Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

Minnesota’s Northstar Commuter rail made its last run on January 4, bringing to an end 16 years of commuter rail service in the Twin Cities.

Launched in 2009 to operate between Minneapolis and Big Lake, Minn., the decision to end the service came this past summer as the trains never recovered post-pandemic ridership and expenses outpaced subsidies. A restrictive contract with host BNSF also prevented service expansion. A new express bus route was put in place on January 5. It’s unclear what will happen to the equipment, a fleet of MP36s and double-decker cars. 

—Otto M. Vondrak

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Norfolk Southern has completed physical restoration activities at the site of the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Now that the primary cleanup work is over, any further work will likely involve site maintenance, along with water monitoring programs established with various government agencies. Village manager Antonio Diaz-Guy stated to local press that “I think our water is probably cleaner now than it was 100 years ago, given our industrial past, especially mining.”

NS has also submitted a final assessment report regarding two local waterways to the Environmental Protection Agency, which will determine if NS and its contractors have indeed met the required remediation goals. This filing outlines completed cleanup work and results from recent sediment sampling. It notes that crews did not find any derailment-related oily sheens in either creek during the final inspection. Since early 2025, crews have focused cleanup efforts on the removal of contaminated sediment from the streambeds in the village. 

—Scott Lindsey

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A Denver, Rio Grande & Western SW1200 recently arrived in Utah after being acquired by the Promontory Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. 

Rio Grande 133 was built in 1965 and spent years working in Utah before heading east to South Dakota, where it operated at various grain elevators. It eventually ended up in Iowa. In early 2024, it was announced that the locomotive had been donated to the NRHS chapter by the Southeast Farmers Coop. The engine remained in Iowa until late 2025, when it moved west to Utah, where it will be put on display at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, pending a cosmetic and operational restoration.

The group is currently raising $15,000 to acquire a new set of batteries, preserve and improve its original Rio Grande paint, and address some rust issues. Donations can be made through GoFundMe.

—Justin Franz 

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The Nevada State Railroad Museum recently completed the restoration of Virginia & Truckee Transfer Car 1. 

The specialized flatcar was built in 1891 to transport narrow gauge locomotives between the V&T’s Carson City shop and the Carson & Colorado Railroad in Mound House, Nev. The V&T owned the C&C until 1900, when it was sold to the Southern Pacific. The car was later converted into a regular flatcar but was rarely used. In 1938, it was sold to Paramount Studios for $50 and used in films such as “Union Pacific” and “The Harvey Girls.”  In 1971, the car was sold to Short Line Enterprises and stored in Jamestown, Calif., before being donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in 1988.

Following the recent restoration of the V&T 1, the NSRM staff placed Dayton, Sutro & Carson Valley locomotive Joe Douglass atop the car. The 0-4-2T Porter locomotive was used to haul tailings from the Carson Valley Mill to the Douglass Mill in Dayton, Nev. Like the C&C locomotives, the Joe Douglass was maintained at the V&T shop in Carson City, meaning it was likely moved by car 1 at some point in the past.

—Justin Franz 

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The Lake State Railway in Michigan has purchased four SD70ACe-T4 locomotives from Progress Rail, aided by an emissions grant, which will lead to the retirement of some older units. The new locomotives are being prepared for service at the railroad’s Saginaw shops as of this writing.

Locomotives removed from the roster include four SD50 variants and an SD40-2. The SD70ACe-T4s, numbered 6451 through 6454, are former Progress demonstrators that have been rebuilt and painted in Lake States’ blue, grey, and black scheme.

LSRC chief mechanical officer Roger Fuehring noted the support offered by Progress Rail helped make the decision on which locomotive vendor to use.

“I have managed several projects in my career which upgraded locomotive fleets for better emissions,” said Fuehring, “and I feel very comfortable we will be receiving a great product. We especially value the support Progress Rail has offered after the sale, which is critical given how much more complex these locomotives are compared to the older generation locomotives.”

—M.T. Burkhart

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On December 19, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern submitted an application for what they called “the most thoroughly planned merger in railroad history,” which, if approved, would create the nation’s first single transcontinental railroad and significantly reshape the American rail network. 

If authorized by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, UP’s acquisition of NS would create a 50,000-mile railroad spanning 43 states and reaching every corner of the continental United States. During a press conference shortly after UP submitted its 7,000-page application to the STB, UP CEO Jim Vena said his proposal would complete a project that began in 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act to construct the First Transcontinental Railroad. 

“This merger is about completing Abraham Lincoln’s vision,” Vena said. 

But while Vena spoke in aspirational terms, declaring the merger a win for the nation, getting the deal approved won’t be easy — especially as UP’s competitors line up to oppose it. 

In July, when UP announced its plan to purchase NS for $85 billion, the railroad stated it believed the merger would benefit rail shippers, employees, and the public. With the 7,000-page application, UP began to clarify some of the details of what that might look like. According to UP, the combined system will remove more than 2 million trucks from America’s highways each year. The most notable benefit will be seen in the Midwest, where the eastern and western Class I railroads meet but where complex interchanges make trucking a more attractive short-haul option for shippers. 

“As time and technology continue to transform how freight is delivered, our industry must keep pace and move forward, reaching underserved markets with new rail solutions and strengthening the U.S. supply chain,” Vena said. “Customers deserve stronger, more connected freight rail, and our merger will make that happen.”

In its application to acquire NS, UP said that the most significant benefits will occur in the Midwest “watershed,” where complicated interchanges between east and west make trucking a more appealing option. 

UP officials said that the merger would allow the combined railroads to eliminate time-consuming interchanges and reduce freight transit times. Specifically, the railroad planned to introduce two new intermodal train pairs between Southern California and the Northeast and Southeast; six new manifest trains through the Midwest; and six new premium intermodal lanes operating seven days a week. Among those new intermodal lanes are runs between Lathrop, Calif., and Croxton, N.J., via Chicago (83 hours); City of Industry, Calif., and Croxton, N.J., via Kansas City (95 hours); Los Angeles and Detroit/Livernois via Kansas City (80 hours); Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal and Jacksonville, Fla., via Shreveport, La. (83 hours); Mexico and Croxton, N.J., via New Orleans (85 hours); Houston and Atlanta via New Orleans (39 hours).  

In response to UP’s proposed takeover, competitors such as BNSF, CSX, and CPKC have all announced similar new traffic routing partnerships connecting the east and west. In his application statement, however, Vena argued that while partnerships are helpful, they are “narrow and cannot be scaled” like a true merger. 

The proposed operating plan for a new Los Angeles to Harrisburg, Pa., intermodal train, ZHBLC. 

The biggest question facing a combined UP-NS will be how it enhances competition, a key requirement for the STB to approve any merger. To do that, the railroads have said they would voluntarily establish “Committed Gateway Pricing,” streamlining the pricing of interline moves, meaning customers on other railroads would see benefits from the merger. UP has also said it would keep all existing gateways open on “commercially reasonable terms.”

UP and NS have also stated that they plan to decrease their ownership shares of two connecting short lines: the Peoria & Pekin Union Railway in and around Peoria, Ill., and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. In the case of PPU, UP and NS jointly own the short line with Canadian National. UP and NS have proposed reducing NS’s stake so that the combined railroad no longer holds the majority of interest. The same applies to TRRA in St. Louis, which is currently co-owned by UP, NS, BNSF, CSX, and CN. 

UP and NS have said they plan to reduce their ownership share in two shortlines, including the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. Photo by Terry Redecker. 

In the application, Vena said he not only supported a combined UP-NS, but also a combined BNSF-CSX. “Such a merger would provide the same type of benefits as UP-NS,” Vena wrote. “It would give customers more and stronger options.”

But from the start, BNSF, UP’s main competitor in the west, has stated it’s not interested in more consolidation. In a statement shortly after UP submitted its application, BNSF CEO Katie Farmer reaffirmed that stance. 

“The transaction poses a significant threat to the U.S. economy and the American consumer through its long-term competitive harms,” Farmer said. “It would leave shippers with fewer options — driving higher rates and ultimately higher prices for consumers. This didn’t begin with customers asking for this merger, and the claimed public benefits appear to accrue primarily to shareholders. Past mergers demonstrate the risk of serious service failures with destructive impacts to customers, the U.S. rail network and the American economy.”

Even before UP submitted the application, BNSF was already questioning the “past mergers,” especially the 1996 merger of UP and Southern Pacific. On November 28, BNSF asked the STB to review the “harm” of that merger, which they claimed decreased competition and shipping options for customers across the West.

CPKC also responded, stating that the proposed merger would present “extraordinary and far-reaching risks to customers, rail employees and the broader supply chains.” As of press time, neither CN or CSX had reacted. 

That said, the merger had its supporters: the application included over 2,000 letters of support for UP and NS. 

This story will be updated as more information is received. 

—Justin Franz 

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The non-profit that owns and maintains a historic Great Northern Railway depot in Whitefish, Mont., which is still used today by BNSF Railway and Amtrak, says the structure will soon need a new roof. The Stumptown Historical Society is currently raising funds to pay for that, along with other necessary improvements to the building. 

Finished in 1928, the Tudor-style building has been the headquarters for GN and later BNSF’s Montana Division for many years, and it’s also the busiest station for the Empire Builder in Montana. The building was designed to mimic Swiss-like architecture found in nearby Glacier National Park, part of GN’s effort in the early 20th century to encourage passengers to “See America First” (and ride their trains). 

The station was sold to the Stumptown Historical Society in 1990, but portions of it are still leased to the railroads. A museum was also opened in the early 1990s. While payments from BNSF and Amtrak have helped the nonprofit maintain the station over the years, Executive Director Jill Evans said rising costs now require them to seek community support. Earlier this year, the nonprofit hosted a “Sock Hop Fundraiser” to start its fundraising efforts. She anticipates more events in the future. Donations can be made on site or online at stumptownhistoricalsociety.org.

“This is about more than just replacing the roof,” she said. “This is also about building relationships with the community again to help us in the future … We want to get the town of Whitefish in our corner again.”

—Justin Franz

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A multi-million dollar project to restore over 200 miles of former Canadian National trackage along Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula took another step forward in December with the opening of the line between Caplan and Port-Daniel–Gascons.

Originally built in the early 20th century, the 202-mile line from Matapedia to Gaspé, Que., is arguably one of the most scenic in eastern Canada. CN operated the line until the 1990s, when it was spun off to a short line. Passenger service, provided by VIA Rail, continued into the 2010s but was suspended after track issues arose. While the western portion of the railroad is operated by Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie (Gaspésie Railway Society in English), trains have not traveled all the way to Gaspé for more than a decade. 

A newly rebuilt bridge near Port Daniel, Que.

In recent years, the government has invested millions to reopen the railway line for both freight and passenger services. The latest section of track reopened in early December between Caplan and Port-Daniel–Gascons, a distance of about 45 miles. To bring that part of the railroad back into operation, contractors had to rebuild 13 bridges, widen a tunnel, and even relocate the rail line completely in three different spots to avoid coastal erosion. With the line now open to Port-Daniel, Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie can directly serve a cement plant. 

Government officials have said they hope to have the entire line to Gaspé rebuilt by 2027. 

—Justin Franz 

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An Alco-built 2-8-0 that last operated in 2019 is expected to return to service on the Grand Canyon Railway in 2026. 

In early December, Grand Canyon announced that locomotive 29 had passed a Federal Railroad Administration hydrostatic test and inspection. With no boiler leaks found during the test, shop crews have been able to start reassembling the locomotive, and if everything proceeds as planned, it will be in service in the new year. 

Locomotive 29 was built by Alco in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1906, for Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad, an ore-hauling railroad in Michigan. After the locomotive was retired in the early 1960s, it was purchased along with several other LS&I steam engines by a new tourist railroad, the Marquette & Huron Mountain. Eventually, the engine was sold to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum. In 1989, it was sold to the Grand Canyon, along with three other ex-LS&I 2-8-0s, Nos. 18, 19, and 20. Locomotive 29 was put back into service in 1990 and became a mainstay of the railroad into the 21st century. It was later joined by former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 2-8-2 4960. 

—Justin Franz 

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by Jim Rowland/photos as noted

On a map, Michigan’s Washtenaw County might appear unremarkable — just another patch of Midwestern farmland and small towns, yet it holds several distinctions. In the world of college sports, it’s home to the University of Michigan and the Wolverines’ football stadium in Ann Arbor, the county seat. In the world of regional railroading, it marks the southernmost point on Great Lakes Central Railroad, where the line ends at Osmer — a quiet junction north of Ann Arbor where GLC interchanges with Watco’s Ann Arbor Railroad.

As it happens, Washtenaw County is also home to the author’s extended family, making it a regular stop during summer visits. Those trips often include time trackside at Osmer, camera in hand, to document the routine arrival and departure of Train OW-11 — GLC’s several-days-per-week run from Owosso to Ann Arbor. But this year’s visit carried new urgency. On March 6, GLC announced an agreement for Watco to acquire control of the 379-mile system, made up primarily of former Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pennsylvania Railroad trackage, along with smaller segments of New York Central and Pere Marquette heritage. One of the primary draws is GLC’s fleet of EMD GP35s originally ordered by the Ann Arbor and riding on trade-in trucks from Alco FAs.

During your author’s summer visit, everything appeared business as usual, but the clock was ticking. Summer 2025 turned out to be the last chance to capture Great Lakes Central as we’ve come to know it.

ABOVE: On the eve of the Watco takeover, GLC Train OW-11 brings two ex-Union Pacific SD60Ms north to Owosso on September 30, 2025, crossing the Canadian National main at Durand. The ex-UP units would enter GLC service the next day under Watco ownership. —Jeff Mast aerial photo

From Five Railroads
One must dive into Michigan’s colorful railroad past to fully appreciate the varied history of today’s 379.2 miles of state-owned trackage that is GLC. The railroad operates a route made up of five different legacy carriers that passed through multiple subsequent owners since the era of fallen flags, merger mania, and deregulation. How all these lines came together to form one cohesive system could fill a large book of tall railroad tales, but after weathering multiple political and economic storms came a pared-down, viable railroad system.

Former Ann Arbor trackage constitutes the lion’s share of GLC’s system. Ann Arbor’s main line from Toledo, Ohio, to Frankfurt was built in stages between 1872 and 1889 to function as a through route utilizing Lake Michigan car ferries to access western carriers in Wisconsin. With car ferry transportation long gone, today’s GLC operates former AA lines from Osmer to Pitt Junction, located just south of Durand, along with Owosso to Yuma. Most of this track had been purchased and/or leased by the state of Michigan just prior to the inception of Conrail, with Grand Trunk Western having acquired the segment from Durand to Ashley outright. While Conrail, GTW, Michigan Interstate, and Michigan Northern all operated various segments of the Ann Arbor (affectionately called the “Annie” by local fans), they were all eventually united under Tuscola & Saginaw Bay (TSBY) operation until May 2006.

Pennsylvania Railroad’s former Grand Rapids & Indiana line makes up the second-largest amount of GLC trackage. GLC operates over the former PRR from Cadillac to Petoskey, along with Walton to Traverse City trackage; the majority of this line was constructed between 1870 and 1873. After the Penn Central merger in 1968, the line was operated by Michigan Northern starting in 1976 and subsequently TSBY in 1984.

ABOVE: Ann Arbor Railroad was historically under control of Wabash Railroad until 1963, when Detroit, Toledo & Ironton took over. AA was sold to private investors in 1970, but declared bankruptcy in 1973. The state of Michigan purchased the railroad and designated Conrail as operator in 1976. The contract was transferred to Michigan Interstate in 1977, but in 1982 the state split the railroad south of Ann Arbor and transferred operation of that portion to Tuscola & Saginaw Bay. Riding on trade-in trucks from an Alco FA, AA GP35 391 rests at Toledo, Ohio, on March 28, 1982. —Roger Durfee photo

Pere Marquette, Grand Trunk Western, and New York Central lines make up the smaller segments of today’s GLC. Track between Grawn and Williamsburg, via Traverse City, is former Pere Marquette built in 1891. It became part of the Chesapeake & Ohio system in 1947, and was later operated by Michigan Northern and TSBY. GLC’s Ashley to Middleton Branch was originally Grand Trunk Western, built in 1888 and sold to TSBY in 1983. Finally, a small remnant of NYC’s Saginaw Branch, built in 1868 and once linking Lansing with Bay City via Saginaw, constitutes GLC’s Owosso-Oakley Branch. After Penn Central was absorbed into Conrail, the line was operated by Michigan Interstate in 1977 and then TSBY in the 1980s.

Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway was incorporated on April 26, 1977, to operate a number of state-owned lines under contract for the Michigan Department of Transportation. With the addition of the lines formerly operated by Michigan Interstate and Michigan Northern in 1982 and 1984, TSBY used its former AA trackage as a funnel for conveying traffic south to its major interchange partners — Grand Trunk Western at Durand, CSX at Howell, and Michigan Interstate at Osmer.

ABOVE: GLC 391 (ex-AA 391 seen at right) and other units are backing off the Transfer Track to the former Ann Arbor yard after working on the former Chesapeake & Ohio at Clare on September 12, 2025. A few weeks later, 391 struck a grain truck and was heavily damaged. —Roger Durfee photos

While all the other interchanges were long-established, Osmer was new. As a location out in the middle of nowhere, it had been of no consequence prior to the division of the original Ann Arbor property. Once ownership was split south of that point and the old AA from there to Toledo became a separate railroad, a new two-track interchange yard was constructed to avoid running large trains into the increasingly cramped Ferry Yard in downtown Ann Arbor. Michigan Interstate retained the Ann Arbor to Toledo segment following its divestiture of all lines north of Ann Arbor. Following a 1983 bankruptcy and 1985 purchase from the state of Michigan, it was again sold in 1988 to Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation as its Ann Arbor Railroad System. Watco eventually purchased the railroad in 2013.

When the last Lake Michigan car ferry ceased operation in 1982, through rail traffic across the region became a thing of the past. (Although the former C&O S.S. Badger still sails today, it no longer carries railcars.) To stay viable, TSBY focused on cultivating a strong, diversified base of local customers — a strategy that proved successful. Sustained by steady freight traffic, TSBY remained independent for more than two decades. In 2006, however, management elected to sell the railroad, and that May it was acquired by Federated Railways. With the change in ownership came a new name — Great Lakes Central Railroad…

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by David T. Rohdenburg/photos by the authors

As I pointed my car west toward the CSX Indiana Subdivision before sunrise from our home in suburban Cincinnati on a humid August 2025 morning, the lyrics to John Mellencamp’s 1985 hit “Small Town” rang in my head. To me, the song’s lyrics always bring to mind the rural communities west of Cincinnati in southeast Indiana that dot the former Baltimore & Ohio main line to St. Louis — towns with names like Pierceville, Holton, North Vernon, and Seymour.

Seymour is actually the small town the song was written about — John Mellencamp’s birthplace and boyhood home — and is also a focal point in today’s operations on what is now the Indiana Sub. It is the junction with Louisville & Indiana Railroad, and where CSX trains coming from Louisville, Ky., via L&I turn eastward onto B&O to head toward Cincinnati. It’s not the small towns or rural scenery that have drawn railfans to this line, though, but the classic B&O color position light (CPL) signals that have guided trains for decades but are finally succumbing to modern technology.

Originally constructed by Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, the line was completed as a six-foot broad gauge railroad in 1857 and was converted to standard gauge in 1871. Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad acquired O&M in 1893, and it was formally merged into the Baltimore & Ohio system in 1900, establishing a continuous rail route from Baltimore to St. Louis. Changes in traffic patterns over the years meant that much of the former B&O main line across southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois became less important, and sections were gradually abandoned.

ABOVE: Train M252-08 passes the “Doll Arm” CPL at West Osgood, Ind., on August 8, 2025. A passing siding had once existed here, later cut back to a stub maintenance-of-way track. The spur was finally removed a few months before this photo was taken. The “doll arm” or “dummy mast” confirms the signal is for the far track at left, and not the former siding at right.

In the mid-20th century, a wave of mergers swept the railroad industry. Chesapeake & Ohio had acquired control of B&O in the 1960s, and later of Western Maryland Railway, and folded all three into Chessie System in 1973. This move combined the three railroads under a single corporate marketing identity (though the individual railroads still existed on paper). In 1980, Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries (the holding company of Seaboard Coast Line and Louisville & Nashville and a number of smaller regional roads), forming the holding company CSX. The B&O name and corporate identity officially ceased to exist in 1987. While the Indiana Subdivision maintained some importance as a part of the consolidated system, the same could not be said for other parts of B&O’s historic route.

The decision to abandon B&O’s Ohio Division was a stark example of this new operational reality. In 1985, CSX severed the route east of Greenfield, Ohio, a move that effectively cut the heart out of the main line from Baltimore to St. Louis. Much of the remaining Ohio Division trackage was eventually sold to regional and short line railroads like Indiana & Ohio. With its focus on efficiency and unit trains, CSX consolidated traffic onto its most profitable and best-maintained lines. B&O’s scenic, but less competitive, main line through Ohio was deemed redundant.

ABOVE: CSX Train M252-06 meets Central Railroad of Indiana’s Z881 job at Lawrenceburg, Ind., on August 6, 2025. A short CIND branch breaks off the Indiana Sub here, accessed via trackage rights on CSX from North Bend, Ohio.

While much of the Ohio Division was lost, the former B&O west of Cincinnati (the Indiana Subdivision from Cincinnati to Washington, Ind., and the Illinois Subdivision from Washington to St. Louis) maintained a reasonable level of traffic into the early 2000s, when much of the remaining traffic to St. Louis was rerouted onto the former Conrail St. Louis Line that CSX acquired in 1999. This left B&O as a secondary route and a connection to other lines.

Up until 2009, some traffic still traveled the Indiana Subdivision from a connection with the former Monon Hoosier Subdivision in Mitchell, Ind., to St. Louis and vice versa, but that traffic was rerouted and the former Monon and its famed semaphore signals were officially abandoned in 2017, leaving little through and local traffic west of Mitchell. In 2015, the Illinois Subdivision was taken out of service between Flora and Caseyville, Ill., severing another segment of the route.

A single local continued to ply the rails of the Indiana Subdivision between Mitchell and Washington until 2017, swapping cars with another local based out of Vincennes, Ind., on the Illinois Subdivision. Once this practice ended, the west end of the Indiana Sub went mostly silent, somewhat ironically, because this had once been the busiest portion of the line, and was equipped with centralized traffic control (CTC). Today, this segment is out of service between milepost BC128 (just west of Mitchell) and milepost BC165 (just east of Washington), its B&O CPLs still intact, but many of the passing sidings removed. A small segment of Indiana Subdivision trackage east of Washington is still in use to serve local industries, and is presently served by the Illinois Sub local L364, based out of Vincennes…

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Historic flooding in the Pacific Northwest during the second week of December affected several key BNSF Railway main lines, especially in Washington. Areas of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and even far western Montana received heavy rains from an “atmospheric river,” which dumped over a foot of rain in some locations. The rainfall, combined with melting snow, caused many rivers across the region to overflow their banks. 

In Washington, BNSF’s Stampede, Scenic, Bellingham, and Sumas subdivisions were all taken out of service due to washouts. Flooding along those routes also affected Amtrak service, including the Cascades between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., and the Empire Builder between Spokane and Seattle (the Portland section operated normally).

As of this writing, the Scenic and Bellingham Subdivisions have reopened, and the Stampede Sub was poised to reopen in a matter of days. No timeline has been set for the Sumas Sub to return. Railroad officials said access was a problem for repairing that section of the railroad. 

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by Rick Malo/photos by the author

Recently, Associate Editor Justin Franz asked me how I approach the difference between black & white photography and color photography — mainly, what determined on any given day how I looked at the world. Did I go out in the field strictly in a “black & white” state of mind? And if so, what determined that? Hmm… Good questions to ponder.

The answer to the first part is “yes.” I frequently go out looking at the subject world strictly with a b&w view. But I’m also flexible in that. While I mainly keep my pair of Nikon D750s set for “Monochrome” in the shooting menu, they will record the color image as well. I love the challenge of the unknown and reacting to situations as they change.

What determines this on any given day is a bit more in-depth.

I have long been captivated by the emotive qualities of b&w imagery and hold that it is far from dead as an effective medium. For this, one can blame the Steinheimers and the Shaughnessys and the Bensons of the world, to name just a few. Not only did they provide ample hours of enjoyment with their coverage of subject matter, but also a master class in creativity. They looked at the subject of trains in new and exciting ways that broke norms.

They dared to be different.

I like “different.” That speaks to me on a heart and soul level. I’m an emotive individual. Always have been.

I think of us in two ways. First, as photographers, we need to be technically proficient with our gear, understanding its capabilities while crafting it to fit our vision of the world, and pushing it to its limits. Take the Tamron SP 15–30mm ƒ/2.8, a beast of an art lens for sure, and my favorite in the bag that rarely is dismounted from its resident D750. One can stand beneath a grand old cottonwood tree on a fine spring morning, point the camera straight up into the tree and still get a train rolling across the horizon in the bottom portion of a portrait-oriented frame. It is an amazing piece of glass that has opened up a whole creative world to exploration.

And that brings me to the second point — we are creators more than anything, artists in our own right, and we seek to create images that are worthy of the time that someone has given to viewing them. We want the photographs to be exciting or thought-provoking. We want them to tell a bigger story, or maybe a smaller story. We want them to mean something to the viewer. And we want them to be different.

But most of all, we want them to mean something to us, and not in a selfish way.

Do we feel the image? Is it a reflection of our soul? Is it simple enough so that the language of the image is not garbled in translation? Are we opening our true soul to the world, or are we just taking a train photograph? Every soul has depth, every soul has shadows, and every soul has points of light. Does it show in the image?

Each soul has its own unique qualities, and so it goes to say that each individual photographer might have his own photographic tendencies, what speaks to his or her heart as they venture out in the field. As we mature as photographers, these things often change, which I think is a natural progression.

I have long felt that Texas, in general, and the High Plains in particular, have been underrepresented in the grand scheme of things. Lack of big scenery, I think, is to blame.

The Llano Estacado is a big place. The full, horizon-to-horizon scope of it can be intimidating to some, and it can be downright frightful, especially when one finds themselves underneath an angry spring thunderstorm as it pounds the land with golf ball-sized hail. Yet it is a place where a soul left alone can wander about, exploring the intimacies of loneliness and coming to terms with one’s own insignificance. Not only is it wide, but it is composed of great depth as well, very much like a soul.

With the pole lines disappearing toward the distant horizon and the train seemingly dwarfed by its surroundings, “Power of the Llano” (above) illustrates that well. Another fine piece of glass, and my second go-to lens, the Nikkor 70–200mm ƒ/2.8 did a wonderful job in capturing it. The lens spends most of its time mounted on a second D750 body, but is switched out occasionally with the monster Nikkor 200–500mm.

I’ve long held that poetry is the voice of the soul written through the heart and arranged by the mind. If we transmute that into photography, the lens becomes a window to the soul. An open mind seeing things — lights, shadows, objects — a scene that triggers something in the heart; a composition of emotion. We feel the scene. It is up to us to capture it, to align the light just right so when we open and close the shutter in 1/60th or 1/400th of a second, our soul is bared through glass elements.
There are certain factors that dictate the image. The fact that the BNSF Transcon angles across the Texas Panhandle in a northeast-southwest direction means that winter light and summer light will be completely different. “Power of the Llano” and “Hotshotting out of Higgins” (page 48) only worked in early morning winter light, whereas “Tumbleweeds and Fast Trains” (page 49) needed late afternoon summer light to be effective.

The orange paint on BNSF locomotives is another factor. In good sunlight, its tone rendered in b&w tends to match that of other colors, mainly the blue of the sky, and so the object loses its definition and blends into the background instead of standing out against it. To counter that, shooting from the shadow side or in good cross-lighting is the way to go.

In our genre of rail photography, there seems to be a great willingness to share knowledge and techniques. Dick Steinheimer’s theory of “layering” has been especially helpful on the High Plains of Texas. With each excursion, whether it be along the Hereford Sub, the Plainview Sub, or along the Panhandle Sub in my own backyard, I find new things and new ways of capturing them.

Yet, some of the most impactful words have come from Jeff Brouws, himself an understudy of Steinheimer: “It is better to photograph the essence of something than it is to photograph the thing itself.”

That theory can be effective whether one is shooting in color or in b&w. On a recent trip to Hereford, Texas, it was put to good use on a dusty, hazy Friday afternoon. A south wind had been blowing briskly all day and had filled the air with fine dust lifted off the South Plains, creating a beautiful soft light that lasted until sundown. It was a color-only outing along the side streets and back alleys of town, looking for something different. The 70–200mm did not disappoint.

While the progress that drones and digital photography have made in color photography is undeniable, I still prefer to have my boots on the ground and have an eye open always for good light, shapes, and shadows that would impart themselves well to b&w. Perhaps I’m treading on ground where everyone has already walked, making up for lost time due to my late start. So, we come back around to Justin’s question — what determines a photographic mindset? I shall let the poet in me speak to that:

What am I
If not for a soul?
A mere shadow upon the ground
To plod sullen in hollow footsteps?
A fine line between the ridiculous
And the sublime?
To sample the sweetness of both
And be lost still?
Yet the heart knows true
And whispers such
When it whispers, I listen to it.

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In this issue, we’ll catch up with the disappearing Color Position Light (CPL) signals on the CSX Indiana Subdivision (see page 56). Predecessor Baltimore & Ohio developed the system in the 1920s as a practical application of high-intensity electric lighting combined with a unique position or arrangement of colored lights. While these specific signal lights are about to be removed in favor of modern hardware, they are an example of a wider culture of communication, much of which relied upon light — something that remains true to this day.

Even as these older signals are replaced, there are new installations across the continent, typically as part of the upgrading or installation of what’s known as Centralized Traffic Control (CTC), where a remote dispatcher dispenses track authority via signal indication — that is to say, through the colors and patterns of lights displayed on a wayside signal. CTC is not the only form of lineside signaling in North America, and not all convey authority to occupy track — the so-called Automatic Block System, for example, only provided advisory information — yet one truth remains: vital information is conveyed to train crews not only through written or spoken instructions, but also through displays of light.

Moreover, wayside signals are not the only example of this, nor my favorite. For that, we must turn to the signals passed by conductors and brakemen using lanterns. Lantern signals grew out of hand signals, yet another richly codified communication system that relied on visual display to convey complex information between members of a train crew. Hand signals, however, were virtually impossible to read after dark or in bad weather, and railroaders quickly developed a parallel, related system of signals using handheld oil and electric lamps.

It is interesting to compare the two systems. Hand signals tended to vary wildly from place to place and company to company, with little standardization; indeed, it is rare to see rule books specify precise hand signals, with the exception, perhaps, that anything “waved violently” by anybody near the tracks — a hand, a book, a flag, whatever — should be understood by an engineer as requesting an emergency stop. Beyond this? Charts and descriptions are rare and, even in the most recent rule books, there’s a considerable amount of leniency. The most recent edition of the General Code of Operating Rules, for example, states “employees may use other hand signals” so long as “all crew members understand the signals.”

Lantern signals are different. Even as early as the 1890s, rule books began to include illustrated guides to a very small number of signals, generally those meaning ahead (a lantern lifted straight up and down), back up (swung in a circle), stop (swung side-to-side), and a signal warning the engineer that the signal giver intended to go between cars (swung in a “C,” ending pointing inward to the car gap). What is more surprising is the consistency of these signals, both geographically and through time. Despite no federal regulation defining them, most lantern signals remain relatively uniform across North America, and relatively unchanged for more than a century.

This is not to say there were no variations thought up by train crews and informally added to the lexicon. Linda Niemann, photographer and former Southern Pacific employee, once quipped that the old-timers she knew in the 1970s could “order an anchovy pizza” using just a lantern to communicate. Certainly, though, some of this variety has been lost, as the introduction of portable radios in the latter half of the last century bit into the richness of this visual language. Still, lantern signals remain a persistent part of railroad culture, one in which it is light, not words, that carry meaning.

—Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.

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Washington’s Yakima Valley Trolleys, the nonprofit responsible for running the city-owned interurban electric railroad that was once a subsidiary of Union Pacific, will start the new year without an operating agreement, putting the operation’s future in limbo. 

On December 9, the Yakima City Council discussed offering the non-profit a five-year operating agreement starting January 1, 2026, as it has done for many years. However, the council decided to delay that discussion until January as it evaluates its financial situation amid increasingly tight budgets. A week earlier, the council approved a 2026 budget that requires cutting $9 million from its current budget.

The actual operation of the trolley is fairly minimal for the city. According to Community Development Director Bill Preston, the proposed agreement called for the city to cover basic costs like heating and maintaining the city-owned trolley barn, plus setting aside about $10,000 for any maintenance issues that might arise with the track or other city-owned property. But the bigger issue — and cost — is a major road construction project along the trolley route connecting the trolley barn with the rest of the line to the town of Selah. That street needs to be rebuilt, and for a time, the city considered paying the approximately $7 million it would cost to reinstall the rails and the catenary above. But with a budget crisis looming, some on the city council are questioning if that’s a wise financial decision. Because of that, the city council decided to wait on approving or denying an operating agreement until a decision was made on the road project. 

In the meantime, the nonprofit Yakima Valley Trolleys is encouraging the public to sign a petition supporting the operation and to ride some of its upcoming holiday excursions. 

—Justin Franz 

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The oldest surviving steam locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley — the master locomotive builder behind famous engines like the Flying Scotsman — is expected to return to service in 2026.

The Gresley Society has owned Great Northern Railway class N2 1744, an 0-6-2T built in 1921, since the 1960s and has operated it for years at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, the Great Central Railway, and most recently, the North Norfolk Railway. The engine is not only the oldest surviving Gresley, but also the only remaining tank engine. 

The locomotive was withdrawn from service in 2018, and an extensive restoration began in 2019. However, as work proceeded, it was realized that it needed more work than previously thought. The pandemic and supply issues related to the war in Ukraine also impacted the restoration’s timeline. Still, in August, the engine successfully passed a steam test, and it is on track to run again in the new year. 

“The Gresley Society was created to preserve a working Gresley locomotive, and we owe it to our founders, and for the benefit and education of today’s generation, to maintain that vision,” said Philip Benham, chairman of the Gresley Society. “The progress on 1744’s overhaul at the North Norfolk Railway is one more step towards the return of Sir Nigel Gresley’s oldest surviving locomotive to traffic in spring 2026, resplendent in its distinctive Great Northern Railway livery.”

For more information, visit gresley.org. 

—Justin Franz 

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Work is underway in Washington to cosmetically restore a Milwaukee Road U25B locomotive. The Cascade Rail Foundation is presently working with Columbia Rail in Richland, Wash., to repaint MILW 5057 for eventual display in South Cle Elum. 

Locomotive 5057 was one of 12 U25Bs purchased by MILW in 1965 for use in freight service between Chicago and Tacoma, Wash. Later, in 1971, all of MILW’s General Electric locomotives were assigned to Tacoma, working almost exclusively in the Pacific Northwest. When the MILW abandoned its Pacific Coast Extension west of Miles City, Mont., in 1980, locomotive 5057 was one of the units to pull the last trains east out of the Pacific Northwest. The engine was sold to Webster Technical College in Nebraska in 1984, and then donated to the Portola Railroad Museum (now Western Pacific Railroad Museum) in Portola, Calif., in 1991. In 2014, it was purchased by the Cascade Rail Foundation and brought “home” to Washington. 

Cascade Rail was initially working with the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad in Usk, Wash., to cosmetically restore the engine. But when it became obvious in early 2025 that the POVA’s shop crew wouldn’t have time for the restoration because of paid work, Cascade Rail decided to go in a different direction. That resulted in a move over the summer to Richland and Columbia Rail’s shop. In late 2025, the nonprofit finalized a contract with Columbia Rail to finish up the restoration. The group is presently raising $30,000 to finish the work. Donations can be made at milwelectric.org/donate-to-cascade-rail-foundation.

—Justin Franz 

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The public was welcomed back inside Buffalo’s former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western terminal for the first time since 1962 when the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority opened its new DL&W Station on December 8. The $57 million project transforms the lower level of the historic trainshed into a modern two-track station with a center-island platform, giving passengers direct access to the revitalized Canalside and Cobblestone districts, as well as KeyBank Center, home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo’s unique light rail line runs in a subway tunnel for the first five miles from the south campus of University at Buffalo, with the final mile-and-a-half surface-running on Main Street (now shared with vehicular traffic) down to DL&W Station. While the system was originally designed with extensions to the suburbs and airport in mind, funding has been difficult to secure.

When Erie Lackawanna shut down its waterfront terminal in October 1962, only a handful trains still called there — including the Phoebe Snow, Owl, and Lake Cities — and service shifted to a minimalist joint facility shared with Nickel Plate Road in the freight yards across town. The grand 1917 terminal designed by Kenneth Murchison was soon abandoned, vandalized, and ultimately conveyed to Conrail in 1976. NFTA purchased the deteriorating property in 1977 to use the trainshed as protected storage for its new light rail fleet. Following some debate over protected historic status, the headhouse was demolished in 1979 to construct new yard leads. Although light rail service began in 1984, the station’s upper level platforms were sealed off and left unused.

ABOVE: The former two-level trainshed built by Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in 1917, and tranformed into a covered storage yard for NFTA light rail trains. The headhouse was demolished in 1979. —Otto M. Vondrak photo

Over the next four decades, the surrounding industrial district was transformed into an entertainment hub. A small “Special Events” stop served arena crowds but offered little shelter or amenities. Redeveloping the former DL&W trainshed remained a long-discussed idea, but momentum finally came in 2017 when NFTA secured funding for a new station, waterfront access, redevelopment of the upper level, and a direct connection to KeyBank Center. Construction began in 2019, with Savarino Companies selected to design and develop the upper level as a multi-use public space.

Although construction delays pushed the opening back more than a year, the new metro station debuted to press and invited guests on December 8, complete with a ribbon-cutting featuring elected city officials and NFTA directors and staff. The station’s bright, spacious interior is a welcome addition to the 6.4-mile system, but the stairways and enclosed connector to KeyBank Center are not expected to be completed until summer 2026. Until then, riders must exit to South Park Avenue and walk the long way around, prompting some local outlets to advise passengers to continue using the nearby Canalside station. NFTA also cut ties with Savarino in mid-November, citing the developer’s failure to produce a viable business plan for the upper-level project.

ABOVE: The new DL&W Station will allow future access to the upper level as well as a covered entrance into KeyBank Center. —Otto M. Vondrak photo

Though the DL&W Station extends service only a few blocks, officials emphasized that it represents meaningful progress toward broader future expansion. “This station is far more than a new stop on our system,” NFTA Executive Director Kim Minkel said at the opening. “It’s an investment in the future of our region — expanding access, strengthening economic development, and creating new opportunities for residents and businesses alike. And we’re just getting started.”

—Otto M. Vondrak

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The Battle River Railway, a farmer-owned railroad in central Alberta, has begun moving wheat in partnership with Canadian National. 

Battle River Railway has been operating a former CN branch line between Camrose and Alliance since 2010. The railroad regularly moves grain, stores cars, and offers occasional excursions. Earlier this year, the railroad partnered with Westlock Terminals, Ltd., the Port of Westlock, and CN to do a test run of five cars of wheat. Wheat was previously moved by truck 140 miles from an elevator in Rosalind to the terminal in Westlock. But with the purchase of a wheat unloader, it can now go via rail. The inaugural five-car move over Battle River took 11 truckloads off local highways. 

The railroad anticipates moving about five cars of wheat per month. General Manager Matthew Enright told Progressive Railroading that the new traffic is a win for the railroad, its shippers, and the community. 

“When local organizations work together with shared values and community-driven goals, they create lasting opportunities that benefit farmers, rural economies and the future of agriculture in Alberta,” he said. 

—Justin Franz

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After building 3.5 miles of track on the original right-of-way of one of Maine’s famed 2-foot gauge railroads, the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum is now planning to expand southward. In December, the museum announced its intention to build a quarter-mile of track extending south from its campus in Alna, Maine, in either 2027 or 2028. The new “Southern Gateway” will be part of a future two-mile extension that will bring the narrow gauge railroad closer to Wiscasset, a popular tourist destination along the coast. 

The original WW&F operated from 1895 until 1933. In the 1980s, Harry Percival started rebuilding a short section of track on his property at Shepscott Station, which is located 4.8 miles north of the original railroad’s southern terminus. In 1989, a nonprofit was established, and over the past 36 years, the museum has rebuilt 3.5 miles of main line, constructed a shop and roundhouse, four stations, a water tower, and restored two steam locomotives (with a third currently under construction from scratch). 

Museum leadership said they were able to accomplish so much over the last three decades through their slow-and-steady approach. When the current main line was completed to Alna (and the edge of a state highway) in 2022, the museum intentionally paused its expansion efforts to focus on revamping its track maintenance programs, ensuring it could keep what it had built in excellent condition. 

“We have learned to recognize the need for tempered, thoughtful growth which serves specific organizational needs. We established that our ultimate goal is sustainability, whereby we create an institution that becomes multi-generational, lasting well beyond our own time,” museum officials wrote. “As related to further expansion, understanding the end goal is paramount; the sum total of all the infrastructure we plan, including length of main track, maintenance and construction facilities, public facilities, etc., must generate the income necessary to comfortably maintain itself.”

Building south will require crossing a public road and entering a sensitive environmental area because it’s near a waterway. As a result, the museum will need to obtain permits and permissions from the Town of Alna, the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Crossing the road will also make the museum subject to the regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration. Knowing that could be an eventuality, the museum has long maintained stringent operating and safety practices that comply with FRA regulations. 

The museum plans to start fundraising in 2026 and hopes to begin construction in 2027 or 2028. The ultimate goal is to add two more miles of track and build a new station at the end. The museum has already begun acquiring property to achieve this goal. 

For more information, visit wwfry.org/southern-gateway/ 

—Justin Franz 

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