The outline of the next couple of years for passenger trains is now pretty clear. What I’m about to say will go down like unwanted medicine for most of you, so I’ll deliver the bad news quickly. There will be no money. Governments...

Railroad drawbridges are rare enough to attract my attention. But what about one that takes an industrial spur over the heavily navigated Illinois River west of Chicago? That’s a lot of maintenance and operating expense. What’s the “back...

If anyone from Amtrak marketing is reading this, I have a message for you: Your “Ride 10 Trains, Get 10,000 Guest Reward Points” promotion takes over the minds of otherwise sensible people. I’m the evidence of it. I am ticketing...

Many of you have ridden in the cab of steam locomotives. Those who have may cease reading this and return to what you were doing. The rest of you may enjoy this brief account of my adventure yesterday riding the Red Rooster, Iowa Interstate’s...

I miss the F-unit diesel locomotive. It was an industrial icon, from the first FT in 1939 through the last FP9 in 1959, powered all those years by the 567-cubic-inch engine whose reliability made Electro-Motive the master of the locomotive universe. There...