The U.S. is the world’s biggest producer of corn. To put this in its most basic perspective, corn is a major foundation of our economy. We export oceans of the stuff. The portion we feed to livestock keeps meat affordable. So I was struck by a press...

We’re learning more about the Miami-Orlando passenger service that Florida East Coast is ramping up, thanks most recently to release of an environmental impact statement covering the 66 miles between downtown Miami and West Palm Beach. Forgive me...

Within eight years, the biggest producer of oil in the world will be … yes, the United States of America. Bigger than Saudi Arabia and any of the other sheikdoms. So says the International Energy Agency , a Paris-based organization that The Wall...

The town of Missouri Valley, Iowa, is 40 miles north of Omaha, Neb., on I-29. It's the site of some of the most concentrated and intense mainline freight action you'll ever see. And I make it a point to get out there whenever business takes me to Omaha...

OTTAWA – Participants at this year’s Association of Railway Museums/Tourist Railway Association meeting were up early in Montreal Tuesday for a trip to the nation’s capital and a railroad history tour. There was only one...

MONTREAL — I’m in Montreal this week for the annual joint conference of the Association of Railway Museums and Tourist Railway Association . It is a meeting that I always enjoy because of its seminars and field trips. I grew up in the 1960s...

As VIA Rail Canada begins scaled-back winter service on its flagship train, the Toronto-to-Vancouver Canadian , I read a lot of angst online about its future. Starting this month until next April, the train will depart just two days a week rather than...

How long has it been since you’ve been drawn in and captivated by a railroad’s television commercial, one that makes a strong point and yet is entertaining and, yes, enjoyable? I went so far in one of my first columns for Trains to write that...

I got to know Doug Riddell just like many of you did, through his monthly column in the pages of Pacific Rail News and subsequently Rail News. A locomotive engineer most of his adult life (and before that a radio disc jockey), Doug’s true calling...

The New York-New Jersey railroad complex is a mess, following Hurricane Sandy. Subways are flooded in lower Manhattan. So are Amtrak’s tunnels under the Hudson River and at least one of the tunnels leading east to Long Island. New Jersey Transit...

It is fun to watch you folks have at it (and each other) in (mostly) good-humored fun. But I want to chime in again. Several of you chastised me for my criticism of Amtrak’s complete Northeast Corridor shutdown Sunday night. And upon reflection...

One nice thing about living in western Kansas or Nebraska is that you’ll never lose power due to downed trees. Here in northern Virginia we have trees, lots of them. Any storm worthy of the name topples trees onto power lines and there goes electrical...

A Southwest Airlines 737 takes off from Chicago's Midway Airport, flying over the remains of the Pullman plant. Jim Wrinn photo CHICAGO – I visited the fabled Pullman Palace Car plant on the south side of Chicago on a recent weekend. It was the...

Most of you have never heard of Avard. It’s in northwest Oklahoma, just shy of that state’s panhandle. I’ve been there many times. Worst of all is to arrive by dirt road to discover, as I always seem to do, that your fuel tank is on...

I’m sitting in the courtyard of a hotel built from the ruins of a 16 th -century convent in the Mexican city of Puebla. The evening’s rainstorm is washing through, and I’m wondering why we gringos have so often ignored Mexican railroading...

The Association of American Railroads’ Rail Time Indicators August reporting period includes five weeks and September only four. That means total car loadings on categories that were rising will appear to have stopped in their tracks, or risen only...

Cathie and I drove to Roundup River Ranch this past weekend to see a caboose she has christened “The Benny,” in memory of her younger brother Bobby Bennett, a.k.a. Benny to his friends. I’ll tell you about The Benny, then explain why...

My friend, the historian Carlos Schwantes, has written a slew of rail-related books, including The West The Railroads Made and Just One Restless Traveler: Reflections on Trains & Travel. I’m prepared to accept his word on just about anything...

A memorable part of this year’s Lexington Group meeting, held in Peoria, Ill., was a panel of former Amtrak officers moderated by Bill Howes, who ran pre-Amtrak passenger services for the Baltimore & Ohio and Chesapeake & Ohio railroads...

I enjoy Jim McClellan’s speeches. Hell, I enjoy Jim McClellan’s company. First of all, he has a finely developed sense of humor, which he likes to turn on himself. More important, Jim has this talent for distilling huge numbers of facts and...

Actually, the world’s oldest argument goes like this: If a tree falls deep in the forest and nobody knows, is it still the husband’s fault? But here’s one almost as old: Is Amtrak worth it? I’ve been reading the manuscript of a...

I was quick to anger a few weeks ago when I came upon a shoddy piece of work done by a Frommer’s Travel writer, whose descriptions of “five scenic adventures” on Amtrak revealed a lack of preparation (see “Been There, Done That...

BERLIN – I despise QR codes, those square boxes with ink arranged like it came out of an old-fashioned dot matrix printer. It’s supposed to lead your smart phone to further information with the press of a button. I’ve never used one...

Like ants flocking to their hill, visitors to InnoTrans flood into the fairgrounds at Berlin for the world's largest railway trade and technology show. Photo by Jim Wrinn Here's a typical exhibit booth with plenty of people, big-time graphics, and...

We’re looking at the seating area of a former German railways dome car under restoration by RailAdventure, a Munich-based company. Jim Wrinn photo RailAdventure, a Munich, Germany-based company, is rebuilding this dome car into a private car...