Drew Halverson, along with pals Mike, Charlie, and KJ, conclude their Great Lakes gallop, chasing Canadian Pacific Rwy. trains along Northern Ontario’s picturesque Lake Superior shoreline. Though less harried than other routes, the action on CP’s Heron Bay and Nipigon Subdivisions between Thunder Bay and Marathon, Ontario, keeps Drew and The Crew hopping and […]
A Montana Rail Link local with a GP35 running backward (long hood forward) rolls along the Jefferson River west of Sappington, Mont. Tom Danneman Q In the 2010 movie, “Unstoppable,” movie makers create a lot of drama about running a locomotive backward at high speed. How capable are road and switch engines of operating in […]
Join Trains Magazine Assistant Editor Brian Schmidt for a day trackside at West Chicago, Ill., in July 2016. We’ll see Canadian National and Union Pacific freight action, along with ubiquitous Metra commuter trains. We’ll also look at JB Tower, which guards the junction of the two freight carriers. […]
A hot-metal “bottle car,” one of three in an Erie train that included eight hopper cars as spacers, passes DeForest Junction, between Youngstown and Warren, Ohio, in 1966. Clifford A. Redanz One of the more interesting aspects of steel-mill railroading were the “hot-metal runs” that moved molten iron from the blast furnaces to the open […]
Spikes are part of a system that keeps rails in service. Redundant numbers of spikes are present in most tracks. Bob Johnston Q During a recent trip to the U.S., I visited rail lines in Chicago used by both freight and passenger trains. I noticed how many spikes are torn out or completely missing in […]
Join Trains for the first run of Georgetown Loop Railroad 2-8-0 No. 111 in October 2016. The locomotive was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1926 for the International Railway of Central America in El Salvador. […]
FULL SCREEN John Bjorklund, collection of Center for Railroad Photography and Art Santa Fe passenger train No. 1, the westbound ‘San Francisco Chief,’ is seen at Dearborn Station in Chicago in December 1970, just a few months before the creation of Amtrak. FULL SCREEN John Bjorklund, collection of Center for Railroad Photography and Art A […]
Join Trains for a look at the final weekend of operations on Florida’s Orange Blossom Cannonball steam train. You’ll see Baldwin-built 2-6-0 No. 2 on the final runs in January 2017. […]
An ongoing chase into Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Range leads Charlie Conway to various mountain canyons. That’s where he discovers Union Pacific freight, long-distance Amtrak trains, and snow-covered roads winding along the Colorado River. […]
