Free Republic

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...

SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Two former Caltrain employees were sentenced to a collective six months in jail this week. Both men were charged back in 2024 with the felony theft of public funds after they embezzled money to build secret apartments -- one at the Caltrain station in Burlingame and the other at the nearby Millbrae station. "This is why I say to people, never say you've seen it all, because something new like this will come up," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Wagstaffe tells ABC7 News the men lived inside the apartments for several...

Officers had to form a skirmish line to clear a large mob that vandalized a Metro train, a police car and several businesses in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night.

The Tren de Aragua rose to power in Nicolas Maduro’s anarchotyranny. Now they’re in Florida. Last week, El American broke the news that members of the Tren de Aragua, the largest criminal organization in Venezuela (after the government), had crossed the southern border and were living in Orlando, Florida. The news came a week after Breitbart had claimed that Venezuelan criminals were crossing the border to live in the U.S.—more than likely continuing their criminal enterprises. The source told El American that the criminals were living in Bogotá, Colombia, and were able to change their identity by bribing Venezuelan officials....

For you FReepers who are Rail Fans or even have had idiot bosses watch this video. This is an audio recording of Train Engineers talking to their dispatchers. The dispatcher is telling these train Engineers to do what? As one Engineer said "this makes stupid look smart" For you Rail Fans this could have been another Lac Megantic disaster because the dispatcher was a moron. as one Engineer said "THERE'S A MOUNTAIN UP HERE!"

Both of Canada’s major freight railroads have come to a full stop because of a contract dispute with their workers, an impasse that could bring significant economic harm to businesses and consumers in Canada and the U.S. if the trains don’t resume running soon. Canadian National and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after the deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Thursday passed without new agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference that represents some 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers. ... All rail traffic in Canada and all shipments crossing the U.S. border have stopped... Billions of dollars of goods...

"The complete collapse of the entire railroad network in the country could happen in days," the channel said. "[Russian Railways] chiefs have been ordered to work to the point of exhaustion. Those who fail to cope are threatened with dismissal and 'execution.' This is the motivation." Russian Railways in 2023 reported that the number of trains suspended due to issues with its trains more than doubled to 42,600 amid a shortage of critical parts. This was due to "insufficient maintenance of the locomotive fleet," Kommersant reported in March. A Russian Railways spokesperson told Vedomosti in February that the issue "became...

France’s high-speed train system was targeted in a series of attacks Friday, wreaking havoc on the opening day of the 2024 Olympic Games. A series of “coordinated acts of malice” in France led to the cancellation and diversion of a large number of trains, while all travelers were asked to postpone their journeys and not go to train stations on the opening day of the Olympics, according to French rail company SNCF and CNN. Damage was reported at several SNCF facilities as well as the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern high-speed lines. At least one of the attacks was mitigated by...

France’s state-owned rail company SNCF says a 'massive attack' aimed at paralysing the high-speed network is causing delays and cancellations. A series of coordinated arson attacks on the train infrastructure of France's largest rail company, SNCF, caused a significant number of trains to be re-routed or cancelled on Friday morning, according to the transport company.... The attack is expected to disrupt the transport system on the opening day of the 2024 Paris Olympics.... International travel to and from the UK beneath the English Channel and to neighbouring Belgium has also been disrupted by what SNCF called a series of coordinated...

The front page of the Washington Post featured a story titled “Biden trains fire on Trump” on Saturday, the day of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., shared an image of the newspaper on Sunday with the date, July 13, 2024, clearly visible in the top corner: The report was about President Joe Biden’s (D) “fiery rally” in Michigan where the report said Biden claimed Trump was “unfit” to serve as president again