Table of contents for January 2026 in Trains

BEGINNING IN JANUARY 2026, passenger and freight movements will be blocked during an almost five-hour daily work window to accommodate construction of a new “Long Bridge” across the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va., a project expected to take up to five years. The 8:15 a.m.-1 p.m. window will be in effect seven days a week during the $2.3 billion project, which will involve a new two-track bridge for passenger service next to the existing double-track bridge dating to 1904. A separate bike and pedestrian bridge is also part of the project. Virginia Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director DJ Stadtler outlined the plan during an Oct. 10 town-hall webinar sponsored by Virginians for High Speed Rail. In a subsequent email to Trains, he explained the two rail bridges…

On Nov. 16, 2023, in a small southern New Jersey town, No. 9, an 0-6-0 ex-Army switcher, moved under its own power for the first time in 42 years after a successful FRA inspection. The locomotive is owned by SMS Lines, based in Bridgeport, N.J. While No. 9 is not big mainline steam, it has a storied history, beginning in the 1940s when the United States was fighting a war in Europe and Asia. USRA 0-6-0S REVISITED World War II forced the U.S. to dramatically increase the capacity of many industrial areas to sustain the war effort. Railroads were at the top of the list. In 1942 the United States Army Transportation Corps (USA/TC) was in desperate need of motive power, including switchers to handle the massive amount of material…

BEING A SAFETY SUPERVISOR at a small regional railroad entailed more than being a statistician. When promoted to the position on the Maine Central in early 1982, I was part of a two-man team, tasked with promoting safety. This required meeting train crews, riding with them, learning the rudiments of their tasks; talking with engineering and mechanical department crews; making worksite observations; listening to suggestions and getting back to people; training; and spreading the word that safety was (and still is) “of the first importance of duty” — the operational foundation of any railroad. While many railroad safety officers spend much of their time filing accident reports, my job, in addition, was to reduce personal injuries and improve the safety of employees and the railroad. Accomplishing this was a formidable…

NEW CSX CEO STEVE ANGEL says his focus will be keeping the railroad running well every day while waiting for the right merger deal to come along. Angel, who replaced Joe Hinrichs Sept. 29, was peppered with merger-related questions during the railroad’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 16. One Wall Street analyst noted Angel’s history of leading industrial gas company Praxair through its merger with Linde. “I ran Praxair for 10 years before we concluded a merger with Linde AG,” Angel said. “And so you could say I was very patient. But the way these things work, these strategic opportunities, you’ve got to wait for the right timing.” Meanwhile, the priority must be on operating with an eye toward making the railroad the best in North America. Then when the…

J.B. HUNT EXECUTIVES SAY there’s no reason they can’t continue to work with both Norfolk Southern and CSX in the East if Union Pacific’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of NS is approved. There had been speculation that J.B. Hunt, which partners exclusively with BNSF Railway in the West under a unique revenue-sharing agreement, would shift traffic away from a combined UP-NS to CSX. “That’s not accurate at all,” Darren Field, president of J.B. Hunt Intermodal, said on the company’s earnings call in October. “There’s nothing about a future-state new railroad that would mean our current Norfolk Southern footprint that we have today would be required to change.” For decades, J.B. Hunt has offered seamless transcontinental intermodal service that links BNSF terminals with those on both NS and CSX. “That opportunity…

Visit your local railroads enough and sooner or later you will luck out. Maybe it will be motive power usually assigned to another part of the railroad, or perhaps pool power from a faraway railroad. But sometimes luck is just answering the phone. In the mid-1980s I was working at a local newspaper when I got a call from friend and Santa Fe Public Relations Manager Mike Martin. Martin’s office was adjacent to his railroad’s Hobart Yard in East Los Angeles, and he was privy to everything that was anything on his part of the railroad. “Doing anything this afternoon?” Martin asked. “Care to come down to Hobart about 1 p.m.?” It was now 10 a.m. and the yard was 40 miles away. “Sure,” I replied, figuring how to get…

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 16TH U.S. PRESIDENT, held a fascination with railroads. On July 1, 1862, he signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 into law, enabling construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and creating the Union Pacific Railroad. On April 30, 2025, No. 1616, an SD70M, rolled from Jenks Shop in North Little Rock, Ark. The fresh paint represented colors worn by UP 4-4-0 No. 119 at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. Lincoln’s railroad fascination is now honored by a contemporary locomotive. A tip told me No. 1616 would power an executive special to Moab and Potash, Utah, on Sept. 24. My friend Joe McMillian and I rolled out at 5 a.m. heading to Rifle, Colo., catching up with the train. We left Rifle at 10 a.m., scurrying along Interstate 70 following…

CAPE COD, A SEASIDE HOLIDAY DESTINATION on a curved peninsula in southeastern Massachusetts, has long been prized for its exceptional beaches, dunes, and cranberry bogs. Although at the periphery of the New England railroad network, “The Cape” — as it is known locally — has a long rail heritage that makes it worthy of repeated exploration and enjoyment. My wife Kris has family connections to Cape Cod, and over the last five years we’ve made annual visits, returning to old haunts and exploring railroads past and present. RAILS REACH THE CAPE Rails reached Sandwich, Mass., in 1848 and were gradually extended across the peninsula, reaching to the important commercial center at Hyannis, Mass., via a branch line, in July 1854, while the line extending “down Cape” to Provincetown opened in 1873.…

AFTER AVERTING ONE CRISIS, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority almost immediately found itself in another this fall, as fires involving its aging Silverliner IV cars led to a federal order sidelining portions of the fleet that makes up most of SEPTA’s Regional Rail equipment. A day after the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that SEPTA sideline the entire 223-car Silverliner IV fleet because of five fires earlier in the year, the Federal Railroad Administration issued an emergency order requiring inspection of the cars built by GE between 1974 and 1976. That led to significant reductions in the number of cars available to handle Regional Rail service, which in turn led to canceled and delayed trains and overcrowding on the remaining equipment. As of Oct. 29, SEPTA had completed inspections on…

DEVELOPING POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL is arguably the most significant technological advancement in railroading since the transition from steam to diesel locomotives. It has been nearly as controversial as the motive-power change, and similarly is here to stay. PTC implementation was a revolution in that the U.S. railroad industry completed the process—from statutory mandate to cutover of the last required track mile — in just over a decade. But it was equally an evolution. Technologies such as onboard safety computers, wireless data communications, and Global Positioning Satellite receivers have been applied in many other industrial sectors; their use by railroads for train control was a natural and inevitable progression. Previously [“A Slow Path to Higher Speed,” September 2024], I described the impact PTC had on the timeline for Amtrak to achieve…

WITH THE 2023 MERGER of Kansas City Southern into Canadian Pacific to form Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the KCS north-south segment between Kansas City and Shreveport, La., became the single link in the chain between CPKC’s many Midwest routes and the tracks in Texas, Louisiana, and beyond. As it cuts across Mid-America, between Neosho, Mo., and Texarkana on the border of Texas and Arkansas, much of this critical link is near and along U.S. or state Highway 59. Train volume is moderate — but growing — as the new CPKC seeks to create shipper opportunities from the recent merger. With a mix of CP and KCS locomotives, plus plenty of foreignroad power, the new operation offers scenic train watching and plenty of photo opportunities. THE SETTING Arthur Stilwell’s Kansas City,…

YES, THAT WAS A STEAM LOCO-MOTIVE traveling along Texas Highway 224. Temple Lumber Co. No. 20 was moved 95 miles from Pineland to Rusk, Texas, and its new home in the former Cotton Belt yard. The locomotive was acquired by the nonprofit Southern Pine Locomotive Company. It will be restored and placed in a fresh venue. Southern Pine Locomotive Co. is a new organization seeking to tell the story of logging railroads in East Texas through No. 20. The group gained title to the locomotive, a former Santa Fe depot located in Pineland, and five acres of land donated by Rusk, according to Keith Bass, SPLCo. president. The SPLCo. directors all have considerable steam locomotive experience, and have extensive time with the Texas State Railroad, although the two groups are…