Tabla de contenidos para October 2023 en Trains

JIM VENA WAS SET to become Union Pacific’s new chief executive Aug. 14, five months after one of the railroad’s largest investors publicly demanded UP’s board oust CEO Lance Fritz and hire Vena as his replacement. Soroban Capital Partners was critical of UP’s performance under Fritz and noted that the railroad’s operations and service quickly improved during Vena’s two-year tenure as chief operating officer, only to falter after his departure. Investors cheered the news, sending UP shares up 10% when the market opened the morning of the announcement. “Jim brings a strong rail operations background to Union Pacific, with over 40 years of experience,” said Mike McCarthy, named UP board chairman the same day. “This includes two successful years as our chief operating officer from 2019 to 2020. After a…

WITH AN 1880S BRIDGE over the Rock River supporting a Metra train as a backdrop, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and other officials announced July 6 that Chicago commuter operator Metra would partner with Union Pacific to provide two daily passenger round trips to Rockford by 2027. Service will require a $275 million investment from the state’s Rebuild Illinois infrastructure fund. Trains will run on Metra’s Milwaukee West line to its end at Big Timber, where a connection to Union Pacific’s Belvedere Subdivision will be built. In addition to stops in Elgin and downtown Rockford, stations are planned for Huntley and Belvedere. The agreement calls for the state to reimburse Metra for all capital and operating costs above ticket revenue the commuter railroad takes in. “The improvements needed are identified; now…

IT WAS HISTORY IN THE MAKING! This reprint — and author — deserve recognition for an offbeat yet consequently popular attempt to identify the “all-American diesel.” It was a rather obvious choice. From issues 500 through 599 (June 1982 to Sept. 1990) — chosen by staff and contributors — is “A census of American locomotives” from the November 1982 issue. According to former Trains Editor Kevin P. Keefe, JDI was “meticulous,” especially in this article. “Dave crunched thousands of numbers — roster lists, horsepower, prime movers, traction motors, service mileage, you name it — to arrive at the mythical ‘average’ diesel, Baltimore & Ohio GP38 No. 3802,” says Keefe. “Chessie System soon canonized the Geep by putting a plaque on it.” —Trains staff WHAT WEIGHS OVER 125 TONS, is 57 feet long,…

TRAIN SCHEDULES HAVE INTRIGUED ME since my father returned from a 1966 business trip with a present of current public time-tables from 13 railroads. To the 11-year-old me, the timetables were like windows to a new world. Before then, the only passenger train I knew about was the Chicago & North Western 400 that served Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That new world was further expanded a few years later when I discovered a 1967 edition of The Official Guide of the Railways at the Northern Michigan University library. The Guide included every intercity passenger train schedule for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Although the 1967 version was only a fading reminder of the much larger issues of the past, to me it was a Rosetta Stone. Fast forward to 1991:…

FROM NEWS TO COLUMNS TO FEATURES, Trains.com is a well-oiled machine stocked in content. Though it’s still fairly new to some of you, this website was designed and is ready to deliver you behind-the-scenes viewpoints on railroading topics from experts. It may not be perfect, but it is evolving daily with the latest and greatest content from individuals that share your passion for trains. The rail industry has a broad spectrum of people that aren’t always in the limelight. These can be editors, writers, artists, and photographers; rail enthusiasts of all stripes; commuters and other passengers; or conductors, engineers, track workers, and others who make their living on the railroad. All these people, involved directly or indirectly with the world of railroading, have stories to tell you … Are you…

CALIFORNIA’S TEHACHAPI LOOP can produce incredible railroad images in daytime. But if you are willing to brave a summer night on Tehachapi, the photographs can be out of this world. The pass comes alive at night, with tarantulas seemingly crawling out of every hole, rats and mice scavenging the rocks below for food, silver-dollar sized beetles scuttling along the trails and through the grasses, and the biggest black widow spiders the world has to offer. The rising moon and starry sky light up one of the most iconic landmarks in California railroad history. Originally listed as one of the seven wonders of the railroad world, the Tehachapi Loop, engineered by William Hood in the late 1800s, is located nearly halfway between Bakersfield and Mojave, Calif., along Union Pacific’s Mojave Subdivision, which…

IT’S NOT EASY FOR RAILROADS’ DOMESTIC INTERMODAL CUSTOMERS to jump ship, which is why their partnerships tend to endure for decades. Yet change has come to the West. In the past two years, Union Pacific has landed a trio of longtime BNSF Railway customers. Knight-Swift and APL Logistics bolted from BNSF in 2022. And this year Schneider National shifted its orange containers to UP. You see the change in a pair of hot Union Pacific Z-symbol stack trains that link Los Angeles and Chicago via a combination of UP’s Sunset and Golden State routes and, east of Kansas City, trackage rights on BNSF’s Southern Transcon. On a cloudy March 2023 afternoon, they roll through Fort Madison, Iowa, a couple of hours apart. With six locomotives up front, eastbound ZCIG4 carries 252…

THE FIRST “SHAY IT FORWARD” preservation fundraising event was held at The Illinois Railway Museum (Union, Ill.) on June 24. The celebration honored the memory and legacy of late Trains Editor Jim Wrinn, who died March 30, 2022, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Fundraising activities included throttle time with the museum’s three-truck Shay locomotive, J. Neils Lumber Co. No. 5, lunch and dinner meals aboard the museum’s articulated Nebraska Zephyr train set, and night photo sessions. Wrinn’s widow Cate Krat-ville-Wrinn, daughter of William Kratville, noted railroad historian and preservationist, has set up the Shay It Forward program to support museums and preservation groups. The program is especially focused on the geared steam locomotives Jim so dearly loved. “Multiple times, Jim would say, ‘if we won the lottery, what engines are…

I’VE MADE THOUSANDS of train rides, but I’ve never lost the exhilaration that one gives me. Every time I board a train, I relive my youthful wanderlust of finding my seat, gliding along on steel rails, and watching the unfolding rolling panorama pass by my window. The thrill of a train ride is the combination of experiencing motion without the stress of having to worry about the details, enjoying an ever-changing view without having to focus on it, and the ability to read, doze, chat with a friend, or the freedom to wander around the train and get a snack. For me, the equipment experience is part of the joy. Simply feeling how different railroad cars roll is part of it, but also the various layouts and seating arrangements, plus…

UNION PACIFIC PLANNED IN AUGUST to begin a pilot program in Nebraska that will compare how quickly conductors and truck-based railroaders can respond to problems that trains encounter en route. The railroad disclosed the first-of-its-kind Class I railroad test program during a July public hearing on the Kansas Department of Transportation’s proposed two-person crew rule. In December 2022, UP had announced its intent to launch a four-phase pilot program to test a ground-based “expediter” position, but that was scuttled in January when SMART-TD, the union that represents conductors, refused to participate. Now the union is on board under a new crew consist agreement. The deal creates the expanded utility position — a scheduled, $50-per-hour job — and protects the conductor position through the start of the next round of national contract…

One of America’s premier steam tourist lines, the Strasburg Rail Road Co. in southeastern Pennsylvania, is going after freight business like never before. Strasburg freight? Yes. As the nation’s oldest short line — chartered in 1832 — and one of its earliest tourist railroads (1959), the Strasburg has been known as a premier seasonal passenger carrier for nearly 65 years. It has also expanded into providing contract mechanical, car shop and boiler services. Yet, it has increasingly returned to its roots as a hauler of agricultural and other commodities. Many of those loads are identical to the ones it carried when it opened for business in 1851 — 172 years earlier. EARLY FREIGHT YEARS The 4-mile-long line has a typical small-railroad story. Local boosters feared being left behind in the…

I WAS A VERY YOUNG assistant supervisor of track headquartered at Paoli, Pa., working for Penn Central in the mid-1970s. I had been promoted out of the heavy maintenance gangs on the former New York Central side to the well-respected and somewhat better maintained Pennsylvania Railroad main line west from Philadelphia. I left behind the Jersey Division’s freightonly River Line for fast passenger trains led by GG1 electrics and 70 mph intermodal hotshots streaking between local commuters, mixed freight, and heavy ore trains with helpers grinding west up the hill out of Philadelphia. This railroad had tall rail, long switches, and deep ballast. I was fortunate to work with the very capable men of the old Pennsylvania. Many were WWII veterans who, if shown respect, were glad to bolster my…

ON APRIL 14, 2024, CPKC’s first anniversary, the railroad will launch a celebratory tour train through Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, led by Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2816. A detailed schedule has yet to be released, however, plans call for display stops in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Minot, N.D.; St. Paul, Minn.; Bensenville, Ill.; Davenport, Iowa; Kansas City, Mo.; Shreveport, La.; Laredo, Texas; and Mexico City. In preparation for the tour, No. 2816 has been in the Ogden Shops, located in Calgary, Alberta, for restoration. For more than 110 years, the former Canadian Pacific Railway shops have been a site for steam locomotive work. The Ogden Shops, built in 1912-13, are named for then-CP President I.G. Ogden. Dubbed the Empress, No. 2816 was delivered by Montreal Locomotive Works in December 1930.…

Hooked a train On May 18, 2022, New Jersey Transit train No. 877, led by GP40PH-2B No. 4217, is a couple of miles from the end of its run at Hackettstown, N.J., as it skirts along the Musconetcong River at Saxton Falls. Always a popular spot for trout fisherman, it once housed guard lock Five West on the Morris Canal. Donning chest waders was required to get this shot. Rare glass It’s 10:55 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2022. NJT train No. 6636 skirts Estling Lake in Denville Township, N.J., behind ALP46A No. 4656. Just as the train stretched out along the shore, the water turned to glass creating a marvelous reflection. Such an occurrence usually happens only during a day’s first or last light. The photo was taken from private…