Speed record will be just start of Amtrak upgrades

Amtrak plans to break its own top speed when it spruces up a 24-mile stretch of track in New Jersey for trains running from New York to Washington at 160 mph.
For more than a decade, if you wanted to experience trains at their fastest in the nation, it meant taking Amtrak’s Acela Express to Boston. Around Rhode Island, the train hits 150 mph for about 35 miles.
But with $450 million in federal high-speed-rail money, Amtrak plans to upgrade the 24-mile section of track in New Jersey on which trains would top the current highest speed by 10 mph. Continued

Buckhorn senior building ramp for handicapped at railroad museum

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Blake Jacobs is making a difference. He is working to improve opportunities for others.
And if that sounds like a Boy Scout, well, it's because he is. And this endeavor is an effort to achieve the highest rank available to a Boy Scout.
Jacobs, a 17-year-old senior at Buckhorn High School, is building a wheelchair ramp and platform to ease access to trains at the North Alabama Railroad Museum in northeast Madison County. Continued

Deadly New Market train wreck still echoes through area

NEW MARKET, Tenn. - John Coker stares at a thick, black rectangular smudge that runs along a section of the north bank of Lost Creek, a small stream that eventually disappears into a cave system.
The dark vein, about a foot wide and perhaps two feet long, is not a coal seam. Rather, it is the result of years of train debris packed and compressed into the earth when locomotives ran on steam powered by coal furnaces.
"You are standing in the middle of a catastrophe," says Coker, grandson of the man who was an eyewitness to one of the most catastrophic train wrecks in Tennessee history.
Known as the New Market Train Wreck, the accident killed at least 64 people and injured more than 100 others. Continued

Train derails in Washington County

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Washington County near Tennille, Ga., spilling about 85 tons of wood chips but causing no injuries, according to an incident report filed today with the National Response Center.
The accident occurred about 10 p.m. Friday and involved the derailment of five train cars, of which one tipped over completely and spilled its load of wood chips onto the railroad’s main track line, the report said. Continued

The Potential for a Train Wreck

... This can't possibly be a good thing. I contacted somebody in Oswego to let them know what I found. I assumed since they were the closest town that they would be the best ones to contact. When I checked back with them a few days later I was told that the information was passed on to Illinois Railway. I figured it was just a matter of time before someone was out there to fix it.
Two and a half years later nothing has been done about the broken culvert or the hole under the railroad ties. Every time I go past there I take a picture of it so I can compare them over time to see if things are getting worse. Continued

San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad teaches practicality

ALAMOSA — Railroaders learning to operate locomotives used the San Luis Valley tracks for training grounds this week.
San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad provided four Permian Basin Railways conductors Engineer Ground School, an inaugural program inspired by last year’s SLRG successful Conductor Ground School.
“It is a good place to train new conductors and new engineers,” said SLRG General Manager Matt Abbey. “This railroad has a wide variety of equipment and a multiplying variety of operations: passenger trains, switches and freight trains.” Continued

Pittsylvania County outings proving popular

Very simply, the Pittsylvania County Parks and Recreation Department wants people to have some fun.
To that end, the department sponsors trips that include a wide variety of activities, enjoyment and destinations.
The first outing offered by the department, which is less than a year old, was a November bus trip from various stops on U.S. 29 to the Lynchburg train station where the participants boarded an Amtrak train to Washington returning in the evening, according to Ernie Dale, the department’s contracted trip coordinator.
... “I’d never ridden on an Amtrak train, so I wanted to go,” Lonnie said. Continued

Tourism board hears report from rail passenger group

La Junta, Colo. — ... Two senators from North Dakota recently put together a grant and other support for rail travel in the amount of $97 million. “If North Dakota can do it, Colorado can do it!” he said.Burlington Northern-Santa Fe has been unwilling to repair rails between Newton and La Junta and between Trinidad and La Junta to support Amtrak passenger trains, since their freights require only rails that will support speeds of 30-60 miles per hour, while Amtrak speeds top 70 miles per hour. Continued

Amtrak's Hiawatha line breaks ridership record

Annual ridership on Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line cracked the 800,000 mark for the first time last year, the state Department of Transportation reported Friday.
The Hiawatha provided a record 823,163 rides in 2011, up 4% from 792,848 in 2010, the department said. Continued

BNSF Opens $30 Million Expansion in Minot

BNSF railway has just completed construction of a new car shop and inspection tracks in Minot.
The railway says the expansion is to meet the growing freight volume in North Dakota. ... BNSF expects to expand their North Dakota workforce as well. Continued

"Bullet train will keep U.S. out of Third World"

Gov. Jerry Brown is on a mission to prevent the United States from becoming a Third World country, and he says the solution is a high-speed railroad in California.
"We're not going to be a Third World country if I have anything to do with it," Brown said in a Friday morning interview on KCBS-AM in San Francisco. Fourteen countries already have high-speed rail, but the United States does not. Continued

Discovering the Civil War by Train

Railroads have undoubtedly shaped the course of American history -- but have you ever thought about their effect on the Civil War? The War Came By Train at the B&O Railroad Museum (901 West Pratt St., Baltimore, Md.) explores the first war in which railroads played a prominent role, starting with the Baltimore riot of 1861 and ending with Lincoln's funeral train. Continued

Windsor approves plan for future growth around downtown train station

Windsor’s train station doesn’t have passenger rail service yet, but it’s already dictating how the town will grow over the next 20 to 25 years. In a half-mile radius around the station, urban planners have come up with a vision to enhance the area “as the civic and cultural heart of the downtown.”
The station is considered integral to a transit-oriented future in which people live and work within walking distance of trains and buses.
“The whole point is to put density in a place where people have access to transit, so they can get by with fewer cars and be able to live and get services without having to drive. Near a SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) station is the perfect place to do that,” said Mayor Debora Fudge, who also is a member of the SMART board of directors. Continued

Hundreds turn out to launch Bellingham anti-coal train initiative

BELLINGHAM - With a musical kickoff from bandZandt singing "No Coal Trains," local activists launched their "Coal-Free Bellingham" campaign for a citizen initiative to outlaw coal trains through a city ordinance.
Stoney Bird, a retired corporate attorney who is one of the key organizers, said it may be a week or two before signature-gatherers hit the streets. The language for the ballot title needs to be worked out with the City Attorney's office.
But judging from the Thursday, Jan. 26, turnout of 200 or more enthusiastic supporters, the signature-gathering process won't lack for volunteers. Continued

Railroad club says KCS locomotive headed to good home at Carona

PITTSBURG, Kan. - A plan under way to relocate and restore a Pittsburg landmark has drawn the ire of some residents, about 20 of whom turned out to protest at the City Commission meeting Tuesday night.
But those who are working to save Kansas City Southern Railroad Steam Engine 1023 by moving it from Schlanger Park to the historic Carona Depot say the plan’s wheels already have been set into motion and can’t be derailed. Continued