1. Home
›
2. Fallen Flags
›
3. Central Railroad of New Jersey

Jersey Central Railroad (CNJ): Map, Rosters, History

Last revised: September 17, 2026

By: Adam Burns

The Central Railroad of New Jersey called itself The Big Little Railroad. Reporting mark CNJ. The company that wore that slogan was never large on the map—about 700 route-miles at the peak, two-thirds of them in New Jersey—but it was dense. Four to six tracks between Jersey City and Raritan handled 300 commuter trains a day and 35,000 riders, plus the drills, the anthracite, and, east of Bound Brook, the Baltimore & Ohio and the Reading into New York Harbor. Jersey City to Scranton is only 191 miles. The plant behind those miles ran to some 1,900 miles of track.

New Jersey chartered the ancestor, the Elizabethtown & Somerville, on February 9, 1831. The first trains ran August 13, 1836. The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey took the name on April 23, 1849. The Reading bought control in 1901; the B&O bought the Reading the same year. The company entered its last bankruptcy on March 22, 1967. It remained insolvent until the launch of Conrail on April 1, 1976, which acquired remaining freight operations.

One of the Jersey Central’s double-ended DRX-6-4-2000s, #2005, tied down at Plainfield, New Jersey, circa 1955. The six Baldwins were bought so commuter engines would not have to turn at Communipaw Terminal on the Hudson. Meyer Pearlman photo. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · Elizabethtown & Somerville · April 23, 1849 · Communipaw and the Central Division · Southern Division · New York & Long Branch · Lehigh & Susquehanna · System map, 1969 · Reading and the B&O · Blue Comet and the varnish · Steam and diesel · 1939, taxes, and the Statue of Liberty · Aldene, 1967 · Pennsylvania out, Conrail · What remains

At a glance

The Central Railroad of New Jersey logo. Author’s work. The Statue of Liberty mark arrived in 1944 with the Jersey Central Lines name.

700 route-miles and 1,900 track-miles are the Classic Trains / Official Guide-era plant. Headquarters is the Liberty Street office. Information compiled September 17, 2026.

Elizabethtown & Somerville, 1831

The Elizabethtown & Somerville Railroad was incorporated on February 9, 1831, to run west from Elizabethport on Newark Bay—ferry to New York—through Elizabeth and Plainfield to Somerville. Construction lagged. The first segment opened August 13, 1836: about two miles, Elizabeth to Elizabethport, with a horse-drawn coach. Steam arrived in 1839 as the rails reached Plainfield. Somerville opened on January 2, 1842, which completed the original charter.

Until 1864 the railroad’s New York connection was the ferry from Elizabethport. That was enough for a local company. It was not enough for anthracite.

Somerville & Easton, and April 23, 1849

The Somerville & Easton Railroad was incorporated in 1847 to carry the idea west to the Delaware. Service opened Somerville to White House on September 25, 1848. The Somerville & Easton bought the Elizabethtown & Somerville in February 1849. On April 23 the combined company took a name that fit both charters: Central Railroad Company of New Jersey. Hagley dates the Somerville & Easton corporation itself to February 26, 1847, renamed on that April date.

Rails reached Phillipsburg, on the east bank of the Delaware, in 1852. Hagley puts the Elizabethport–Easton completion on July 2. Phillipsburg became a five-railroad town: the CNJ, the Lehigh Valley, the Lehigh & Hudson River, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and the Pennsylvania’s Belvidere Division. On September 8, 1855, the Lehigh Valley’s Easton Bridge put LV coal trains onto CNJ iron for the run to Elizabethport. For a few years the Jersey Central was the tidewater outlet for three anthracite roads.

The Lackawanna connected at Hampton in 1857. CNJ laid a third rail east to the Elizabethport piers for DL&W’s six-foot-gauge cars and bought nine broad-gauge locomotives to handle them. The Lackawanna later built its own Hudson terminal; the Lehigh Valley did the same after 1871. The CNJ kept going west on its own account.

Communipaw, Newark Bay, and the Central Division

The Hudson waterfront was the point of the railroad. In 1864 CNJ opened a passenger terminal in the Communipaw section of Jersey City and, to reach it, a mile-long drawbridge over Newark Bay from Elizabethport to Bayonne. The ferry to Manhattan shifted from Elizabethport to the new slip. The first station was too small. Architects Peabody & Stearns of Boston designed a larger one, opened in 1889, with a centered bell tower looking at the Lower Manhattan skyline. That building is the Communipaw Terminal still standing in Liberty State Park. It was CNJ’s New York station, and for decades it was also the Reading’s and the B&O’s.

Jersey City to Phillipsburg became the Central Division. The busiest piece was the 35 miles Jersey City to Raritan: four to six tracks, 300 commuter trains, 35,000 daily riders, and the local freights the railroad called drills. Classic Trains, in “Jersey Central: Coal, Commuters, and a Comet,” is the article for that density. The four-track Newark Bay drawbridge of 1926—1.4 miles, two lift spans—replaced the 1864 structure. Elizabethport held the main shops (rebuilt in concrete in 1901, rated for 430 locomotives and 20,000 freight cars a year) and, in the 1930s, one of the more modern traffic-control towers in the country, where the Central Division met the Newark and Perth Amboy branches.

America’s first automatic, motor-operated semaphore went in on the CNJ at Black Dan’s Cut, east of Phillipsburg, in 1893. Twin McMyler car dumpers at Pier 18, Jersey City, in 1919 made that pier the railroad’s foremost coal destination into the 1960s.

Southern Division: Pine Barrens to Delaware Bay

The Southern Division ran into the sparsely settled middle of New Jersey, the Pine Barrens, from Red Bank to Bridgeton, Bowentown, and Bayside. Produce, sand, gravel, oysters, glassware, and eggs paid the bills that anthracite and cement paid farther north. Vacationers used it for Atlantic City, Long Branch, and Tuckerton.

The largest ancestor was the Raritan & Delaware Bay Railroad, chartered in 1854 as one end of a New York–Norfolk scheme: rail across New Jersey, steamship across Delaware Bay, rail down the Delmarva. The Norfolk piece never materialized. The R&DB opened in 1860 between Port Monmouth and Bergen Iron Works (Lakewood) via Red Bank, reached a Camden & Atlantic connection at Winslow in 1862, and took the name New Jersey Southern Railroad in 1870 (New Jersey Southern Railway after the 1880 reorganization). It leased the Vineland Railway in 1872; that line had opened to Bayside in 1871. Jay Gould briefly controlled both in a Delmarva play aimed at Baltimore and the B&O. A rate war between B&O and the Pennsylvania ended that interest in 1874. A trustee ran the New Jersey Southern until it was leased to the New York & Long Branch, a CNJ proxy, in 1879.

CNJ influence once crossed Delaware Bay as the Baltimore & Delaware Bay Railroad, Bombay Hook, Delaware, to Chestertown, Maryland. That line went into the Pennsylvania family in 1901. The Southern Division that remained was New Jersey iron: the main to Bayside, later branches to Tuckerton/Barnegat, Deerfield, and Bivalve, and a carferry from Bayside toward Woodland Beach, Delaware.

New York & Long Branch

The New York & Long Branch tied the Central Division to the Southern Division and to the shore. Chartered April 8, 1868, it was never an independent operating company and never rostered its own engines. CNJ held control by 1873 and exclusive operating rights from that year. Perth Amboy to Long Branch opened in 1875; the line reached Bay Head Junction in 1882. The Pennsylvania threatened a parallel railroad. An agreement in January 1882 (the later operating compromise is often dated 1888) put both companies on the NY&LB, CNJ handling the freight. New Jersey Southern trains used it between Red Bank and the Perth Amboy Branch. Today the corridor is NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line.

Lehigh & Susquehanna: the Pennsylvania Division

West of Easton the railroad was an anthracite hauler. The trackage was built by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company as the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad, opened in 1843 from the Lehigh Canal at White Haven to the North Branch Canal at Wilkes-Barre. The notable civil-engineering leftover was the Ashley Planes: a cable-worked incline, maximum grade 14.65 percent, that hoisted eastbound coal until after World War II. A 12½-mile “Back Track” between Ashley and Solomon’s Gap, opened 1867, took passengers and westbound freight around the planes.

LC&N was authorized in 1863 to extend the L&S from White Haven to Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe) after floods wrecked the canal, and in 1864 to build on to Easton against the parallel Lehigh Valley. Service to Mauch Chunk began in 1867; Phillipsburg in 1868. CNJ took a 999-year lease of the L&S in 1871. Branches followed to the mines: Lehigh, Lee, Nanticoke, Audenried. The last notable extension was the Wilkes-Barre & Scranton, Pittston to Scranton, opened 1888, leased by the L&S and assigned to the CNJ.

Mauch Chunk was the early Pennsylvania operating base. Narrow-gauge “lokies” worked the Wanamie Colliery on the Nanticoke Branch until 1967; CNJ hauled the coal to Ashley’s Huber Breaker. Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Phillipsburg were manufacturing towns, Bethlehem a steel town. The territory was crowded: Lehigh Valley, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh & Hudson River, Lehigh & New England, Reading, Delaware & Hudson, Ontario & Western, and the Pennsylvania all ran there. In 1892 the Central States Dispatch—a fast-freight route on B&O, Western Maryland, Reading, CNJ, Lehigh & Hudson River, and New Haven—began using Allentown Yard. That geography later sat inside the Alphabet Route.

The Commodities Clause of the Esch–Cummins Act (Transportation Act of 1920) forbade railroads to haul freight they had an interest in. CNJ coal mines acquired in 1872–73 came off the books under antitrust pressure in 1923. Anthracite itself was already past its best years.

System map, 1969

An official 1969 system map of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Author’s collection. Jersey City at the right, the Pennsylvania anthracite lines at the left, the Southern Division down the state.

Reading lease, Reading stock, B&O New York

The Philadelphia & Reading leased and operated the CNJ from 1883 to 1887, forming a New York–Philadelphia route, and again in 1892. CNJ resumed its own management after the 1887 reorganization. In 1901 the Reading Company, successor to the Philadelphia & Reading, bought a majority of CNJ stock. At about the same time the Baltimore & Ohio bought control of the Reading. George H. Drury, in Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, puts both purchases in that year. From then until Conrail, CNJ was a Reading property and the last miles of the B&O’s New York run.

B&O passenger trains used the Reading to Bound Brook and the CNJ to Jersey City, then the ferry to Manhattan. Passengers never rode a B&O locomotive into New York. That patchwork was the Royal Blue Line; the train itself is the Royal Blue. B&O symbol freights kept using the route into the 1970s. The B&O gave up the New York passenger market in April 1958.

The High Bridge & Longwood Valley opened High Bridge to Rockaway in 1876 and, within two years, became the High Bridge Branch as CNJ absorbed small iron-ore roads in northern New Jersey—Dover & Rockaway, Ogden Mine—to feed regional mills. In 1930 the company took the Wharton & Northern and a stake in the Mount Hope Mineral Railroad. In 1929 it bought 30 percent of the Raritan River Railroad, South Amboy to New Brunswick.

Blue Comet, Bullet, and the Reading varnish

Jersey Central RDC-1s on the four-track main at Elizabeth, New Jersey, circa 1960. The Pennsylvania Railroad’s Northeast Corridor sits in the background. Meyer Pearlman photo. American-Rails.com collection. Little of this corridor remains.

The train the photographs remember is the Blue Comet. It started on February 21, 1929: twice-daily luxury coaches, Jersey City to Atlantic City, Packard blue with gold lettering and a Jersey-cream window band, no extra fare. Three G-3 Pacifics were painted to match. R. B. White was president. Automobile competition killed it in 1941. Later in 1929 the Bullet tried the same idea Jersey City–Wilkes-Barre, dark olive with gold and chromium on the Pacifics. The Bullet lasted two years.

Through varnish with the Reading used Communipaw as the New York station: the Crusader to Philadelphia, the Queen of the Valley to Harrisburg, the Wall Street, the Interstate Express (with the Lackawanna). B&O’s Capitol Limited and National Limited came the same way until 1958. A March 1940 Official Guide listing is the CNJ timetable page. After World War II the remaining passengers were almost all commuters—great amounts of equipment for two peaks, five days a week.

Camelbacks, then diesels from every builder

CNJ was an anthracite carrier, and culm was cheap fuel, which meant Camelbacks with Wootten fireboxes. The first modern non-Camelback power arrived in 1918: Pacifics, USRA Mikados, and six-wheel switchers. George H. Drury’s post-1900 class table, and the 111 Ten-Wheelers that did every leftover job into the mid-1950s, are the steam roster. Ten-Wheeler 774 made a ceremonial last run; on July 1, 1954, the company announced it was totally dieselized. 0-6-0 113, sold to a coal company, last steamed in January 1960 and runs today at Minersville, Pennsylvania.

The diesel story starts earlier than most Class Is. In 1924–25 Alco, General Electric, and Ingersoll-Rand built five 60-ton, 300-horsepower boxcab switchers. CNJ bought the first of them, #1000, for the Bronx carfloat terminal. Drury calls it the first commercially successful diesel locomotive. It spent about 27 years there and is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum. Cab diesels from Baldwin and Electro-Motive replaced steam on most mainline freights in 1947. Six double-end Baldwin passenger units, the only ones in North America, arrived at the same time—the engine in the photograph at the top of this page. Fairbanks-Morse Train Masters owned the NY&LB commuter pool until the GP40Ps of 1968. Unit-by-unit is the diesel roster.

1939, New Jersey taxes, and Jersey Central Lines

Freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles, ran 2,513 in 1925, 1,511 in 1933, 3,735 in 1944, 1,948 in 1960, and 1,455 in 1970 (ICC annual reports). Passenger-miles were 480 million in 1925, 337 in 1933, 480 in 1944, 175 in 1960, and 124 in 1970. Three-fourths of the freight terminated on line. The railroad was a terminal carrier, which meant little profit, and New Jersey taxes ate a large share of what profit there was. Anthracite was already in decline before the Depression.

CNJ entered a ten-year bankruptcy in 1939 while the Reading, itself under B&O, still held the stock. It emerged in 1949. During World War II, German submarines pushed eastbound oil off tankers and onto tank cars; CNJ delivered up to 1,000 loads a day, about half the New York area’s requirement, until the pipelines opened. In 1944 the company became Jersey Central Lines and took the Statue of Liberty as its emblem.

In 1946 the Pennsylvania lines were organized as the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, a paper attempt to put those assets beyond New Jersey tax collectors. CNJ resumed operating the Pennsylvania lines at the end of 1952. CRP survived as owner of the Easton & Western, four miles in Easton. The Pennsylvania, or Penn, Division dated from January 1, 1953.

When the Lehigh & New England quit in 1961, CNJ bought about 40 miles of its Pennsylvania trackage—Tadmor Yard at Bath, the Bethlehem Branch, the Martins Creek Branch, trackage around Catasauqua, and the former Panther Creek Railroad to Tamaqua—for $10 million, effective October 31, 1961. Walter Kraus, in the Allentown Morning Call of August 24, 1989, is the citation. In November 1965 CNJ, the Lehigh Valley, and the Reading coordinated the parallel Lehigh River lines: LV and Reading folded small yards into CNJ’s expanded Allentown Yard; new connections at South Bethlehem and Lehighton let the LV run Bethlehem–Lehighton on CNJ iron.

A proposed C&O–N&W merger in 1965, meant as a counter to Penn Central, would have taken the CNJ with it. Penn Central’s bankruptcy killed that prospect. Mail-contract cancellations in 1965 dropped 18 passenger trains systemwide.

Aldene Plan, April 30, 1967

The company filed its last bankruptcy on March 22, 1967. That year it dropped the last non-commuter passenger trains, Allentown–Jersey City. New Jersey had begun subsidizing commuters in 1964. The Aldene Plan, built to cut the passenger deficit, opened at the end of April. A new ramp at Aldene, in Roselle Park, connected the CNJ main to the Lehigh Valley. On April 30, 1967, the last ferry ran between Communipaw and Manhattan, and the terminal closed. The next day CNJ trains originated and terminated at Pennsylvania Station in Newark, where riders changed to the Pennsylvania or to PATH. The ferry, the Jersey City concourse, and the local trains east of Cranford were the savings, about $1.5 million a year. A Budd RDC “Bayonne Scoot” kept a remnant Cranford–Bayonne service until August 6, 1978. Push-pull trains with cab cars converted from 1920s coaches were an Aldene operating requirement.

The Newark Bay drawbridge outlived its passenger trains and was demolished by the Coast Guard in 1980.

Out of Pennsylvania, into Conrail

Jersey Central SD40 #3066 (ex-B&O #7487) and #3069 (ex-B&O #7490) lead a westbound through Ashley, Pennsylvania, along Main Street on June 27, 1971. Author’s collection. Two years from the end of CNJ operations in Pennsylvania.

The 1971 “Blue Print for Survival” included getting out of Pennsylvania. CNJ embargoed those lines, except the ex-L&NE pieces, on March 31, 1972. The Lehigh Valley took over, expecting to keep the Erie Lackawanna through business; CNJ instead started trains ES99/SE98 with the EL between Elizabethport and Scranton via a new connection on the High Bridge Branch. LV and Reading took the ex-L&NE lines in January 1975.

A federal court in 1974 held that CNJ, the Lehigh Valley, the Reading, and Penn Central could not reorganize. Conrail took the freight on April 1, 1976. Commuter routes went to the New Jersey Department of Transportation and, from 1979, to NJ Transit: today’s Raritan Valley Line and North Jersey Coast Line. The corporate shell emerged from bankruptcy as Central Jersey Industries on September 14, 1979, later CJI Industries, and in 1986 merged into Triangle Industries.

What remains

Norfolk Southern heritage unit SD70ACe #1071 in the Jersey Central’s early orange and blue, North Carolina Transportation Museum, July 3, 2012. Warren Calloway photo. NS painted the locomotive for its 30th anniversary.

NJ Transit still runs the Raritan Valley Line on the old main, Aldene to High Bridge, and the North Jersey Coast Line on the NY&LB, Perth Amboy to Bay Head. Hudson-Bergen Light Rail uses pieces of the Jersey City–Bayonne waterfront. Conrail Shared Assets keeps freight on Elizabethport–Aldene, Elizabethport–Perth Amboy, and Red Bank–Lakehurst. Morristown & Erie runs the Dover & Rockaway and part of the High Bridge Branch. In Pennsylvania, Reading & Northern has the White Haven–Laurel Run remnant of the joint CNJ/LV operation after 1965, and the passenger program at Jim Thorpe. Southern Division fragments survive under Cape May Seashore Lines, Southern Railroad of New Jersey, and Winchester & Western.

The four-track speedway Jersey City to Raritan is gone as a railroad plant; the Elizabeth station is preserved beside an empty right-of-way. Communipaw Terminal is a museum in Liberty State Park. It has not seen a scheduled train since April 30, 1967. Norfolk Southern’s 1071 and NJ Transit’s GP40PH-2 4109 still wear Jersey Central paint. The paper company of 1849 is not.

Related reading on American-Rails.com

• CNJ steam roster · CNJ diesel roster · Camelbacks
• Blue Comet · Communipaw Terminal · New York & Long Branch · March 1940 timetable
• Reading · Baltimore & Ohio · Lehigh Valley · Lehigh & New England · Lehigh & Hudson River
• Royal Blue · Crusader · Alphabet Route
• Conrail · NJ Transit · NJ Transit 4109 · Reading & Northern · Raritan River

Sources

• Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 100–102. Routes, Reading/B&O 1901, Camelbacks, #1000, dieselization July 1, 1954
• Drury, George H. The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. Kalmbach, 1994, pp. 56–59. Corporate skeleton, CRP, L&NE, Aldene, Conrail
• “Jersey Central: Coal, Commuters, and a Comet.” Classic Trains, Winter 2011. 700/1,900 miles; 300 trains / 35,000 riders; semaphore 1893; Newark Bay 1926; Blue Comet and Bullet; 1944 Liberty mark; Aldene; PA exit March 31, 1972
• Kraus, Walter. “Real Demise Of Rail Line Trailed Coal’s Decline.” The Morning Call (Allentown), August 24, 1989. L&NE sale October 31, 1961, $10 million
• Hagley Museum and Library. Central Railroad Company of New Jersey records. April 23, 1849 name; July 2, 1852 Easton; March 22, 1967 bankruptcy; Central Jersey Industries September 14, 1979
• ICC annual reports. Ton-miles and passenger-miles, 1925–1970
• American-Rails.com: Communipaw Terminal; New York & Long Branch; Blue Comet; Reading; Baltimore & Ohio; Lehigh Valley; Lehigh & New England; Conrail; NJ Transit 4109

FacebookXPinterestTumblrRedditWhatsAppMessenger

Recent Articles

• 
• 
• 

1. Canal Street Maintenance Plan Will Get an FRA Review

   Nov 02, 26 01:48 PM

   The Federal Railroad Administration will prepare an environmental assessment of Amtrak Canal Street maintenance plans in Chicago after adding 17 viaduct repairs to a project that had a categorical exc…

   Read More

2. Durango & Silverton Repairs Track After Continued Flooding

   Nov 02, 26 01:40 PM

   
   Durango & Silverton crews are repairing flood damage after the Animas hit 11,200 cfs on October 23. The Highline Express ran October 27 through November 1. Polar Express trains remain listed from…

   Read More

3. Middle Georgia Megasite Will Host the First Audi Plant in the U.S.

   Nov 02, 26 01:35 PM

   
   Audi will build its first U.S. plant at the Norfolk Southern-served Middle Georgia Megasite in Peach County, about $4 billion and about 4,500 jobs. Audi and Norfolk Southern publish different construc…

   Read More

4. Union Pacific No. 844 Returns Beside Big Boy on November 21

   Nov 02, 26 01:30 PM

   
   Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 is back under steam and will trail Big Boy 4014 from Greeley to Denver on November 21. The pair will then stand on free display at Denver Union Station.

   Read More

5. Norfolk Southern Abandonment in the Shenandoah Valley Is Stayed

   Nov 02, 26 01:19 PM

   
   The Surface Transportation Board on October 22, 2026, postponed a Norfolk Southern exemption to abandon 48.5 miles from Front Royal to Broadway, Virginia. A response is due November 3.

   Read More

6. Reading & Northern Sets a November 23 Start in Luzerne

   Nov 02, 26 01:13 PM

   
   Reading and Northern expects to begin operating about 59.65 miles of Luzerne County rail line on November 23, 2026. The package is $7 million in cash plus $3 million in track work.

   Read More

7. Second Daily Pennsylvanian Begins November 18

   Nov 02, 26 12:19 PM

   
   A second daily Pennsylvanian round trip between New York and Pittsburgh begins November 18, 2026, after 46 years with one round trip. Each city gets a morning departure and an afternoon departure.

   Read More

8. MBTA Sets November Meetings on Regional Rail

   Nov 02, 26 12:10 PM

   
   The MBTA will hold virtual meetings on November 4 and November 17, 2026, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., on a plan to turn Commuter Rail into Regional Rail with more frequent servic

   Read More

9. Wisconsin Central Diesel Roster (Soo Line Years)

   Nov 01, 26 11:31 PM

   
   Diesels built new for the Wisconsin Central in the Soo Line years. 97 locomotives, Alco 24 and Electro-Motive 73. These 97 are already inside the Soo Line roster of 786.

   Read More

10. Wisconsin Central Ltd. Diesel Roster

    Nov 01, 26 11:22 PM

    
    Wisconsin Central Ltd. diesels, 1987 to 2001. Thirty locomotives with a number fixed by another roster on this site or by a photograph. The fleet stood at 244 units. More than 100 were SD45s.

    Read More

11. Wisconsin Central Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

    Nov 01, 26 11:20 PM

    Wisconsin Central steam locomotives built since 1900. The quantity column is 156. Consolidations, Mikados, Atlantics, Ten-Wheelers, Pacifics, and Mountains. The Soo 4-8-4s stay on the Soo roster.

    Read More

12. Wisconsin Central Railway: Map, History, Logo, Roster

    Nov 01, 26 11:15 PM

    
    Two railroads kept the Wisconsin Central name. The 1871 line was leased to the Soo on April 1, 1909 and merged January 1, 1961. Wisconsin Central Ltd. ran from October 11, 1987 until Canadian National…

    Read More

13. Watchmen Talks Extended at Los Angeles and Long Beach

    Nov 01, 26 10:41 PM

    Suggested meta description: The Pacific Maritime Association and ILWU Local 26 extended their contract through 5 p.m. Pacific Time on November 4, 2026, moving a November 1 deadline at the ports of Los…

    Read More

14. LIRR September Ridership Tops the 2019 Mark

    Nov 01, 26 10:39 PM

    The Long Island Rail Road carried 102 percent of its September 2019 ridership in September 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul said on October 28. Metro-North carried 323,423 riders on October 24 and 25.

    Read More

15. North Carolina Awards the Rogers Road Bridge in Wake Forest

    Nov 01, 26 10:22 PM

    
    NCDOT on October 28, 2026 awarded a contract to Blythe Construction for a bridge over the CSX S-Line on Rogers Road in Wake Forest. Work can start as early as November 30, with opening aimed at fall 2…

    Read More

16. Trinity Books 2,190 Railcar Orders in the Third Quarter

    Nov 01, 26 10:17 PM

    
    Trinity Industries on October 29, 2026 reported 2,190 new railcar orders and 2,030 deliveries in the third quarter. The company expects industry deliveries below 25,000 railcars in 2026.

    Read More

17. New York Central's Jade Green E Units

    Nov 01, 26 09:25 PM

    
    In 1961 the New York Central tried Century Green, called Jade Green, on E8As 4053 and 4083 and E7B 4107. Dark gray became the passenger scheme. The green stayed on freight cars.

    Read More

18. FRA Awards $1.24 Billion for Grade-Crossing Work in 37 States

    Nov 01, 26 12:48 PM

    
    The Federal Railroad Administration on October 30, 2026, awarded $1.24 billion for 91 grade-crossing projects in 37 states under the Railroad Crossing Elimination program.

    Read More

19. PATH Director Clarelle DeGraffe Will Retire at the End of 2026

    Nov 01, 26 12:43 PM

    Clarelle DeGraffe will retire at the end of 2026 after 37 years with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. James Sincaglia will succeed her as PATH director.

    Read More

20. Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway Suspends Trains After a Rockslide

    Nov 01, 26 12:30 PM

    
    The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway has suspended all trains indefinitely after a rockslide near Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 2026. Tickets through November 15 will be refunded.

    Read More

21. Georgia Marks the Opening of the Gainesville Inland Port

    Nov 01, 26 12:06 PM

    
    Norfolk Southern and Georgia Ports marked the Gainesville Inland Port on October 29, 2026. The terminal opened May 4 and can handle 200,000 containers a year at full build-out.

    Read More

22. BLET Members Ratify Five-Year Deal on the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern

    Nov 01, 26 11:48 AM

    
    Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen members have ratified a five-year agreement with CPKC covering Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern lines. Engineers' hourly pay rises 41.42 percent over the…

    Read More

23. Canada Lists Roberts Bank Terminal 2 as a Project of National Interest

    Nov 01, 26 11:03 AM

    On October 30, 2026, Canada listed the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 container project at the Port of Vancouver as a project of national interest. The listing includes a widened causeway for rail.

    Read More

24. Amtrak Finishes the First Street Tunnel Work South of Union Station

    Nov 01, 26 09:59 AM

    
    Amtrak on October 26, 2026 finished nine days of work at A Interlocking in the First Street Tunnel south of Washington Union Station. Trains south of the station are back.

    Read More

25. CPKC Asks the STB to End the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Review

    Nov 01, 26 12:23 AM

    
    CPKC on October 30, 2026 asked the Surface Transportation Board to end its review of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, citing remarks by the Union Pacific chief executive.

    Read More

26. U.S. Rail Traffic Rose 7.8 Percent in the Week Ending October 24

    Nov 01, 26 12:13 AM

    
    U.S. railroads moved 538,503 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending October 24, 2026, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads said.

    Read More

27. Schneider Will Shift Its Eastern Intermodal Freight to NS

    Nov 01, 26 12:06 AM

    
    Schneider said October 29, 2026 that Norfolk Southern will be its primary eastern railroad. The move from CSX begins next month, with official implementation on January 1.

    Read More

28. Union Pacific Dispatchers Will Vote on ATDA Representation

    Nov 01, 26 12:00 AM

    
    The National Mediation Board has authorized a representation election for Union Pacific train dispatchers. The American Train Dispatchers Association announced the decision on October 29, 2026.

    Read More

29. Wabash Diesel Roster (All-Time)

    Oct 31, 26 12:35 AM

    
    Wabash diesel locomotives, each frame once, through the lease at 12:01 a.m. on October 16, 1964.

    Read More

30. Wabash Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

    Oct 31, 26 12:30 AM

    
    Wabash steam locomotives built since 1900. Moguls, Mikados, Mountains, and the O-1 Northerns.

    Read More

31. Wabash Railroad: Map, Rosters, History, Logo

    Oct 31, 26 12:28 AM

    
    History of the Wabash Railroad, from the Northern Cross of 1838 to the Norfolk & Western lease at 12:01 a.m. on October 16, 1964. Follow the Flag. Steam and diesel rosters are separate pages.

    Read More

32. Court Clears $257.7 Million in Notes for Brightline Florida

    Oct 31, 26 12:18 AM

    
    A New Jersey bankruptcy court on October 29, 2026 authorized $257.7 million in notes for Brightline Trains Florida. The operating company is not one of the 17 debtor holding companies.

    Read More

33. Brightline West Still Waiting on a $6 Billion Federal Loan

    Oct 31, 26 12:11 AM

    
    Brightline West said October 27, 2026 that it is still working through a $6 billion federal loan and still talks about opening in 2029. The Florida restructuring is a separate company.

    Read More

34. BNSF Reopens the Gallup Subdivision After New Mexico Flooding

    Oct 31, 26 12:06 AM

    
    BNSF said October 28, 2026 that both Gallup Subdivision main tracks are back after flooding near Laguna, New Mexico. The El Paso Subdivision was still out of service.

    Read More

35. CSX Says Interchange Is Moving Again After a Technology Outage

    Oct 31, 26 12:01 AM

    
    CSX said October 29, 2026 that interchange with other Class I railroads is moving again after a technology outage that began October 27. Dispatching and positive train control stayed up.

    Read More

36. Baldwin "Baby Face" Locomotives: Specs, Photos, Roster

    Oct 30, 26 11:01 PM

    
    Baldwin's Babyface cab on the early road diesels: 50 short-cab units, 1946-1948, plus the related Centipede. Construction numbers, specs, and the sharknose that followed.

    Read More

37. California High-Speed Rail Chief Resigns

    Oct 30, 26 08:36 PM

    
    Ian Choudri resigned October 28, 2026 as chief executive of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The board named Joe Stephenshaw interim chief executive.

    Read More

38. The 1910 Portal Bridge Is Handed Over for Demolition

    Oct 30, 26 04:03 PM

    
    Amtrak handed the 1910 Portal Bridge over for demolition on October 29, 2026, during the final cutover to Portal North. Regular NJ Transit and Amtrak schedules are expected November 15.

    Read More

39. Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Merger Review Runs to 2027

    Oct 30, 26 03:59 PM

    
    Union Pacific says the Surface Transportation Board's review of the Norfolk Southern merger gathers information through May 28, 2027. A closing still depends on board approval.

    Read More

40. Amtrak Board Will Hear Restructuring Comments on November 10

    Oct 30, 26 03:41 PM

    
    Amtrak's board will hear public comments on its restructuring on November 10, 2026, from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern. Written comments were due October 30. A proposal goes to the board in December.

    Read More

41. Canadian Pacific Selkirk 5931 Restored in Calgary

    Oct 30, 26 01:36 PM

    
    Heritage Park in Calgary unveiled a cosmetic restoration of Canadian Pacific 2-10-4 No. 5931 on October 27, 2026. One of two surviving Selkirks. It stays on display.

    Read More

42. Gettysburg Railway to Host Steam for Lincoln

    Oct 30, 26 01:18 PM

    
    Northern Central Railway of York No. 17 will recreate Lincoln's arrival at Gettysburg on November 18, 2026, with public steam trips November 19-21.

    Read More

43. NC&StL No. 576 to Steam for the Public in Nashville

    Oct 30, 26 01:00 PM

    
    Nashville Steam will fire NC&StL 4-8-4 No. 576 for the public on November 7, 2026, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 220 Willow Street. Admission is free.

    Read More

44. Pennsylvania Railroad E8s Join the T1 Trust

    Oct 30, 26 12:38 PM

    
    The T1 Trust has acquired former Pennsylvania Railroad E8A diesels 5702A and 5761A from the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. They are bound for Cumberland.

    Read More

45. Ligonier Valley Railroad: History, Roster, Timetable

    Oct 30, 26 12:03 PM

    
    The Ligonier Valley Railroad ran 10.5 miles from Latrobe to Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Opened December 1, 1877. Last day August 31, 1952.

    Read More

46. Toledo, Peoria & Western Diesel Roster (All-Time)

    Oct 30, 26 10:25 AM

    
    Toledo, Peoria & Western diesel locomotives, each frame once. Thirteen Alcos, three Lima-Hamilton switchers, and 26 Electro-Motive units.

    Read More

47. Toledo, Peoria & Western Steam Roster

    Oct 30, 26 09:14 AM

    
    Toledo, Peoria & Western steam locomotives from the Rogers Consolidations of 1895 through the 4-8-4s of 1937

    Read More

48. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway: Map, Roster, History

    Oct 29, 26 11:12 PM

    
    History of the Toledo, Peoria & Western. The Peoria & Oquawka, George P. McNear, the Santa Fe and Pennsylvania years, and the railroad that came back in 1989.

    Read More

49. Cotton Belt Diesel Roster (All-Time)

    Oct 29, 26 07:58 PM

    
    St. Louis Southwestern diesel locomotives, each frame once. Baldwin switchers, F units, and new Cotton Belt-lettered power through the GP60s of May 1990.

    Read More

50. Cotton Belt Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)

    Oct 29, 26 06:52 PM

    
    St. Louis Southwestern steam locomotives built since 1900. Consolidations, Ten-Wheelers, and twenty class L-1 4-8-4s. The quantity column is 297.

    Read More