September - 2018

And then there were six; and on BNSF there will be four

Six is the remaining number of passenger railroads that may not qualify for a Positive Train Control (PTC) extension under current...

How can a railroad cause a flood?

The answer is, it can't. But that's what the media and city officials of Lumberton, NC, are saying, and they're pointing the proverbial...

What is 'viable?'

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today that the Minnesota Department of Transportation has studied the possibility of a second...

Union Pacific and Precision Scheduled Railroading

Union Pacific (UP) has announced that it will implement its own version of Precision Scheduled Railroading. To keep this short, I'll...

First you say you won't and then you will

I can't figure out whether Amtrak is trying to emulate the late, great Hunter Harrison in terms of its caprice, or simply imitating the...

A shift in direction

This has been a vanity blog from the start. Those of you who do read it regularly know that I haven't posted now for over a month. If...

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ABOUT ME

I have written about railroads for 10+ years, and I am an avid train watcher and amateur railroad historian. I was born in Chicago in the late 40s and grew up a stone's throw from the main line of the old CB&Q, route of famous trains like the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, and North Coast Limited. I am also an author and have published a series of novels involving a train-watching detective.