Free Republic

Putin's army would stretch out from Kalingrad like a sword swallowing Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia one by one. But this dream is being shattered by a hammer blow stretching from Riga to Vilnius. While the iron piece was being melted down in Riga's back rooms last month, now this iron is being forged into a hammer in Vilnius, shattering Putin's 50-year Baltic dream. Moreover, this time Belarus will not escape either. In the early days of December 2025, history is being rewritten in Europe's eastern flank, not with ink, but with shattered metal. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. These three tiny...

* Passengers say the journey on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief — delays and all — is worth it: no TSA lines, ground-level scenery spanning deserts and mountains, and hours of unrushed conversation with fellow travelers. * The route attracts everyone from Amish families seeking affordable medical care in Tijuana to model railroaders, artists and senior travelers rediscovering American landscapes. We were well into our journey from Los Angeles to Chicago, surrounded by cornfields and grain elevators, when the train halted and a voice rang out. “All right, folks,” said a man on the PA system. “We’ve come to a stop in...

The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 was not the only amazing feat of American railroad engineering in history. In 1886, railways in the south managed to convert the gauge on an estimated 11,500 miles of track in a period of just 36 hours. The History Guy remembers the 1886 Southern Railroad Gauge Change, an important moment in railroad history. The Day The Gauge Changed | 10:05 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.61M subscribers | 1,173,812 views | June 16, 2018

'You can't just destroy small communities along the way'An impassioned and oftentimes angry cohort from a small California city turned up ready for a fight this week in opposition to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s proposal to bisect the town. On Monday, residents of Shafter, a rural town of 22,000 just about 20 miles northwest of Bakersfield, showed up en masse to provide almost two hours of unanimous testimony opposing the plan to their city council. Individual pleas from community members often began calmly and then crescendoed into yelling (or even escalated to holding back tears) following a presentation by...

The beloved and former toy industry leader, Toys “R” Us, is revamping its brand ahead of the holiday season with new stores across the country, including two in California. The company announced a nationwide expansion on Oct. 16, unveiling 30 new locations. The rollout includes a flagship store at the Camarillo Premium Outlets in Ventura County and a seasonal holiday shop at Bay Street Emeryville Mall in the Bay Area. According to the company, the new stores are designed as convenient, family-friendly destinations featuring popular toy brands such as LEGO, Barbie, Hot Wheels, NERF and Paw Patrol.

The president of Uzbekistan on Wednesday offered his country's assistance in investigating the deadly terror attack in the lower Manhattan area of New York City. The suspect in the attack was identified as an Uzbek national, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, but the country has been linked to at least three other terrorist incidents over the last year. In April, Uzbek national Rakhmat Akilov drove a truck into pedestrians in Stockholm, Sweden, killing five people. Earlier that same month, Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Russian citizen who was born in Kyrgyzstan...

On Febuary 3rd 2023, one of the most controversial train wrecks in recent history would occur in a small Ohio village all because of a burning bearing on a hopper car. But digging deep into the investigation it becomes apparant this derailment and subsequent chemical spill was a lot more than just a simple hotbox as Norfolk Southern's negligent buisness practices become enlightened to the public. Probably the most anticipated documentary of all time if I'm honest. I cannot tell you how many times people requested this video to be made espesially before the NTSB final report was released but...

Rail lobbyists representing giants like Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern want to automate track inspections. Why? It would bring rail carriers more profits. Critics warn this would undermine safety—or even cause a repeat of what happened in East Palestine.

Two juveniles are facing serious charges after taking a train engine for a joyride, which ended in a derailment. The minors, who learned how to start the train engine online,(youtube) drove three locomotives around a yard and onto the rail line before crashing into parked cars. The reckless stunt caused significant damage and could have had deadly consequences. Authorities are warning of the dangers of tampering with railroads and the severe risks involved in such dangerous actions.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 4-8-4 2926 will be under steam on September 27 and 28 for New Mexico Railroad Days at the Albuquerque South Rail Yards. The free, family-friendly event will give attendees the chance to see the recently restored locomotive up close. ATSF 2926 was built by Baldwin in 1944 and retired after just nine years of service. New Mexico Heritage Rail (also known as the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society) spent nearly two decades restoring the locomotive and it returned to service in 2021. Since then it has made brief trips around Albuquerque on...

BNSF Railway donated a historic SD70MAC to the Illinois Railway Museum. Locomotive 9400 was built in 1993 and is notable for being the first production locomotive (i.e., non-demonstrator) to feature modern AC traction, making it the precursor to thousands of units with this groundbreaking technology. BNSF made the donation earlier this summer, and IRM announced it on July 31. IRM plans to eventually restore the unit to its as-delivered appearance, Burlington Northern’s green and cream “Executive” livery from the early 1990s. Following testing of freight diesels equipped with AC traction motors in the early 1990s, BN ordered the first production...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate Democratic leader, has spoken out against the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. In remarks Thursday (July 31, 2025) on the Senate floor, Schumer said approval of the merger “would cut down the industry from four major players to just three, pushing us even further down the road of dangerous consolidation and monopoly power.” Schumer noted the companies are saying the merger will promote competition, improve service, and benefit workers and customers. “History tells us the opposite,” he said. “The last four decades of railroad mergers have led to worse service, worse safety,...

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern executives touted their proposed merger as a way to return to volume growth after losing market share to the highway since rail traffic peaked in 2006. “We can only go so far independently. And let’s face it, this industry has faced contraction over the last couple decades in terms of volume growth,” NS CEO Mark George told investors and analysts on a conference call this morning. “We’ve been losing share to truck — and this is one way to reverse that trend.” The historic combination — which would create the first transcontinental...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A new era of train travel is set to begin in the Pacific Northwest as Amtrak Cascades introduces a fleet of new trains in 2026. The eight new trainsets and two locomotives will operate along the I-5 corridor, connecting cities such as Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., Eugene, and Portland. The new trainsets will feature the iconic Amtrak Cascades color scheme of evergreen, cream, and mocha, adorned with Cascade Range mountain graphics. The trains comply with the Federal Railroad Administration Buy America Standards and were manufactured in the U.S. at Siemens facilities. Earlier this year, Amtrak pulled it's...

The dream of high-speed, magnetically propelled trains zipping between Washington, D.C., and New York City will, at least for now, remain just that — a dream. The Federal Railroad Administration has officially canned the environmental review process for the section of the proposed Northeast Maglev train between D.C. and Baltimore, halting a plan that would be transformative for the region but has drawn the ire of community groups in parts of Maryland along its path. The proposal would cause “significant, unresolvable impacts to federal agencies and federal property,” according to a letter the FRA sent Thursday to Maryland Transportation Secretary...

A merger would create a 52,000-mile system spanning the U.S. but would face regulatory obstacles. Combining Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern into the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. would create a 52,215-mile colossus that could offer seamless service from coast to coast, bypassing longtime interchange choke points in Chicago and at gateways along the Mississippi River. The two railroads confirmed today that they are in advanced merger discussions. The talks, they said, may not result in a deal. Plus, there’s the potential for a bidding war if BNSF Railway, UP’s Western rival, decides to make a move for NS....

The Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 roared back through Colorado towns between Denver and Cheyenne July 17 and 19 – this time pulling another piece of history, commemorative locomotive No. 1616, also known as the Abraham Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln is a commemorative locomotive unveiled on April 30, 2025 at the Downing B. Jenks Locomotive Shop in North Little Rock, Arkansas, labeling it as the second presidential locomotive built, according to officials. The powerhouse engine joins Union Pacific’s No. 4141, which was built to honor President George H.W. Bush, according to officials. Union Pacific pays tribute to the memory of...

Steam preservationist and entrepreneur Ross Rowland passed away on July 19 following a brief battle with cancer. He was 85 years old. Rowland made his money in the commodity trading market, but his true passion was steam railroading, and in the 1960s and 1970s, he was responsible for some of the biggest steam-powered spectacles of the preservation era. Through his High Iron Company, he operated excursions across the Northeast and Midwest using an eclectic fleet of steam locomotives, including Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 759, Reading Company 4-8-4 2101, and Canadian Pacific G5 4-6-2s Nos. 1238, 1278, and 1286. In 1969,...

Florida operates three separate rail systems: Tri‑Rail, Brightline, and FEC Freight. Tri‑Rail currently runs on the old CSX corridor to the west, while Brightline and FEC Freight share the Florida East Coast (FEC) main line. But now, Tri‑Rail is actively testing on the FEC tracks — with dozens of daily tests into downtown Miami Central on the same rails used by Brightline and freight since June 2023 . Moreover, under the Coastal Link plan, Tri‑Rail is slated to begin regular passenger service along this corridor — effectively merging all three rail services onto one aging track . Picture this: 110...

Florida's beloved Brightline has been dubbed America's deadliest train after it was revealed to have revealed killed someone on average every 13 days. In total, a staggering 182 people have died and 99 were injured on the tracks since 2018, leading to furious finger-pointing and calls for further safety measures around the notoriously deadly rail line. Another 101 collisions into vehicles mercifully ended without causalities, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald and WLRN. The high-speed trainlines first victim, 18-year-old Maddie Brunelle, died eight years ago after being struck by a Brightline train. Her mother, Amy Brunelle, continues to...