Tabla de contenidos para February 2026 en Trains

AMTRAK RIDERSHIP grew 5% in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025, and revenue surged 11%, as robust Northeast Regional gains offset fewer Acela frequencies on the Northeast Corridor. The company carried nearly 34.5 million passengers, with ticket revenue of $2.764 billion. Compared with fiscal 2024, the company’s monthly results for 2025 show ticket revenue growing more than ridership in each category of service — Northeast Corridor, Long Distance, and State-supported. This confirms what ticket buyers have experienced all year: fares are raised significantly as coach seats and sleeping car space fill up. The higher fares allow the company to cash in on last-minute customers rather than turn people away. This strategy was recently criticized by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who secured a $99 price cap on New York…

This adventure is excerpted from a story first appearing in September 1984. It and 45 other railroad tales can be found in a forthcoming Trains/Classic Trains book, Tales of the Rails, due in March 2026. Visit shop.trains.com to order your copy. ON JUNE 27,1955,1 witnessed a veteran locomotive engineer and passenger-train conductor conspiring to violate bulletin provisions as issued by the Chicago Division superintendent of the Grand Trunk Western. Time has blurred recalling the specific language, but in effect it read: "Conductors and Engineers of passenger trains will include in their delay reports, duration and reason for all stops not authorized by Timetable or Train Dispatcher. Failure to comply with this Bulletin may result in an investigation." In 1955, train No. 14 operated from Chicago to Toronto. On the Chicago Division,…

THE B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM, Baltimore, Md., announced that CSX CEO Steve Angel will co-chair the museum’s $38 million capital campaign to transform its campus for the 200th anniversary of American railroading in 2027. Angel replaces former CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs in this role. Angel joins Benjamin H. Griswold IV as campaign co-chair. Angel became CSX CEO with the departure of Hinrichs in September 2025. Previously, he served as CEO of Linde plc from 2018 to 2022, and chairman since 2022. “CSX, as the proud successor to America’s first commercial railroad, is committed to honoring our heritage while advancing the future of rail,” says Angel. “Co-chairing the B&O Museum’s 200th Anniversary Campus Transformation Campaign is an opportunity to help shape how that story is told — connecting past achievements with the innovation…

HORNEMAN ENTERPRISES, an engineering firm specializing in rail equipment restoration, has rebuilt 4-4-0 HARRISBURG, LINCOLN & LANCASTER RAILROAD NO. 331 (right) — formerly No. 63 Leviathan — from completely torn down to the boiler to operational in five weeks. The rebuild completed the locomotive’s Federal Railroad Administration 1,472-day inspection, accomplished over the course of 10 months. Friends of the HL&L The TENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM has received two significant grants. NOR-FOLK SOUTHERN donated $50,000 toward restoration of 12-section, one-drawing room Pullman sleeper MAITLAND, which entered service in 1925. The museum was awarded $100,000 from the STATE OF TENNESSEE for improvements to its GRAND JUNCTION DEPOT area, including energy-efficient window replacement, electrical upgrades to reduce locomotive idling around the station, and increased outside lighting for night events. MINNESOTA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM volunteers have…

IF UNION PACIFIC wanted to show reporters how trains can sit in Chicago, it was mission accomplished as its six-car media day executive train wound through the railroad capital. As the train headed west at 10 mph on Nov. 12 — rolling between the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard and CSX’s Bedford Park intermodal terminal — UP CEO Jim Vena did not like what he was seeing from the Fox River theater car. “There’s nothing freaking moving … There’s another one sitting there … There’s another one,” Vena exclaimed. “Is that us over there?” The trains belonged to BRC and CSX. Then Vena spotted a lone UP locomotive at Bedford Park — and wanted to know how long it had been there. John Turner, senior vice president of operations for…

THE END MAY NOT BE NEAR, but Amtrak has begun the lengthy process of selling off its most productive and enduring assets: stainless steel Amfleet coaches and cafes that began arriving from the Budd Co. 50 years ago. In late October, Amtrak issued a Request for Information “to solicit public interest in the procurement” of 370 coach and 58 business-class “Capstone Converted” Amfleet I passenger cars, 75 “Cafe class” Amfleet I cars, and 11 former Metroliner cab control coaches. Finding applicants to operate the cars and prolong their life is not the intent. The document obtained by Trains says the project “supports two of our primary disposition tactics, being the sale and scrapping of Amtrak’s legacy equipment to prospective buyers.” Formal responses were due by Dec. 5. The 83 Siemens…

No matter how you look at it, Mark George had an eventful first year at the helm of Norfolk Southern — even setting aside the historic deal to create the first transcontinental railroad through a merger with Union Pacific. George was named chief executive on Sept. 11, 2024, after CEO Alan Shaw was dismissed due to an inappropriate relationship with the railroad’s chief legal officer. George, who had spent five years as chief financial officer, inherited a railroad that had been in turmoil since the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment and hazardous materials release in East Palestine, Ohio. The disastrous wreck — and a subsequent string of derailments — put a harsh spotlight on NS. East Palestine was the most expensive derailment in history. It ultimately took a financial toll of…

THE RECENT COMPLETION of the SNCB/NMBS Gare de Mons (Belgium National Railways’ Mons railroad station) has again placed the spotlight on prolific Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava’s railroad designs push the boundaries of transportation architecture and exemplify how clever and innovative design can overcome the pitfalls of traditional station arrangements. Calatrava improves the railroad experience. He makes it easier to reach platforms by simplifying transitions between transportation modes, by connecting surrounding communities, and by providing beautiful, bright, spacious environments that minimize crowding while offering ample amenities for transiting travelers. PASSION FOR URBANISM Santiago Calatrava was born in Valencia in 1951. Embracing a love of sculpture with a passion for urbanism, he developed an open, flowing, organic style of architecture by melding architectural and engineering skills, having earned degrees in…

THE CITY OF OGDEN, UTAH, the 223 Locomotive Foundation, and the Colorado Railroad Museum have announced plans for an operational restoration of Denver & Rio Grande Western No. 223. The 2-8-0 locomotive is one of three remaining C-16 class engines built in 1881. It is the only remaining C-16 built by Grant Locomotive Works of Patterson, N.J. The locomotive, which has been housed at Ogden Union Station since 1992, is owned by the City of Ogden. The 223 Foundation was established to raise financial support for the restoration and help coordinate the efforts of those involved in the project. After receiving clear title to the locomotive in February 2024, Ogden officials began studying options for its future. Narrow-gauge locomotive expert John Bush was hired to inventory No. 223’s parts, a…

OF THE 36 PROJECTS completed so far by the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, few if any are as likely to have the impact of its latest, the Forest Hill Flyover. The double-track bridge — carrying CSX’s main line over tracks used by Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, the Belt Railway of Chicago, and Metra — started carrying traffic on Oct. 15, 2025, eliminating a longstanding choke point that saw some 90 freight trains and 30 commuter moves compete for the use of a pair of double-track diamond crossings. On Nov. 14, city, county, state, and railroad officials gathered at a site next to the newly idled diamonds and celebrated the achievement. “Anyone who has spent time near this junction knows that the trains were not just slowing…

UNMISTAKABLY, this photo was not taken in the United States. The flat-fronted diesel, the style of signal, even the giant white horse in the distance call out, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” And yet, an American can find elements of home in this image from outside Westbury, England, on an unseasonably warm Sept. 19, 2025. Take that diesel. In British parlance it is a Class 59. Beneath that peaked-roof carbody, it is pure EMD, from London, Ontario — a 3,000-hp, C-C locomotive with a 16-cylinder 645 prime mover: an SD40-2 in local dress. And, if that orange-and-black paint scheme looks familiar, yes, operator Freightliner was part of Genesee & Wyoming. It was split off as a sister company in 2024, and sold its intermodal service to…

NEW YORK STATE ROUTE 5 is the main local road in the Mohawk Valley of central New York. While many settlements were bypassed by the New York State Thruway, Route 5 still passes through several communities — often as “Main Street” — as it parallels CSX’s former New York Central Water Level Route. Many of these towns sprang up along the transportation corridors that took advantage of the Mohawk River to avoid the more rugged areas surrounding central New York. The river has a long history of trade and travel use by Native American tribes. Early European settlers continued to use the river and improved the roads and paths to speed up travel. A major advancement — the Mohawk Turnpike — came in 1793, and eventually became modern Route 5.…

AFTER MORE THAN 500,000 volunteer working hours, the 557 Restoration Co. successfully fired the last Alaska Railroad steam locomotive on Nov. 8, 2025, outside its shop in Wasilla, Alaska, about an hour north of Anchorage. The rebuild is now 95% complete, “with all the expensive and labor intensive stuff behind us,” says Patrick Durand, 557 Restoration Co. president. On the day of the test firing, the locomotive was pulled outside the company shop by a bucket loader. Jeff DeBroeck, chief mechanical officer, placed a lit rag into the oil mist coming off the burner inside the firebox. No. 557 came to life for the first time in more than 60 years. “After 13 years of work,” says Durand, “the entire crew was elated to see the light off and the…