Prototype News

Rival Class I railroads and a number of short line and regional operations intend to ask the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to grant them trackage rights to various parts of a combined Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern network if the federal regulator approves the proposed merger.

In a flurry of filings in early September, operators from BNSF Railway to the Wheeling & Lake Erie all announced their intentions to participate in the ongoing review of UP’s plan to acquire NS. While the filings did not need to detail how they would participate, many hinted at what they would ask in return for supporting the merger — or at least dropping opposition.

BNSF has been among the most vocal opponents of the merger and said in filings that its opposition will not change. However, if the board were inclined to let UP and NS merge, BNSF planned to ask for trackage rights east of Chicago into Pennsylvania on NS lines. Meanwhile, CPKC officials said they plan to ask the STB to protect its existing trackage rights on UP and NS and to grant new access, particularly between Kansas City and St. Louis. CSX was also planning to ask for rights into the Midwest.

Some of the most interesting proposals, however, came from several short lines. The Wheeling & Lake Erie announced it would ask for trackage rights over NS track to reach the Belt Railway Company of Chicago. The Reading & Northern, on the other hand, was asking for trackage rights south to Hagerstown, Md., in order to connect with CSX. Other short lines that have said they will ask for trackage rights include New Orleans Public Belt, the Columbus & Ohio, Indiana & Ohio, Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern, and others.

In August, the STB set a timeline to review the merger, suggesting the earliest it could be approved was sometime in the second half of 2027. If approved, the combined UP-NS would stretch more than 50,000 miles and touch 43 states. The merger was first proposed in mid-2025, but the STB rejected UP’s first application as “incomplete.”

—Justin Franz 

The post Short Lines, Class Is Ask for Trackage Rights in UP-NS Deal appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

The Colorado Railroad Museum is acquiring a former California Zephyr dome car, a long-desired addition to the collection focusing on the history of railroading in the Centennial State. The Silver Rifle was built by Budd in 1948 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, one of three railroads to operate the famed California Zephyr. 

The car was previously part of the Golden Gate Railroad Museum collection and was on loan to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, Calif., for many years. In early September, the car was sent east to Ohio for restoration, and once that is complete, it will go to Golden, Colo., for permanent display. The museum plans to restore the car to its as-delivered appearance, and its original mechanical systems will remain intact. The museum has not shared a completion timeline. 

CRM is already home to the Dome Car Monument, a unique stone masonry arch originally erected in Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon near the site where an Electro- Motive Division general manager conceived the idea of the modern-day railroad dome car. A year after the streamlined California Zephyr’s 1949 debut, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, together with General Motors, came together to memorialize the dome car’s original idea by erecting this unique, stone monument along the train’s route. In the 1980s, the Dome Car Monument stood in the path of Interstate Highway 70 construction. It was carefully moved to CRM, where it remains on exhibit today.

The post Colorado Railroad Museum Acquires ‘Zephyr’ Dome appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.