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Boston and Maine Railroad: "Route Of The Minute Man"

Last revised: September 16, 2026

By: Adam Burns

The Boston & Maine was the largest railroad in New England, and for more than a century it was the railroad New England rode. The slogan was Route Of The Minute Man. Reporting mark BM. The Massachusetts ancestor, the Andover & Wilmington, was chartered March 15, 1833, and opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. New Hampshire chartered the Boston & Maine itself on June 27, 1835. By the early twentieth century the system held more than 2,000 route-miles from Boston north to Portland and the White Mountains, west through the Hoosac Tunnel to Troy and Mechanicville, and up the Connecticut River toward Montreal. It connected with the New Haven, the Boston & Albany, the Maine Central, the Central Vermont, the Rutland, and the Delaware & Hudson.

Bondholders put the company into Section 77 on March 12, 1970. Alan G. Dustin kept it out of Conrail on April 1, 1976. Timothy Mellon’s Guilford Transportation Industries took title on June 30, 1983, for $24.25 million. Guilford became Pan Am Railways in 2006. CSX closed on Pan Am on June 1, 2022.

Relatively new Boston & Maine GP38-2s at Mechanicville, New York, during the 1970s. Warren Calloway photo.

On this page: At a glance · Andover to Portland · The Eastern · Boston & Lowell · New Hampshire · Fitchburg and Hoosac · Worcester, Nashua & Portland · Peak plant · Passenger trains · Steam and diesel · McGinnis · 1970, Dustin, Conrail · Guilford, Pan Am, CSX · What remains

At a glance

Boston & Maine Railroad logo. Author’s work.

Peak mileage follows the Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society. 1930 figure is the Official Guide-era plant. Guilford close is the June 30, 1983, title date (UPI). Information compiled September 16, 2026.

Andover to Portland

People in Andover wanted a railroad to the Boston & Lowell at Wilmington, less than eight miles. Massachusetts chartered the Andover & Wilmington on March 15, 1833. Trains reached Andover August 8, 1836. The name became Andover & Haverhill on April 18, 1837, then Boston & Portland on April 3, 1839, as the object stretched toward Maine. New Hampshire had already chartered a Boston & Maine on June 27, 1835, to carry the same idea from the Massachusetts line to the Maine line. Maine incorporated the Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts on March 30, 1836, to finish the job from Portland to Great Falls.

Rails reached East Kingston, New Hampshire, on January 1, 1840, and Exeter on June 26. Dover opened a temporary depot September 24, 1841. The Boston & Portland and the New Hampshire Boston & Maine united on November 5, 1841. The Maine company joined on June 3, 1844. The name that survived was Boston & Maine.

On February 23, 1843, the railroad opened Exeter to South Berwick, Maine, and met the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth, which already ran into Portland. For a time the B&M and its coastal rival, the Eastern, jointly leased the PS&P rather than race each other into the city. The B&M’s own Portland extension, South Berwick to Portland, opened February 15, 1873. Until then the inland road was a guest on someone else’s last miles.

South of Wilmington the B&M at first used the Boston & Lowell into Boston. That arrangement did not last. In 1845 it built its own line from Wilmington Junction into Haymarket Square and put a Greek Revival station on the square. Causeway Street’s Union Station—North Station—gathered the north-side roads under one roof in 1893. From then on Boston meant North Station if you were riding the B&M.

Whitefield is a diamond, not a slogan. The B&M Berlin line crossed the Maine Central Mountain Division at a crew-operated ball mast dated to 1875. One ball let the B&M over the Maine Central; two balls let the Maine Central over the B&M. That plant is the hardware behind the word highball.

The Eastern

Massachusetts chartered the Eastern Railroad on April 14, 1836. Construction started in August 1837. The Eastern hugged the Atlantic: Boston, Lynn, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, and on toward Portland, reaching the New Hampshire line on November 9, 1840. The B&M ran inland through Lawrence, Haverhill, and Dover. Two roads, two Portland routes, the same destination. The Eastern had its own Boston terminal. The inland road, until 1845, did not.

They fought for decades and still shared the PS&P into Portland. The B&M leased the Eastern on December 23, 1883, and bought it outright in the spring of 1890. After that the inland line was the Inside Gateway and the Eastern was the coastal main. Both still exist in pieces. MBTA’s Haverhill Line uses the old B&M; the Newburyport/Rockport Line uses the Eastern.

Boston & Maine E7A #3805 leads a Greenfield-Springfield train southbound through Chicopee, Massachusetts on May 20, 1956. Photographer unknown. American-Rails.com collection.

Boston & Lowell

The Boston & Lowell is older than the B&M. Massachusetts chartered it June 5, 1830, with a thirty-year monopoly between Boston and the mills at Lowell. The 26-mile road opened in 1835, the same year Worcester opened on the Boston & Worcester. From Lowell it reached Nashua and Keene, and it gathered branches to Salem, Concord, and Ayer. For years it was the B&M’s landlord into Boston and then its rival.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court refused, early in 1887, to ratify a Boston & Lowell lease of the Northern Railroad. That broke the Lowell’s Montreal ambition and left it strained. The B&M leased the Boston & Lowell on April 1, 1887, guaranteed the dividends, and folded the property into what became the Southern Division. The original Boston–Lowell iron is still a railroad: MBTA’s Lowell Line, with freight rights on the same corridor.

A busy scene at Boston’s North Station during the 1950s. In the foreground is Boston & Maine 4-6-2 #3712 (P-4); in the background, 4-4-2 #3234 (J-1e). Author’s collection.

New Hampshire: Concord, the Northern, Concord & Montreal

New Hampshire was not a branch. It was half the map. The Boston, Concord & Montreal, incorporated 1844, opened Concord to Tilton on May 22, 1848, Plymouth on June 21, 1850 via Laconia and Meredith, and Wells River, Vermont, on May 10, 1853. The B&M first took the BC&M in 1887, then lost it. The Concord & Montreal, a July 24, 1889, consolidation of the BC&M and the Concord Railroad, lasted only a few independent years. The B&M leased it on April 1, 1895. That lease put Concord, Manchester, Nashua, Bellows Falls, and Wells River on one payroll.

The Northern Railroad was a Concord–White River Junction company, chartered by New Hampshire in 1844 to reach some point on the Connecticut River. Franklin opened December 28, 1846; Lebanon, November 17, 1847; then the river bridge into White River Junction, about seventy miles in all. A single branch, the Franklin & Bristol, ran Franklin to Bristol from 1849. The Boston & Lowell had taken the Northern in 1884. On July 24, 1889, the New Hampshire General Court allowed the B&M to lease it. Bruce Heald, in A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad, is the construction authority for that date. Last passenger train, January 3, 1965. Guilford abandoned Boscawen–Lebanon, 59 miles, in 1991.

Boston & Maine GP9 #1701 leads a short train west out of the yard at East Deerfield, Massachusetts, on July 28, 1972. The interlocking tower and the McClelland Farm Road overpass at the west end of the yard made this a famous B&M photograph. American-Rails.com collection.

Fitchburg, Hoosac, and the west door

The Fitchburg was the piece that made the B&M a bridge road instead of a Boston commuter machine with Maine attached. Chartered March 3, 1842, it opened Boston to Fitchburg on March 5, 1845. West of Fitchburg the Vermont & Massachusetts and the Troy & Greenfield carried the idea over the Hoosac Range. The state of Massachusetts finished the tunnel after private money and Herman Haupt’s contract both failed. First train through the bore, February 9, 1875. Regular passenger service Boston–Troy, 1876. At 4.75 miles it was the longest railroad tunnel in the country when it opened. The tunnel has its own page.

The Fitchburg gathered the Troy & Greenfield, the Troy & Boston, and the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel & Western, reaching Mechanicville, Rotterdam Junction, and a D&H/Erie interchange that paid the freight bills. The B&M leased the Fitchburg for 99 years from July 1, 1900—the same morning the New York Central took the Boston & Albany. New York had to choose. It took the B&A. The B&M took the tunnel. After the lease the property was the Fitchburg Division. Mike Schafer, in Classic American Railroads, notes more than a dozen scheduled freights a day on that route after World War II. East Deerfield remains the hump. Mechanicville remains the west end of the old B&M in eastern New York, at the Hudson and the D&H.

Steam in the tunnel was a choking assignment. The B&M electrified Hoosac in 1911 under the same Charles S. Mellen who then sat on both the New Haven and the B&M. Diesels later replaced the motors. Single track returned in 1957 for clearance. Last regular passenger train through the bore, November 28, 1958.

Boston & Maine GP38-2 #200 in Bicentennial livery at Mechanicville, New York, on April 17, 1975. G. Berisso photo. American-Rails.com collection.

Boston & Maine RS3 #1536 has a work train in the yard at Mechanicville, New York, on May 17, 1975. Ray Sabo photo. American-Rails.com collection.

Worcester, Nashua & Portland

A third Portland route came through Worcester. The Worcester & Nashua, formed 1845, opened Worcester to Nashua by late 1848. The Nashua & Rochester, 1847, connected its namesake cities and was leased by the W&N in 1874. Those two, with the Portland & Rochester, became the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester in 1883. The B&M took control in 1886 and called it the Worcester, Nashua & Portland Division, 146.9 miles. For a generation the railroad had three routes between Massachusetts and Portland, enough traffic to keep all three. After World War I the extras started to come out. The Depression made the WN&P look redundant. New Hampshire segments went in 1932. By the 1950s two large pieces remained, west of Portland and Worcester–Hollis. By the 1980s most of the old WN&P was gone.

Boston & Maine RS3s #1517 and #1512 layover at the engine terminal in Brownville Junction, Maine, on July 6, 1970. A Canadian Pacific Alco switcher sits in the background. American-Rails.com collection.

Peak plant

Until the late nineteenth century the B&M was still a small road. Schafer puts the independent network around 200 miles before the post–Civil War mill boom. Then the leases arrived in a rush: Eastern, Boston & Lowell, Northern, Concord & Montreal, Fitchburg. The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society puts the peak plant at more than 2,300 route-miles, about 1,200 steam locomotives, and a workforce on the order of 28,000. The 1930 figure commonly cited is 2,084 miles. J. P. Morgan and the New Haven took control around 1910. Antitrust pulled that apart. Lease debt, Eastern funded debt, and the Fitchburg obligation put the company into receivership in August 1916. James H. Hustis sat as receiver. The 1919 reorganization folded the principal leased roads into one Boston & Maine and reset the paper. Edward S. French, president from 1930 to 1952, ran the railroad through the Depression and the war.

An official 1946 system map of the Boston & Maine. Author’s collection.

Major yards sat at Boston, East Deerfield on the Fitchburg, Rigby in South Portland, and Mechanicville. The central locomotive shop opened at North Billerica, Massachusetts, in 1913, five miles south of Lowell. Concord, New Hampshire, kept shops of its own. Freight was New England freight: textiles, shoes, paper, furniture, coal inbound, milk in cans, less-than-carload merchandise. Distances were short. Trucks were always close. The Fitchburg to the D&H and Erie at Mechanicville was the long-haul door that mattered.

A pair of Boston & Maine GP9s at South Portland, Maine, on September 25, 1978. Warren Calloway photo.

Boston & Maine GP38-2 #200 (renumbered from 212) in Bicentennial livery at Rigby Yard, South Portland, Maine, on March 23, 1975, soon after the unit arrived. Ronald Johnson photo.

Passenger trains

North Station was a commuter factory. Long-distance trains were fewer, and most of them were partnerships. The Minute Man was the Boston–Troy name train, Fitchburg Division, the slogan made rolling stock. Montreal was a three-road problem. The Alouette and the Ambassador / New Englander used B&M and Canadian Pacific or Central Vermont iron. The Montrealer / Washingtonian was a five-railroad overnight: Pennsylvania, New Haven, B&M Springfield–White River Junction, Central Vermont, Canadian National. Last conventional Montrealer / Washingtonian, September 3–4, 1966.

Maine was a B&M–Maine Central joint. The Flying Yankee, Budd’s 1935 shovel-nose, was a near-sister of Burlington Zephyr 9900, Boston–Bangor with the Maine Central. The Pine Tree and the Kennebec covered Boston–Portland–Bangor. The Gull went farthest: Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, B&M, Maine Central, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific, last run 1960. Seasonal trains filled the summer: the East Wind, Washington–Bangor; the Bar Harbor Express, Washington–Ellsworth; the State of Maine, New York–Portland. The Green Mountain Flyer reached Montreal via the Rutland, with a Boston section the B&M handed off at Bellows Falls. Other names stayed closer to home: the Cheshire to White River Junction, the Mountaineer to Littleton and Bethlehem, the Day White Mountains New York–Berlin.

Amtrak took what was left of the intercity map on May 1, 1971. The commuter railroad remained. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, created August 3, 1964, signed a subsidy with the B&M on December 14, 1964. On December 27, 1976, the MBTA bought the north-side commuter equipment, the maintenance plant, and about 250 miles of right-of-way. The B&M kept freight rights and kept running the trains. On March 12, 1977, it also took the south-side contract over former New Haven and Boston & Albany lines out of South Station—the first time one operator had both sides of Boston. Guilford inherited that contract. It did not last the decade.

Boston & Maine 4-6-2 #3692 arrives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with an outbound Boston–Marblehead commuter run on February 2, 1956. American-Rails.com collection.

Boston & Maine F2A #4225 at Springfield, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1962. Rick Burn photo.

Steam and diesel

The post-1900 steam fleet was New England power: Moguls and Consolidations on the branches, Pacifics on the named trains and the commuter peaks, a handful of Lima 2-8-4s and Baldwin 4-8-2s for the Fitchburg. The P-4 Lima Pacifics, 3710–3719, carried names. 3713, The Constitution, is the one that survives. Last steam in commuter service, July 23, 1956. The class-by-class record is the steam roster.

An American Locomotive builder’s photograph of new Boston & Maine RS2 #1503, circa 1949. Warren Calloway collection.

Dieselization started early. A GE/Ingersoll-Rand boxcab, 1100, arrived in 1935, the same year EMC turned out Flying Yankee power car 6000. Alco HH switchers, EMC SCs, and EMD SW1s filled the yards. Wartime FTs, then F2s, F3s, F7s, and E7s, took the mains. Alco RS2s and RS3s and EMD GP7s and GP9s finished steam. Four BL2s, 1550–1553, were an EMD experiment that stuck around. Budd RDCs—the railroad called them Highliners—reached 109 cars, the largest such fleet in the country, and by 1958 covered nearly all remaining passenger work except the Montreal trains. Second-generation power was EMD: GP18s in 1961, then GP38-2s in 1973–74 and GP40-2s in 1977 under Dustin. Unit-by-unit is the diesel roster.

An Electro-Motive builder’s photograph of freshly outshopped Boston & Maine GP9 #1701 in early 1957.

During a visit to the Boston & Maine roundhouse and yard at West Lebanon, New Hampshire, in the 1960s, Marty Bernard caught F7A #4265 and GP7 #1576 laying over between assignments.

An A-B-B set of Boston & Maine F7s, led by #4266, with a piggyback freight (perhaps BJ-1) at Ayer, Massachusetts, circa 1970. Photographer unknown.

Boston & Maine RS3 #1536 at the east end of Canadian Pacific’s yard in Smiths Falls, Ontario, in the summer of 1966. American-Rails.com collection.

McGinnis

Patrick B. McGinnis left the New Haven presidency on January 20, 1956, and was Boston & Maine president about six hours later. He had already taken the board in a 1955 proxy fight that ended the French era and cancelled the last B&M–Maine Central corporate tie. Maroon and gold gave way to blue. FTs went back to La Grange as trade-in on GP9s. Streamlined passenger cars were sold. Maintenance was deferred. McGinnis and his successor, Daniel A. Benson, were convicted in 1966 of financial improprieties on the sale of those cars. Richard J. Mulhern followed. Deficits that began in 1958 did not stop. Stockholders declined an ICC-approved affiliation with Norfolk & Western, Erie Lackawanna, and the D&H—the Dereco grouping that later took the D&H without the B&M.

Boston & Maine GP38-2 #200, in the road’s Bicentennial livery, leads a westbound freight on the main line at Valley Falls, New York, on June 24, 1978. Doug Kroll photo.

March 12, 1970, Dustin, and staying out of Conrail

On March 12, 1970, certain bondholders filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to reorganize the Boston & Maine Corporation under Section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act. The court approved the petition and appointed trustees. The docket is 70-250-M. Trustees took operating control in May. Twelve years of unpaid taxes, unpaid bond interest, and thin capital spending sat on the table. John W. Barriger III, the “doctor of sick railroads,” became president January 1, 1971, and stayed through January 1973. Paul W. Cherington, from Harvard Business School, followed. F. C. “Buck” Dumaine’s Amoskeag bought enough defaulted first-mortgage bonds in 1973 to become the de facto owner under the court. Dumaine sent Alan G. “Dusty” Dustin. Dustin became president and CEO in August 1974.

The trustees declined inclusion in Conrail. When Conrail started on April 1, 1976, the B&M was still a separate company in Section 77. Dustin sold the commuter plant to the MBTA that December, kept freight rights, bought GP40-2s, rebuilt track and signals, and went after piggyback and coal. The railroad posted its first ordinary-income profit since 1957 in 1980. In 1982 it picked up former Conrail lines in Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was still in court. It was no longer a candidate for liquidation.

Guilford, Pan Am, CSX

Timothy Mellon had already bought the Maine Central, in June 1981, through Guilford Transportation Industries, named for Guilford, Connecticut. A federal judge in Boston approved the Boston & Maine sale on June 23, 1983. Mellon took title on June 30, 1983, for $24.25 million. Dustin stayed into 1984. Guilford painted locomotives dark gray with an orange stripe and a large G, and it sublettered Boston & Maine, Maine Central, and Springfield Terminal on the cabs. The D&H came from N&W’s Dereco on January 4, 1984, for $500,000. That story is the D&H page: bankruptcy June 20, 1988, Canadian Pacific in January 1991.

Guilford’s method was to lease B&M and Maine Central operations to Springfield Terminal, an MEC subsidiary with short-line work rules, and to abandon what it did not want. Hundreds of miles came out in the 1980s and 1990s, including Northern Railroad iron between Boscawen and Lebanon. Labor struck in 1986 and 1987. Track on the Connecticut River line deteriorated until Amtrak pulled the Montrealer. In 1998 Guilford bought the Pan American World Airways name. In 2006 it restyled the railroad Pan Am Railways. Blue paint replaced the G. Sublettering remained. With Norfolk Southern it formed Pan Am Southern in 2008, the Patriot Corridor from the Hudson to Ayer and Boston over the old Fitchburg.

CSX announced Pan Am in November 2020. The Surface Transportation Board approved the transaction on April 14, 2022. CSX closed on June 1, 2022. Genesee & Wyoming took the former Boston & Maine west of Ayer as the Berkshire & Eastern, operating the old Pan Am Southern for NS. Guilford is a date on the 1980s page. The 2022 closing is the 2020s.

What remains

CSX runs the old B&M freight mains east of Ayer: Boston to Portland, the Lowell and New Hampshire fragments that still carry cars, Springfield toward White River Junction. West of Ayer the Fitchburg is Berkshire & Eastern / Norfolk Southern through the Hoosac Tunnel to Mechanicville and Rotterdam Junction. MBTA owns the north-side commuter lines out of North Station—Fitchburg, Lowell, Haverhill, Newburyport/Rockport—and a contractor runs the trains. Amtrak’s Downeaster uses the Portland route. Conway Scenic has run from the old B&M depot in North Conway since 1974. Hobo Railroad sits on a piece of the Pemigewasset. The Whitefield mast is still there. The corporate name Boston & Maine Corporation still exists on paper under CSX, the way so many fallen flags do. The railroad a passenger meant by “the B&M” ended the morning Mellon took the keys.

Related reading on American-Rails.com

• B&M steam roster · B&M diesel roster · Flying Yankee · Hoosac Tunnel
• Alouette · Ambassador / New Englander · Montrealer / Washingtonian · The Gull
• Pine Tree · Kennebec · East Wind · Bar Harbor Express · State of Maine · Green Mountain Flyer
• Maine Central · Boston & Albany · New Haven · Delaware & Hudson
• Central Vermont · Rutland · Bangor & Aroostook · Pan Am Railways
• Conrail · CSX · Highball · Commuter rail
• Fallen flags · Railroads in the 1820s/1830s · Railroads in the 1970s · Railroads in the 1980s · Railroads in the 2020s

Sources

• Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society. Company history: Andover & Wilmington origin; peak plant over 2,300 route-miles, ~1,200 steam locomotives, workforce ~28,000; New Haven/Morgan control circa 1910; 1919 reorganization; McGinnis 1955; Dustin 1974–84; MBTA commuter sale 1976; first ordinary-income profit since 1957 in 1980
• ICC valuation, Boston & Maine Railroad (WikiProject Trains transcription). Andover & Wilmington March 15, 1833; New Hampshire charter June 27, 1835; Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts March 30, 1836; Boston & Portland union November 5, 1841; Maine company union June 3, 1844. Fitchburg 99-year lease from July 1, 1900
• Heald, Bruce D. A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad: Exploring New Hampshire’s Rugged Heart by Rail. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2007. Northern Railroad lease July 24, 1889; New Hampshire construction
• Schafer, Mike. Classic American Railroads. Osceola, Wis.: MBI. Independent B&M around 200 miles until late-nineteenth-century expansion; Fitchburg Division traffic after World War II
• Kirkland, Edward Chase. Men, Cities and Transportation: A Study in New England History, 1820–1900. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948. New England charter and lease context
• In re Boston and Maine Corporation, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 70-250-M. Bondholders’ Section 77 petition March 12, 1970; trustees appointed; 120-day findings under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act
• UPI, June 23, 1983. Federal judge approved sale to Guilford Industries; Mellon to take title June 30; $24.25 million
• “Remembering the Boston & Maine Railroad.” Classic Trains, October 2019. McGinnis January 20, 1956; last commuter steam July 23, 1956; RDC fleet; Barriger January 1, 1971; Dustin August 1974; Guilford June 30, 1983
• Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society, roster of officers (Rick Nowell compilation). Hustis, French, McGinnis, Benson, Mulhern, Barriger, Cherington, Dustin; Guilford acquisition June–July 1983
• CSX / Surface Transportation Board: Pan Am announced November 2020; STB April 14, 2022; closed June 1, 2022. Genesee & Wyoming Berkshire & Eastern west of Ayer
• Live American-Rails Hoosac, Flying Yankee, named-train, steam-roster, diesel-roster, Maine Central, Boston & Albany, New Haven, D&H, Conrail, decade, and Pan Am pages as linked above

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26. Rio Grande Steam Locomotives (Since 1900)

    Nov 04, 26 11:40 AM

    
    Denver & Rio Grande Western steam locomotives built since 1900. Standard gauge quantity 435 and narrow gauge 48. Challengers, 2-8-8-2s, Mountains, Northerns, and the K-27, K-28, K-36, and K-37.

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27. Rio Grande Diesel Locomotives (All-Time)

    Nov 04, 26 11:39 AM

    
    Denver & Rio Grande Western diesel locomotives, each frame once. 554 units, from the 1941 NW2 through the 1990 GP60s. FT, F3, F7, and F9 sets are not counted again under their 1950 numbers.

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28. Rio Grande Railroad: Map, Logo, History, Rosters

    Nov 04, 26 11:34 AM

    
    Denver & Rio Grande Western history, from William Jackson Palmer and the October 27, 1870 charter through the Royal Gorge, the Moffat route, the California Zephyr, and Union Pacific common control…

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29. Lindblom Gift Expands the Fort Wayne Restoration Shop

    Nov 04, 26 11:14 AM

    
    Art Lindblom gave the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society more than $1.4 million, its largest single gift, to expand the New Haven shop. The addition is planned for late 2026 and early 2027. A sepa…

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30. Design Contract Awarded for the Forest Park Branch

    Nov 04, 26 11:09 AM

    
    The Chicago Transit Board approved a design contract for about 13 miles of Blue Line track from the Illinois Medical District to the I-290 Bridge. The release summary calls it a $17 million contract…

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31. Kanawha River Railroad: The Norfolk Southern Lease Is Renewed

    Nov 04, 26 10:51 AM

    
    Kanawha River Railroad filed to keep leasing 309.45 miles from Norfolk Southern in West Virginia and Ohio. The second amendment is dated August 17, 2026. The Board has not set the date the exemption t…

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32. Short Line Center Awarded a $5.625 Million Grant

    Nov 04, 26 10:35 AM

    
    The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association received a $5.625 million CRISI grant on October 20, 2026, for the Short Line Training Center. A 25 percent match brings the project to $7.5 m…

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33. Palestine and Rusk Track Rebuild Finishes Its First Phase

    Nov 04, 26 09:13 AM

    
    The Texas & Eastern Railroad has finished the first phase of a roughly $30 million track project between Palestine and Rusk. Phase I used a $13.4 million CRISI grant. Phase II, at $8.54 million, adds…

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34. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx Get Subway Power Design

    Nov 04, 26 09:12 AM

    STV said on November 2, 2026, that MTA Construction and Development selected the firm to manage design of 10 subway substations and 12 circuit breaker houses in four New York boroughs. No contract pri…

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35. Chicago's Regional Transit Budget Goes Out for Comment

    Nov 04, 26 09:07 AM

    
    The Northern Illinois Transit Authority opened its first regional budget for comment through December 4, 2026. The proposal is $5.04 billion for 2027 operations and $9.73 billion in capital work throu…

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36. VIA Rail Finishes the Toronto Maintenance Centre

    Nov 04, 26 09:05 AM

    
    VIA Rail completed a four-year modernization of its Toronto Maintenance Centre on November 2, 2026. The Government of Canada invested $310 million. The shop supports 32 Corridor trainsets and will sus…

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37. Brightline Suspends Orlando Service for High Water

    Nov 04, 26 09:02 AM

    
    Brightline suspended trains between Orlando and West Palm Beach on November 2, 2026, because of high water in Brevard County. A later post the same day kept the suspension until 2:00 p.m. on November…

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38. Hiawatha West Draws Federal Funding Toward Madison

    Nov 04, 26 08:58 AM

    
    Amtrak welcomed a CRISI selection for Hiawatha West, extending Chicago-Milwaukee service toward Madison, Watertown, and Pewaukee. Wisconsin said on October 16 that the award is over $218 million.

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39. Seattle's Train Maintenance Facility Opens for Airo Trains

    Nov 04, 26 08:56 AM

    
    Amtrak cut the ribbon October 23, 2026, on a $250 million Seattle shop for Airo trains on the Cascades route. The building came in on time and $50 million under budget and opens in phases through the…

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40. Aberdeen Carolina and Western Wins a $19.9 Million Grant

    Nov 04, 26 08:46 AM

    
    The Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway won a $19.9 million CRISI grant for about 30 miles of welded rail in Montgomery and Stanly counties. The railroad and NCDOT are putting up a 52 percent match…

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41. Alco "C628" Locomotives: Roster, Data Sheet, Specs

    Nov 03, 26 07:57 PM

    
    Alco Century C628: 2,750 hp C-C road switcher, 186 built from December 1963 to December 1968. Production roster, specs, and where the high-hood Norfolk and Western units went.

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42. Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF): Diesel Roster (All-Time)

    Nov 03, 26 12:54 PM

    
    Santa Fe diesel locomotives, each new frame once, with construction numbers and order numbers. The counted total is 3,964, from the 1935 boxcabs through the SD75Ms.

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43. Metra Holiday Trains Return on Six Lines

    Nov 03, 26 11:40 AM

    
    Metra holiday trains will run on six lines in December, with tickets on sale at noon November 16 for $10. The Chicago Transit Authority and Pace are fielding holiday buses in the same regional announc…

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44. Amtrak Encourages Early Booking for Thanksgiving

    Nov 03, 26 11:39 AM

    
    Amtrak is asking travelers to book Thanksgiving trips early. The railroad carried more than 1.2 million customer trips over the 2025 holiday and expects another record, with extra Northeast Regional s…

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45. Channel Pacific Keeps Its West Sacramento Exemption

    Nov 03, 26 11:26 AM

    The Surface Transportation Board denied a West Sacramento challenge to Channel Pacific Railroad’s exemption to operate about 2,132 feet of terminal track. The exemption took effect in June 2026.

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46. DART Marks One Year of the Silver Line

    Nov 03, 26 11:22 AM

    
    DART marked one year of Silver Line service linking seven North Texas cities and DFW Airport. The 26-mile regional rail line opened October 25, 2025, as the agency’s first rail expansion in a decade.

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47. Massachusetts Breaks Ground for the Berkshire Flyer

    Nov 03, 26 10:07 AM

    Massachusetts broke ground October 29 in Pittsfield on track work meant to support permanent seasonal Berkshire Flyer service. MassDOT has $31 million for the project in its 2027-2031 capital plan.

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48. Cheraw Scrapyard Closed After a Search for CSX Rail

    Nov 03, 26 10:02 AM

    
    Chesterfield County deputies, CSX police, and state agents searched Cheraw Iron and Metal on October 27 and closed the yard after finding CSX rail and telephone wire.

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49. Union Pacific Urges the Board to Keep a Speech Video Confidential

    Nov 03, 26 09:53 AM

    
    Union Pacific on October 30 asked the Surface Transportation Board to keep a recording of Jim Vena’s shipper speech confidential while it appeals. BNSF on November 2 asked the board to deny that…

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50. Enfield Station Construction Begins on the Hartford Line

    Nov 03, 26 09:39 AM

    
    Connecticut has started a $125.3 million Enfield station on the Hartford Line, restoring passenger service for the first time since 1986. The state expects construction to finish in fall 2030.

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