Tabla de contenidos para April 2024 en Trains

UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES at major canals are seeing rail lines draw container traffic away from ships. The Panama Canal Railway, partially owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, is seeing increased container traffic because of drought conditions affecting canal water levels, while global conflict is diverting some traffic that normally would travel by ship through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The 37-mile Panama Canal Railway normally handles about 300,000 containers per year, mostly for regional transshipment for Central, South American, and Caribbean markets. But the railway saw a 20% increase in container traffic last summer as drought altered shipping patterns, and in January, its largest container shipper, Maersk, announced shipments bound to and from Australia and New Zealand would be diverted to the railway. “Based on current and projected water…

Along cut of gondolas loaded with agricultural lime trails the GP9R leading Carolina Coastal Railway train No. 119 across the 3,207-foot trestle over the Pamlico River at Washington, N.C. Delivering Tennessee “ag lime” to eastern North Carolina customers is just one aspect of today’s 180-mile Carolina Coastal (CLNA), part of shortline holding company Regional Rail, LLC, since 2020. Regional Rail, headquartered in Kennett Square, Pa., was founded in 2007, and now has 15 short lines and switching operations in the U.S. and Canada. Other well-known properties include East Penn, Middletown & New Jersey, and Florida Central. Al Sauer, Regional Rail president and CEO, says the Carolina Coastal purchase involved “a really good business, with a good team,” adding that the new addition offered opportunities to grow business. History Carolina Coastal…

Born on March 20, 1949, three railroads cobbled together what would become a lasting travel inspiration and envy of other U.S. lines as “The most talked about train in America.” It lives on under Amtrak. The U.S. intercity passenger rail landscape 75 years ago, for the most part, catered to the same need for speed and convenience demanded by travelers today. Fast streamliners between major cities were scheduled to compete for business travelers at a time when fledgling commercial airlines operated puddle-jumping prop planes derived from their wartime counterparts. The nation’s highway system, with few exceptions, offered no stoplight alternatives. ORIGINS The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy had its share of flashy speedsters on two main routes out of Chicago to the Twin Cities and Denver. Named for Zephyrus, the Greek…

When the wind is blowing, and more often than not it is, you’ll see a train in the distance long before you hear it. You’re in the Mojave Desert, and as the song by The Who says, you can see for miles and miles and miles. Not necessarily flat like parts of Texas, but a rolling, up and down terrain punctuated by cactus, tiny hamlets both alive and abandoned, and fragments of the original Route 66 — now a disconnected relic from the past — can be seen here and there. If there is an arid version of heaven, for train fans, this is it; an endless parade of BNSF freight trains hustling to and from the West Coast, with a smidgen of Amtrak and an interchange with short line Arizona…

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR something different, yet familiar? Consider a visit to the Texas State Railroad, where you’ll experience a classic mix of mid-20th century railroading and a pleasant 4-hour train ride. The Texas State Railroad is aptly named. It was built as a state project in the late 19th century. Initially, it served as an industrial railroad built and maintained by the prison system hauling iron products manufactured at the state smelter in Rusk using inmate labor. In the early years of the 20th century, the railroad was transformed into a state-run common carrier and expanded to Palestine, where it connected with the Missouri Pacific. In the 1920s, the railroad was leased to Southern Pacific affiliate Texas & New Orleans. By the 1960s, T&NO ended its operation, and the railroad…

Thomas the Tank Engine, a classic event CALLING ALL GRAND KIDS: Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional character living on the make-believe island of Sodor. With his human-like qualities and ability to talk, Thomas is a cute steam-powered locomotive that has mesmerized children for generations from within illustrated books and the long-running television series Thomas & Friends. Thomas is a small but vital, strong-willed engine that wants to be useful on the Sodor Railway. With railway manager Sir Topham Hatt and other engine friends to help him out, Thomas bravely maneuvers through risky situations and succeeds at completing his adventures safely. This shiny blue engine has become a role-model that has morphed into a common icon for today’s railroads and train museums to utilize for children’s events. As an endearing…

The railroad reached today’s Morehead City in 1858. Just 4 miles from the Atlantic, Morehead City remains a natural port and commercial fishing center. The Port of Morehead City is the smaller of two deepwater ports overseen by the North Carolina State Ports Authority. The 128-acre, nine-berth port is a breakbulk, bulk, and warehousing facility, serving both foreign and domestic trade. Carolina Coastal Railway has served the port since 2011. The railroad’s Manager of Port Operations, John Odham, who retired at the end of 2023, had worked for CNLA and its predecessors since 1988. The port is 120 miles south of CNLA’s Wilson headquarters, so the operation has its own team of six railroaders. They shift cars on the 9 miles of track in the port and adjacent Radio Island,…

THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY ARCHIVES are now open to the public by appointment at the Atlanta History Center. Additionally, a group of more than 11,000 photos from the collection are beginning to be made available online, indicates an announcement by the History Center. The archives were donated in 2021 by Norfolk Southern Railway [see “Norfolk Southern to donate …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 25, 2021], which also contributed a $50,000 grant to help catalog, organize and digitize the materials. The materials involved document the Southern Railway’s history and that of its predecessors from 1828 to 2007. The collection spans nearly 250 linear feet, and includes annual reports, company publications, rule books, timetables, employee records, correspondence, and meeting minutes, among other items. As an example, more than 3,000 construction contracts detail the…

HARSH WINTER WEATHER disrupted service across Amtrak’s network from California to the Northeast Corridor in January, as the passenger operator dealt with conditions ranging from extreme cold to excessive rain. Hardest hit was the Empire Builder, cancelled for more than a week for the second straight winter. The train didn’t operate Jan. 11-19, 2024. Elsewhere, BNSF Railway’s Seattle-Portland, Ore., artery was blocked by mudslides on three occasions, forcing multi-day cancellations of Amtrak Cascades service and termination of the Los Angeles-Seattle Coast Starlight at Portland. That train was cancelled outright north of Oakland, Calif., for nearly a week by a series of storms. Rains also disrupted Pacific Surfliner service when a slide in San Clemente, Calif., forced cancellations and bus substitutions. In the east, lake-effect snow buried western New York,…

The three startup companies developing autonomous, battery-electric, self-propelled freight cars all imagine a future where railroads see massive growth. They want to target short-haul freight where trucks dominate and railroads aren’t effective competitors. And they say they can solve the rail industry’s growth problem by using cutting-edge technology to upend the way railroads have operated for nearly two centuries. The companies — Parallel Systems, Intramotev, and Glid —are led by former aerospace engineers who saw the same opportunity to disrupt freight transportation: Add autonomy to the efficiency of steel wheels rolling on steel rails, and you’re able to go after freight moving in lower volumes over shorter distances. This, they say, will enable a major shift of freight from highways to zero-emissions rail service, which will bring environmental, traffic, and…

PERHAPS FEW PEOPLE are in a better position to evaluate how today’s California Zephyr operates — its strengths and weaknesses — than Amtrak Conductor Brad Swartzwelter. Most of the year, he works Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday out-and-back journeys from Denver to Grand Junction, Colo., but from January through early April he works Friday through Sunday Winter Park Express round trips. Swartzwelter helped make the case to Amtrak management for the seasonal service, which is sponsored in part by the Winter Park Resort. A Zephyr ride with Brad is always informative, as he often provides route descriptions in the train’s Sightseer Lounge. “Operating responsibilities come first, but I try to give customers an idea of where they are and what they’re seeing. It’s nowhere near as in-depth as what the National Park…

THE WESTERN MARYLAND SCENIC RAILROAD has signed a long-term lease acquiring the Georges Creek Railway, a dormant short line in the southwestern portion of Maryland’s Allegany County. The short line will become the Georges Creek Division of the WMSR. Plans call for the branch line to be used for “passenger and potential freight opportunities,” according to a WMSR statement. The Georges Creek line is a former CSX branch. The line, originally part of the Cumberland & Pennsylvania, was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway in 1944. CSX operated it until 2005, when it ceased operations because of a combination of washouts and declining traffic. The Eighteen Thirty Group purchased the branch in 2006 and continued to operate it until 2019 when the paper mill it served in Luke, Md., closed.…