A major fire that has destroyed a 400-metre wooden trestle in Sacramento is being deemed suspicious by authorities. The fire, which began last night, has disrupted freight and Amtrak traffic and could be seen for miles; the burning creosote timbers also triggered some health and air quality advisories (News10, Sacramento Bee). The trestle was still […]
BNSF: 4Q operating income $942 million, up 18 per cent from 4Q 2005; earnings per diluted share were $1.42, up 26 per cent from 4Q 2005. Annual operating income: $3.5 billion. Reuters. Canadian National: 4Q net income was $499 million ($CDN), up 16 per cent; diluted earnings per share 95¢, up 22 per cent. Net […]
A Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger — presumably UP #3985 — at Dunsmuir, California in September, 2005: Note the two auxiliary water tenders and the two large diesels running backup, including the Western Pacific heritage unit.
BNSF and UP are hauling record amounts of coal from the Powder River Basin this year, but they’re still struggling to keep up with the demand from the electricity companies they haul it to, the Associated Press reports.
Train accidents happen all the time, largely because there are so many trains on the track at any given moment. Here’s a roundup of news about train accidents, just in North America, just in the last couple of days: Following up on yesterday’s Union Pacific derailment in Illinois, the track has been replaced and the […]
A Union Pacific train derailed this morning near the small town of Christopher, Illinois (near Carbondale), the Associated Press reports (Houston Chronicle, Boston Herald, Google News). The accident spilled an as-yet-unidentified chemical that has caused the evacuation of 70 homes; residents are reporting a number of mild symptoms (burning and irritation of the eyes, nose […]
Eight — count ’em — eight UP locomotives pull a train across the Clio Trestle in 1995. Photo by Matt (mistergoleta).
A maintenance train on Union Pacific track east of Sacramento derailed yesterday, spilling thousands of litres of fuel, sparking a fire and killing one member of the crew; another man is still missing. AP stories at CNN and the Washington Post. The train was operated by Harsco; from the photos it may have been a […]
Union Pacific didn’t make itself many friends with its trademark licensing program. Begun in 2002, it required model railroad manufacturers to pay a royalty for products made with the Union Pacific insignias — including the insignias of railroads since absorbed by Union Pacific (i.e., the Chicago and Northwestern, Denver and Rio Grande Western, Katy, Missouri […]
This locomotive is one of six Union Pacific SD70ACe units painted in the colours of a “fallen flag” carrier that has since been absorbed by UP — in this case, the Chicago & Northwestern. (The other five: D&RGW, MKT, MP, SP, WP.) Each unit’s number reflects the date of amalgamation. Some argue that UP is […]
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