Tabla de contenidos para December 2024 en Trains

LONG MANIFEST TRAINS are more likely to derail than their shorter counterparts due to excessive in-train forces — and the number of wrecks related to train makeup and handling issues has increased sharply since U.S. railroads adopted Precision Scheduled Railroading operating models that rely on ever-longer trains, according to a National Academies of Sciences report released in September. The 105-page report on the impacts of freight trains longer than 7,500 feet recommends that the Federal Railroad Administration take steps to ensure that railroads are fully mitigating the risks associated with the operation of long manifest trains. “Railroad operations have changed a great deal over the past few decades, as have the technologies used and our understanding of the best safety management practices,” says Debra Miller, a former member of the…

The PCC electric streetcar was a design born of desperation. By the late 1920s, the electric streetcar, long a staple of urban transit, was steadily losing market share to the automobile. In response, North American operators and manufacturers banded together to form the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee. After five years of painstaking effort, a radically new streetcar design took to the rails in New York City on Oct. 1, 1936. Fast, smooth-riding, and comfortable, the PCC car (the initials stand for “Presidents Conference Committee”) was an immediate hit. More than 5,000 were made for United States and Canada service, but that impressive number was dwarfed by the 15,000 PCC and PCC-design cars built for international service — the first of which was delivered 75 years ago. European transit operators…

WITH LUCK, you will never have reason to call the 1-800 number on an Emergency Notification System sign. But having done so once, I can tell you the response is impressive. My reason for calling was, on the list of potential issues, fairly benign: after a train cleared the Myrtle Avenue grade crossing on the Union Pacific in Elmhurst, Ill., the crossing gates stayed down. Once cars started slaloming around the gates on the fairly busy main line, I felt I’d better report the problem. The person on the other end of the line was polite and efficient, getting the crossing number, a description of the issue, and my name and a callback number. Seemingly as soon as I was off the phone, an Elmhurst police car was on the…

THERE ARE SEVERAL railroads offering New Year’s Eve trains. Here are a few options. ‘MIDNIGHT IN P RIS’ NAPA VALLEY, CALIF. The Napa Valley Wine Train had its NYE maiden voyage in 2023. The Wine Train itself, however, has been in service since the 1980s. The “Midnight in Paris” experience was brought to fruition by NVWT General Manager Nathan Davis. In conjunction with founder and winemaker Miljenko “Mike” Grgich from Grgich Hills Estate, the NYE experience celebrates the victory of the Judgement of Paris wine tasting and includes the following 6-hour accommodations: • Round trip on the Legacy Train that consists of a locomotive, two Pullman dining cars, and an open-air car • Sparkling wine tasting and lunch • 2-hour party at Grgich Hills Estate • A toast and countdown…

THE HOLIDAY SEASON begins early for many heritage railroads, museums, and tourist train operators. On some lines there is only a short transition from the end of autumn Oktoberfests, pumpkin patches, and spooky trains to the start of Winter holiday excursions. The 2024 holiday schedule is a long one for railroads staging licensed high-energy productions, such as Polar Express — adapted from the ever-popular Chris Van Allsburg story — with rehearsals and marketing efforts begun many months before the first tickets are sold. PLAN EARLY FOR HOLIDAY FUN As of this writing in early September, many lines have holiday excursion tickets for sale online, but some popular trains and busy days have already sold out. Connecticut’s steam-hauled Valley Railroad offers North Pole Express trips with tickets only available online with no…

THE MAMMOTH EVENT that is InnoTrans — the largest rail trade fair in the world — was held for the 14th time in Berlin from Sept. 24-27, setting new records for the number of exhibitors as well as attendees. The four-day event drew some 2,940 exhibitors from 59 countries, and by its close, organizers said it had drawn at least 170,000 visitors from 166 countries. The exhibition included some 133 pieces of equipment on the 2.2 miles of display tracks at the Messe Berlin exhibition center, as well as filling 42 exhibit halls. It is impossible for one person to see everything at InnoTrans — to visit every exhibitor during the event’s 34 hours would allow less than a minute at each, and that does not account for time moving from…

INTRODUCTIONS CAN BE AWK-WARD. But then, you never really know how things might turn out. I vividly remember “making my first day” in engine service on the old Baltimore & Ohio RR in 1975. The chief clerk in the road foreman of engines office put me down for the 2B job at Baltimore’s Mt. Clare A Yard. It was not a warm welcome. The dingy metal yard office building reeked of burnt coffee and stale cigarette smoke. I found the engineer I was to work with. His name was Mike Blevins, and he seemed the crusty sort of hogger you read about in old railroad fiction. He brusquely told me to go out and sit on the yard engine — an old SW1. “Don’t touch anything,” he said. As I…

Look closely anywhere a road or pedestrian walkway crosses railroad tracks in the United States. You’ll see a small rectangular blue-and-white sign attached to the nearest warning device. Officially dubbed an Emergency Notification System, or ENS, sign, it has at least two vital pieces of information: a U.S. Department of Transportation “National Inventory Number” unique to that crossing, and a phone number that goes directly to the dispatching desk of the railroad responsible for movements at that location. Lack of widespread knowledge about the existence of these signs has, unfortunately, led to needless tragic accidents resulting in loss of life, derailed trains, and millions of dollars in property damage. At about 10 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2023, a 911 operator in Southwest Michigan, informed of a disabled vehicle stuck on…

Georgia Central Engineer Andrew Proman has his work cut out for him. Instead of the usual 50 or more cars tied behind his trio of B32-8s, there are just 10 empties and two loads on this July morning’s version of Savannah-bound train L781. The lack of tonnage stretched over the undulating terrain east of the railroad’s headquarters at Lyons, Ga., means Proman has to almost constantly work the throttle to keep No. 567’s speedometer pegged at 25 mph. The train rolls through the Georgia pine woods as well as small towns with Railroad Streets and Railroad Avenues, a multitude of grade crossings, and historic Savannah & Western depots. And all the way the Savannah Subdivision’s single track, it seems, is either going uphill or downhill. There’s no question about the…

THE FIRST SERGEANT’S VOICE BOOMED out over the formation: “I’m looking for eight volunteers. I need eight men who are looking for an adventure to volunteer for a special assignment. Don’t everybody step forward at once.” Not surprisingly, no one was inclined to volunteer until they knew more about what they were getting into. The past months had been busy for the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga. A year earlier, the unit was regular infantry with jeeps and light trucks. Now the division worked feverishly exchanging light equipment for tanks and armored personnel carriers. Even the unit’s name was updated — 24th Mechanized Infantry Division. The next step for the new mechanized division was a major training exercise. Fort Drum, N.Y., was selected for a January 1980…

ON THE SECOND DAY of the Surface Transportation Board’s September hearing on the lack of rail freight volume growth, Vice Chair Karen Hedlund said she was still struck by what she heard the day before from analysts, shippers, and Class I railroad executives. “What we heard yesterday was a tale of two cities. And I’m still trying to get my head around it,” she says. “From our economists and consultants, we heard a pretty grim story. From our Class I railroads, ‘Hey! Look at all the investments we’re making! We’re just doing great!’ And somewhere in between we have to figure out what’s really going on.” On the first day of the unprecedented hearing, an analyst panel walked the board through the ugly trends. Combined volume of the big four…

IT IS APPROXIMATELY 5 P.M. on a hot June day outside of the city of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Milepost 164 marks the location, an unassuming place, lined by dual track, once of the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR, or “the Valley”), surrounded by the Pocono Mountains. Birds chirping and a slight breeze from the southeast fills the air, a quiet rustle from the forest’s trackside edge and out walks a black bear with, thankfully, no cubs in tow. While some might confuse this for a scene out of Snow White, faintly in the distance a resonant, machine-gun-paced thunderous roar builds. A few minutes later, the roar comes to a crescendo, filling each surrounding valley like the world’s largest surround sound system. Its source is a Reading T-1 4-8-4 locomotive, a 1945 product of…

A night of mystery, elegance, and a train ride … Leaving the worries of 2023 at the Hobbs Station in Forest Park (No-blesville, Ind.), 94 guests and I boarded the Nickel Plate Express train on Dec. 31, 2023. This sold-out train figuratively waved goodbye to the present landscape as we glided back in time and fearlessly entered the past in sophisticated, sprightly Bridgerton style. People traveled near and far to join the Nickel Plate crew — I myself came from Cedarburg, Wis. — for this first-time event, a 45-minute excursion on the Masquerade Express New Year’s Eve train ride. Guests detrained several hours prior to the new year, entering a gorgeously adorned, well-thought-out venue at the end of the line. Dressed to impress, people sipped champagne, ate tantalizing hors dbeuvres,…

PROVINCIAL HIGHWAY 14 between Edmonton, Alberta, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, parallels the densest part of the Canadian National main line, hosts VIA Rail’s iconic Canadian streamliner, and offers history, photo props, and even a sampling of CPKC’s former Canadian Pacific. The twist? Highway 14 is actually two separate highways — Alberta 14 and Saskatchewan 14 — that don’t connect! Driving Western Canada’s prairies is easy on uncrowded provincial highways, the scenery is pleasant, and the tracks are usually within sight and unimpeded. There is also a surprising amount of rail history and customer activity along the way. Edmonton is a good starting point with ample food, lodging, and railroad things to do. While Canadian National’s Walker Yard no longer humps cars, it is home to large diesel and car shops and…

NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD NO. 3001 has been set on a path toward operational restoration, according to the City of Elkhart, Ind., and the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, operators of Nickel Plate No. 765. The locomotive is currently displayed at The National New York Central Railroad Museum, located in Elkhart. The city, which owns the NYCRRM, is partnering with the Historical Society to assess the museum, creating a new strategic plan for its redevelopment. “We treat this collaboration and the acquisition of the 3001 with great excitement and seriousness,” says Kelly Lynch, the society’s executive director. “The locomotive’s future has been uncertain for decades, but we have the ideal railroad venue and the passenger train to pair with it. With consistent and demonstrated donor support, we believe it can…