Lawsuit claims UP, short line blocked grain moves via alternate route

Blue locomotive with Colorado state flag logo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Colorado Pacific Railroad and Weskan Grain, two subsidiaries of the Soloviev Group, this week filed a federal court suit that alleges Union Pacific Railroad and regional railroad Kansas & Oklahoma have conspired to prevent westbound grain moves over Colorado Pacific. The plaintiffs claimed that UP and Watco Cos.’ K&O are using […]

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CN CEO says UP-NS merger application has a ‘long way to go’

MONTREAL — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have “a long way to go” to address issues with their merger application, Canadian National CEO Tracy Robinson said during the company’s quarterly earnings call today (Friday, Jan. 30). “It is not at all clear that the transaction as proposed addresses many of the questions around the negative […]

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Bachmann HO Airslide covered hopper review

Color photo of showing portion of HO scale covered hopper painted two-tone blue with yellow, blue, black, and white graphics on white background.

A newly-tooled model has joined the Bachmann HO scale freight car lineup. The General American 4,180-cubic-foot capacity Airslide covered hopper, offered in four paint schemes, features injection-molded plastic construction, 36″ metal wheelsets, and body-mounted E-Z Mate Mark II plastic couplers. Prototype history General American produced the 4180 Airslide from 1963 to 1980. The cars were […]

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Union Pacific plans to file revised Norfolk Southern merger application in March

Train passing under signal bridge

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific expects to file its revised Norfolk Southern merger application in March, CEO Jim Vena said on the railroad’s earnings call on Tuesday. The Surface Transportation Board on Jan. 16 rejected the railroads’ 6,692-page merger application as incomplete. The application, filed on Dec. 19, didn’t include enough information on post-merger market […]

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BNSF, CSX update storm recovery efforts

Double-stack train in snow

BNSF does not expect full recovery from the winter storm that swept across its network until early next week, the railroad said in a Tuesday, Jan. 27, customer advisory. CSX says in its own Tuesday advisory that it continues to work to fully restore operations, while Union Pacific said Tuesday during its quarterly earnings call […]

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Seven Chicago-area suburbs join forces to address UP-NS merger

Freight train with yellow locomotives on curve

BERKELEY, Ill. — Seven suburban communities along Union Pacific’s east-west main line are organizing to pursue representation in the UP-Norfolk Southern merger proceedings. A memorandum to the president and board of the Village of Berkeley in Cook County says the community was contacted by the other six communities — Elmhurst, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and […]

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Union Pacific reports record financial results

Freight train with yellow locomotive

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific today reported record financial and operational results for 2025 despite a drop in fourth-quarter operating income. “The Union Pacific team delivered our best ever full year across safety, service and operating excellence,” CEO Jim Vena said on the railroad’s earnings call on Tuesday morning. “As we close out the year, […]

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UP Big Boy 2026 tour to begin with trip to California

A black steam locomotive leads a train through a rural farm setting

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy will return to California this spring in the first leg of its planned coast-to-coast trip for America’s 250th anniversary, the railroad has announced. The first segment of the trip will be a round trip from Cheyenne, Wyo., beginning March 29 and concluding April 24, with two major public […]

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UP-NS merger filing omits billions in intermodal costs, analyst tells STB

Yellow locomotives lead container train in snowy landscape

WASHINGTON — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application omits $2.69 billion in additional costs that intermodal marketers will incur if the railroads’ deal diverts the promised 2 million loads off the highway, according to an analysis submitted to federal regulators. The railroads’ traffic diversion projection is a key part of their case that the merger […]

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Atlas O Premier SD70MAC

side view of model locomotive

The headliner of the spring 2023 Atlas catalog was the SD70MAC, a classic six-axle diesel electric locomotive.  The SD70MAC was produced by General Motor’s Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in the 1990s. The SD70MAC was part of the transition from DC to AC traction motors. These AC powered locomotives would prove to be more efficient while in […]

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Two shipper groups voice support for STB decision on UP-NS merger application

Train rounds curve in late afternoon sunlight

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 […]

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Regulators reject UP-NS merger application (updated)

Two trains, one yellow and one black, approach the camera

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 […]

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