Railroads In World War II: ODT, Record Traffic & Private Operation
Last revised: September 9, 2026
By: Adam Burns
American railroads fought the Second World War as private companies. That is the difference from 1917. Export freight was already rising before Pearl Harbor. After December 7, 1941, the Office of Defense Transportation coordinated the map; management kept the keys. In 1944 the roads turned about 739 billion revenue ton-miles and about 93 billion passenger-miles—more traffic than in 1918, with fewer locomotives, fewer cars, and about 25,000 fewer miles of road. Gasoline and tires were rationed. The train took the freight and the people the highway could not.
The First World War, the car shortage, and federal control are on Railroads During World War I. How the United States Railroad Administration was staffed is on the USRA page. Troop movements by the month are on troop trains. The Depression, the streamliners, and the FT demonstrator are on Railroads In The 1930s. What follows here is the wartime railroad: Lend-Lease freight, the ODT, the 1944 peak, steam that still did the work, a diesel that the War Production Board would not fully release, and a three-week seizure in the winter of 1943–44 that was not a second USRA. V-J Day closes the page. The passenger orders of 1945 and the diesel flood after the war are the rest of the 1940s, not this war.
“Forward.” A painting by Dean Cornwell for the Pennsylvania Railroad’s 1944 annual calendar.
On this page: At a glance · 1939–41 · Private operation · The ODT · The 1944 peak · More work, less plant · Steam, and a rationed diesel · Passengers and troops · December 1943 · V-J Day
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| European war | Germany invades Poland, September 1, 1939. American export freight already rising |
| Lend-Lease | Act of March 11, 1941. Destroyers-for-bases, September 1940 |
| U.S. in the war | Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 |
| Office of Defense Transportation | Executive Order 8989, December 18, 1941. Joseph B. Eastman, Director. Not a taking of title |
| First-track miles | 233,670 (1940); about 226,696 (1945). Peak had been 254,037 in 1916 |
| Revenue ton-miles, 1944 | About 739 billion (Boyd/Stover 738.642; DeNevi series 740). 1940: 373 billion |
| Revenue passenger-miles, 1944 | About 93 billion (Boyd/Stover 92.683; DeNevi 96). 1940: 24 billion |
| Carloadings, 1944 | About 43.5 million |
| 1944 plant | 42,879 locomotives; 2,038,796 freight cars; 1,370,290 employees; $9.237 billion gross earnings |
| Average freight car, wartime | 50.5 tons capacity. Average train 1,031 tons, 49.7 cars, 15.9 mph |
| Vs. 1918 | ODT: about 22,000 fewer locomotives, 600,000 fewer freight cars, 18,000 fewer passenger cars—and more traffic |
| Military share | About 91 percent of military freight and 98 percent of military personnel by rail |
| Intercity freight share | No less than 64 percent through the war; 72 percent in 1943 (Jones) |
| Operating ratio | Record low about 67.5 percent. Roads repaid about $2 billion in debt |
| New locomotives, Class I, 1942–45 | 3,066: 1,891 diesel, 1,175 steam (Army Transportation Corps) |
| National seizure | December 27, 1943–January 18, 1944. Threatened strike. Army Chief of Transportation. Not a USRA |
| Interurban miles | 2,687 (Hilton and Due, wartime remnant) |
| Closer | V-J Day, September 2, 1945. ODT wound down in 1946 |
Ton-miles and passenger-miles are billions. Mileage is the Stover / ICC first-track series. Information compiled September 9, 2026.
Before Pearl Harbor
Poland fell in September 1939. France surrendered on June 22, 1940. The United States was still formally at peace, but American docks and American rails were already in the war economy. Cash-and-carry, the destroyers-for-bases deal of September 1940, and the Lend-Lease Act of March 11, 1941 put food, steel, and munitions on trains bound for the Atlantic ports. Don DeNevi’s series puts revenue ton-miles at 333 billion in 1939, 373 billion in 1940, and 475 billion in 1941. That is a two-year jump of more than 40 percent before a single American division embarked.
The plant that took that freight was smaller than the 1916 peak and smaller than the 1918 war machine. First track stood at 233,670 miles in 1940. When the country entered, DeNevi counted more than 41,000 locomotives and about 2 million freight cars on a network already under 230,000 miles. Heavier cars, Centralized Traffic Control, and the memory of federal control were the 1920s and 1930s inheritance. The FT demonstrator of 1939 had proved a freight diesel. It had not yet replaced steam.
Not a second USRA
In 1917 the roads clogged the Atlantic terminals, the car shortage ran into six figures, and Wilson took the keys. That story is on the World War I page. In 1941 the companies wanted no sequel. They had spent twenty years determined not to be taken again. The Interstate Commerce Commission still held the rates. What the White House created, eleven days after Pearl Harbor, was a coordinator, not an operator.
Railway Age ran “What We Fight For” in 1942 and put the point in the industry’s own voice: the last two years of performance, it said, could not have been matched by a dictatorial bureaucracy. Lowell Thomas, writing on May 12, 1942, called the early-1942 surge a miracle and meant the private shops and the private timetables. The boast was not empty. The 1944 totals are below. The exception—three weeks of Army possession in the winter of 1943–44—is later on this page. It was a strike threat, not a car shortage.
Eastman’s office
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8989 on December 18, 1941, creating the Office of Defense Transportation. The draft had been ready before the attack, which is why it says Defense and not War. Joseph B. Eastman, already an ICC commissioner and the Federal Coordinator of Transportation in 1933–36, became Director. The appointment was announced January 2, 1942. He kept management in private hands and left operating practice alone wherever he could. He did issue loading orders. Less-than-carload minima rose through 1942. A November 1, 1942, order pushed carload freight toward full capacity. Average merchandise loading, about 5.5 tons in 1941, ran 9 to 10 tons under those rules.
The ODT was the claimant agency for steel, cars, and locomotives before the War Production Board. It did not get what it asked for. For 1942–44 the office requested 311,500 freight cars and received 130,826; requested 4,159 locomotives and received 2,500; requested 5,150 passenger-train cars and received 1,977, including 1,600 troop sleepers and kitchen cars. Eastman died on March 15, 1944. J. Monroe Johnson succeeded him. The office wound down in 1946.
“Serving The Nation.” A painting by Dean Cornwell for the Pennsylvania Railroad’s 1943 annual calendar.
The 1944 peak
DeNevi’s year series, the figures this page has long printed, are billions. Carloadings are thousands of cars.
| Year | Revenue carloadings (thousands) | Revenue ton-miles (billions) | Revenue passenger-miles (billions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 33,911 | 333.44 | 22.65 |
| 1940 | 36,358 | 373.25 | 23.76 |
| 1941 | 42,290 | 475 | 29.35 |
| 1942 | 42,826 | 637.99 | 53.66 |
| 1943 | 42,440 | 727 | 87.82 |
| 1944 | 43,500 | 740 | 96 |
Source: Don DeNevi, America’s Fighting Railroads. Boyd and Stover put 1944 at 738.642 billion ton-miles and 92.683 billion passenger-miles. Either way, 1944 is the peak.
Carloadings flattened after 1941. Ton-miles did not. Trains ran heavier and farther. The 1944 freight total was roughly double 1940. Passenger-miles more than quadrupled. The ODT’s own wartime comparison put 1944 rail passenger-miles 122 percent above 1918. It took the industry until 1966 to surpass the 1944 freight figure in a peacetime year. David Jones, in Trains for June 1994, put railroads at no less than 64 percent of intercity freight through the war and 72 percent in 1943. About 91 percent of military freight and 98 percent of military personnel moved by rail.
More work, less plant
The 1944 glance on this page is the wartime machine at full load: 42,879 locomotives, 2,038,796 freight cars, 1,370,290 employees, $9.237 billion in gross earnings, $27 billion invested in property. Average freight-car capacity was 50.5 tons, against 41.6 in the First World War tables. The average freight train hauled 1,031 tons in 49.7 cars at 15.9 mph. The operating ratio bottomed near 67.5 percent. Profits were strong enough that the companies repaid about $2 billion of debt.
They did it with less iron than in 1918. The ODT counted about 22,000 fewer locomotives, 600,000 fewer freight cars, and 18,000 fewer passenger-train cars than in the earlier war, plus a thousand fewer Pullmans. First track kept falling, from 233,670 miles in 1940 to about 226,696 in 1945. CTC, dating from 1927, let a dispatcher run a single-track district at something like three-quarters of a double-track railroad. Government steel helped extend it. Heavier rail, bigger cars, and the loading orders did the rest. Interurban mileage, 10,422 in 1930, stood at 2,687 in the Hilton and Due wartime count. What still ran was mostly freight.
Baltimore & Ohio’s Cincinnati yard, September 3, 1945, the day after V-J Day. Q-3 Mikados double-head reefers in the distance; tanks sit on flatcars in the foreground. Author’s collection.
Steam that still did the work
The FT had toured in 1939–40. Freight diesel was no longer a theory. Diesel engines were also wanted for ships, for the Military Railway Service overseas, and for the Allies. The War Production Board rationed them. Class I roads put 3,066 new locomotives in service in 1942–45: 1,891 diesel or diesel-electric and 1,175 steam. Santa Fe and a few others kept taking FTs. Most of the tonnage still moved behind a boiler. The diesel encyclopedia is diesel locomotives. The 1940s conversion after the war is not this page.
WPB discouraged new steam designs. Pennsylvania’s J1 2-10-4s of 1942–44 followed a Chesapeake & Ohio engine. Union Pacific’s 4-8-8-4 Big Boys, first out in 1941, and Baltimore & Ohio’s EM-1 2-8-8-4s, Baldwin 1944–45, were the last great articulateds. Western Pacific took 4-8-4s modeled on Southern Pacific’s GS-6. Norfolk & Western kept building its own. Super Power itself is a 1920s idea, on the 1930s and steam pages. The wartime fact is that the last new steam and a rationed diesel ran in the same years, and steam still took the coal and the West End grades.
Milwaukee Road S-2 4-8-4 No. 208 with northbound freight at Techny, Illinois, December 1946. The Northern is a wartime design still earning a year after V-J Day. American-Rails.com collection.
Passengers and troops
In 1941, Jones wrote, about 89 percent of intercity travel was by car or bus and about 9 percent by train. By 1944 those shares were about 63 and 34. Gasoline, tires, and new automobiles were rationed. Coaches filled. The average passenger trip on the wartime glance is 75 miles, against 39 in the 1918 tables. About 650 million passengers a year is the round figure this page has long used. Pullmans and coaches were drafted. The ODT’s 1,600 troop sleepers and kitchen cars were a drop in that bucket.
Military personnel are a different count. The glance figure of about 11 million soldiers in a thirteen-month stretch is the wartime public number. The month-by-month tables—regular trains and specials, cars, passengers, passenger-miles from March 1942 through August 1945—live on troop trains. Hospital trains, transcontinental movements, and life aboard belong there. This page only needs the fact that the Army moved by rail, and that the civilian coach was full at the same time.
Baltimore & Ohio 4-6-2 No. 5244 (P-6a) boards passengers at Ann Street Station, Parkersburg, West Virginia, on the Ohio River Branch, circa the 1940s or early 1950s. The depot is gone; the line is CSX. John W. Barriger III photo.
Three weeks, not twenty-six months
The national exception lasted from December 27, 1943, to January 18, 1944. Operating brotherhoods had called a strike for December 30. Roosevelt ordered the Army to take possession. The Chief of Transportation held the paper. Crews stayed on the jobs. Trains ran. The settlement came quickly and the properties went back. It was not McAdoo’s USRA. Title did not change in any lasting way. The companies did not get the rate increase they wanted to match the wage bill.
A few roads had already been seized one at a time over local labor fights. The Toledo, Peoria & Western went under ODT management on March 22, 1942, and stayed there until October 1, 1945. That is a footnote to the national story, not a second federal railroad.
V-J Day
Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Japan surrendered on September 2. The Cincinnati yard photograph on this page is the next morning: reefers, tanks on flats, Mikados still double-heading. The ODT closed out in 1946. Gasoline came back. The automobile came back. Executives knew the wartime passenger shares would not hold. They ordered lightweight cars anyway—New York Central’s 1945 purchase, with the 1944 cars already on the books, is often cited as the largest single passenger-car order an American railroad ever placed. Pennsylvania spent in the same spirit. Those trains, the California Zephyr, and the diesel fleet that finally replaced steam are the rest of the 1940s. Whether the orders paid is the 1950s. Named-train encyclopedias stay on Streamliners.
The war railroad is simpler. With a smaller plant than in 1918, under a coordinator instead of a director general, American railroads moved the largest traffic they had ever moved, kept the title, and paid down debt. That is the record. The First World War had taken the keys. This one did not.
Related Reading on American-Rails.com
- Railroad History (USA)
- Railroads During World War I
- United States Railroad Administration
- Troop Trains
- Railroads In The 1930s
- Railroads In The 1950s
- Diesel Locomotives
- EMD FT
- Steam Locomotives
- Streamliners
- Interurbans & Streetcars
- Civil War Railroads
Sources
- DeNevi, Don. America’s Fighting Railroads: A World War II Pictorial History. Missoula: Pictorial Histories Publishing, 1996. Year series for carloadings, ton-miles, and passenger-miles, 1939–44. Plant at entry (locomotives, cars, miles). Debt repayment; operating ratio
- Stover, John F. The Routledge Historical Atlas of the American Railroads. New York: Routledge, 1999. First-track 233,670 (1940); about 226,696 (1945). 1944 traffic as used with Boyd
- Boyd, Jim. The American Freight Train. Osceola, Wis.: MBI, 2001. 1944: 738.642 billion ton-miles; 92.683 billion passenger-miles; 42,879 locomotives; 2,038,796 freight cars
- Office of Defense Transportation. Civilian War Transport: A Record of the Control of Domestic Traffic Operations, 1941–1946. Washington: GPO. Executive Order 8989, December 18, 1941. Equipment requested vs received, 1942–44. Comparison with 1918 plant. Loading orders, 1942
- Eastman, Joseph B., Director, ODT. Appointment announced January 2, 1942. Died March 15, 1944. Succeeded by J. Monroe Johnson
- Lend-Lease Act, March 11, 1941. Destroyers-for-bases, September 1940
- Railroad seizure, December 27, 1943–January 18, 1944. Army Chief of Transportation. Threatened strike December 30. The Transportation Corps: Responsibilities, Organization, and Operations (CMH Pub 10-19)
- Toledo, Peoria & Western, Executive Order 9108, March 21–22, 1942; relinquished October 1, 1945
- New locomotives, Class I, 1942–45: 3,066 (1,891 diesel, 1,175 steam). CMH Pub 10-19
- Jones, David. “The Joy And Thunder Days.” Trains, June 1994. Intercity passenger shares 1941 and 1944; freight share 64 percent, 72 percent in 1943. PRR J1; WP 4-8-4s after SP GS-6
- Hilton, George W., and John F. Due. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960. 2,687 miles, wartime remnant
- Military freight about 91 percent, military personnel about 98 percent, by rail. Freight ton-miles 373 billion (1940) to about 737 billion (1944); passenger-miles 23 billion to about 95 billion
- Railway Age, “What We Fight For,” 1942. Lowell Thomas, May 12, 1942
- Pennsylvania Railroad calendars: Dean Cornwell, “Serving The Nation” (1943) and “Forward” (1944)
Recent Articles
-
EMD "F2" Locomotives: Specs, Roster, History
Nov 10, 26 12:22 AM
EMD F2, the 1,350-horsepower bridge between the FT and the F3. 104 locomotives, July through November 1946. Spotting features, specifications, and the production roster. -
Southern Pacific Diesel Roster (All-Time)
Nov 10, 26 12:08 AM
Southern Pacific diesel roster with builder serials, order numbers, Texas and New Orleans numbers, and the 1965 renumbering. Alco, Baldwin, Fairbanks-Morse, Electro-Motive, General Electric, Krauss-Ma… -
Southern Pacific Steam Roster: Post 1900
Nov 09, 26 11:56 PM
Southern Pacific steam locomotives built since 1900. Pacific Lines, Texas and Louisiana Lines, cab-forwards, the GS 4-8-4s, and five narrow-gauge Ten-Wheelers. The quantity column counts the rows as p… -
Canal Street Yard Assessment Stays Open Through December 7
Nov 09, 26 01:07 PM
The FRA signed the Canal Street Yard environmental assessment on November 6, 2026. Public inspection runs through December 7, and meeting dates are not confirmed. -
NS Legacy Cab-Signal Comments Are Due November 9
Nov 09, 26 01:05 PM
The FRA must receive comments by November 9, 2026, on a Norfolk Southern plan to drop legacy cab signals on 14 line segments and rely on positive train control. -
Elimination Grant of $27.8 Million Reaches Scott Road in Allen County
Nov 09, 26 12:53 PM
Allen County received $27,878,116, also stated as $27.8 million, to design and build a grade separation where Scott Road crosses Norfolk Southern. -
Vermont Receives $60.3 Million for the Western Corridor
Nov 09, 26 12:45 PM
Vermont will receive $60.3 million to rehabilitate about 60 miles of the Western Corridor. The delegation quote also calls the sum $60 million. -
Burlingame Grade Separation Wins a Federal Grant
Nov 09, 26 10:42 AM
Rep. Kevin Mullin said on November 5, 2026 that the FRA awarded $90.4 million for the Caltrain Broadway grade separation in Burlingame. Early work is expected in May 2027. -
Orange County Rail Line Gets a Coastal Permit
Nov 09, 26 10:18 AM
The California Coastal Commission on November 5, 2026 approved a 10-year permit for the San Clemente rail line, including about 690,000 cubic yards of sand. -
Railroad Quiet Zones Are Reinstated in St. Louis
Nov 09, 26 10:14 AM
St. Louis said on November 6, 2026 that the FRA reinstated the city quiet zones. Horns are to stop after railroad systems are updated. -
Southern Pacific Railroad: Map, History, Logo
Nov 08, 26 01:58 PM
The Southern Pacific, from the December 2, 1865 charter and the Big Four to Sprint, the Rio Grande Industries purchase of 1988, and the Union Pacific merger of February 1, 1997. -
California Awards Flexible Rail Aid to Nine Projects
Nov 08, 26 01:15 PM
CalSTA on November 5, 2026 awarded $66.58 million in flexible State Rail Assistance to nine California projects. Each amount in the summary is a cap, printed as up to. -
CSX Leaves Three Days Out of the Weekly Reports
Nov 08, 26 12:02 PM
CSX told the Surface Transportation Board it cannot recover October 27-29 data for the EP 724 and EP 787 reports covering the week ending October 30, 2026. -
NJ Transit Advances Three Station Housing Projects
Nov 08, 26 11:56 AM
NJ Transit on November 5, 2026 advanced station projects in Jersey City, Bound Brook, and Morristown. The three are projected to add more than 1,000 homes. -
River Fox Train Wraps a Locomotive for America 250
Nov 08, 26 11:06 AM
The River Fox Train in West Sacramento wrapped a locomotive with America 250 markings, the American flag, and the Sacramento skyline. The wrap is expected to stay through 2027. -
California Keeps Metrolink Service in the 2027 Budget
Nov 07, 26 11:35 PM
Metrolink says a California State Transportation Agency grant lets the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget keep service at current levels. The board hearing is November 13, 2026. -
WM's 4-6-6-4 Locomotives (M-2): Specs, Roster, History
Nov 07, 26 04:37 PM
Western Maryland class M-2, twelve Baldwin 4-6-6-4s numbered 1201-1212, built in 1940 and 1941 for Hagerstown-Connellsville fast freight. Roster, specifications, and retirement in 1952-1953. -
Missouri Pacific Diesel Roster (All-Time)
Nov 07, 26 04:26 PM
Missouri Pacific diesel roster with builder serials, order numbers, subsidiary lettering, and renumberings. Alco, Baldwin, Electro-Motive, and General Electric. Texas and Pacific locomotives are on th… -
Missouri Pacific Steam Roster (Built Since 1900)
Nov 07, 26 04:21 PM
Missouri Pacific steam locomotives built since 1900. Drury quantity column 1,439. Sedalia rebuilds counted once, 1,407 frames. Last steam was 0-6-0 9301 in November 1955. -
Missouri Pacific Railroad: Map, Locomotives, Logo, History
Nov 07, 26 04:19 PM
The Missouri Pacific was a large Midwestern that carried a long history of financial difficulty until later years. -
LIRR Service Changes Start on November 9
Nov 07, 26 03:15 PM
New Long Island Rail Road schedules start on every branch on Monday, November 9, 2026. Midday and weekend times change. Rush hour does not. Babylon service returns in stages. -
Draft EA Reviews Norfolk Southern Track in London, Ohio
Nov 07, 26 11:35 AM
The Surface Transportation Board environmental office issued a draft assessment on November 6, 2026, for about 0.96 miles of Norfolk Southern track in London, Ohio. Comments are due November 20. -
Metrolink Lines Will Not Run on Three Routes November 7
Nov 07, 26 10:53 AM
Metrolink will not run the Ventura County, Orange County, or Inland Empire-Orange County lines on November 7 and 8, 2026. The advisory says no substitute transportation will be provided. -
Hartford Line Adds a Weekday Round Trip on November 16
Nov 07, 26 10:48 AM
Connecticut said the Hartford Line adds a weekday New Haven-Hartford round trip on November 16, starts a morning train in Springfield, and extends weekend stops to Windsor and Windsor Locks. -
Board Issues a Policy Statement on Rail Preemption
Nov 07, 26 10:44 AM
The Surface Transportation Board placed a policy statement on public inspection for the November 9 Federal Register. It reviews existing preemption precedent and says it makes no binding determination… -
NJ Transit Restores Lines After the Newark Drawbridge Stop
Nov 07, 26 10:37 AM
NJ Transit said Morris and Essex service between Hackettstown and Dover, and Montclair-Boonton service between Hackettstown and Montclair State University, resumed after the Newark Drawbridge stop. -
EMD "SD35" Locomotives: Data Sheet, Specs, Roster
Nov 06, 26 10:35 PM
EMD SD35, 2,500 horsepower, 16-cylinder 567D3A, built June 1964 through January 1966. 360 locomotives. Specifications and the production roster by owner, serial, and order. -
EMD "SDP35" Locomotives: Data Sheet, Specs, Roster
Nov 06, 26 10:32 PM
EMD SDP35, the steam-generator SD35. 35 locomotives, July 1964 through September 1965. Seaboard Air Line 1100-1119, Atlantic Coast Line 550, Louisville and Nashville 1700-1703, Union Pacific 1400-1409… -
RJ Corman Will Be Replaced on Part of the Luzerne Lines
Nov 06, 26 01:34 PM
A November 6, 2026 notice says Wilkes-Barre Terminal Railway would acquire about 59.65 miles in Luzerne County and replace R.J. Corman as operator on part of the line. The earliest date is November 22… -
NS Names a Student Hub at the University of Georgia
Nov 06, 26 12:03 PM
Norfolk Southern said a 100,000 dollar gift named a student-organization hub in Driftmier Engineering Center. The University of Georgia marked the naming on October 26. The space is for 23 clubs. -
Union Pacific Filed Its Vena Recording Certification
Nov 06, 26 11:56 AM
Union Pacific filed a November 5, 2026 verified statement that the confidential label is off the March 17 Vena recording and that parties of record received a copy at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. -
OmniTRAX Adds Tenants at Its Blue Island Hub
Nov 06, 26 10:26 AM
OmniTRAX has signed new construction-company leases at its 90-acre Blue Island, Illinois, hub and is planning a second phase. -
Veterans and Active-Duty Members Exceed 16 Percent of Norfolk Southern
Nov 06, 26 10:14 AM
Norfolk Southern said on November 5, 2026, that more than 3,000 veterans and active-duty service members are more than 16 percent of its workforce. This year grants are $100,000 and $50,000. -
BNSF: Merger Would Put Half of U.S. Rail Shipments Under One Railroad
Nov 06, 26 10:00 AM
BNSF chief marketing officer Tom G. Williams told customers on November 3, 2026, that a Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger would put about half of U.S. rail shipments under one railroad. Nothing is… -
Amtrak Opens a Winter Fare Sale
Nov 06, 26 09:28 AM
Amtrak opened a Winter Wanderlust sale on November 5, 2026. Book by November 12 for travel from December 1, 2026, through March 14, 2027. Blackout dates apply. Coach and Acela Business only. -
CN and CPKC Report October Grain Records
Nov 06, 26 08:50 AM
CPKC reported October 2026 grain records in Canada and the United States. CN reported 3.54 million metric tonnes across Canada. The releases do not print a combined total. -
New Brunswick Transload Gets CN Rail Service
Nov 06, 26 08:49 AM
CN said on November 4, 2026, that it has started serving AD Gagnon Transload Services near Grand Falls, New Brunswick. The site is three kilometres from the Trans-Canada Highway and lists room for 106… -
Together, Freight and Passenger Rail Can Grow, Union Pacific Says
Nov 06, 26 08:47 AM
Union Pacific said on November 5, 2026, that passenger obligations would remain if it combines with Norfolk Southern. The capacity claim is a Union Pacific analysis, not a Surface Transportation Board… -
FM "C-Liner" Locomotives: Specs, Roster, Photos
Nov 05, 26 11:19 PM
Fairbanks-Morse Consolidation Line cab units, the C-Liners. 165 locomotives, Beloit and Kingston, March 1950 through February 1955. Models, specs, and production rosters. -
Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad: Map, History, Roster
Nov 05, 26 12:03 PM
Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, from Brunswick and Waycross to Atlanta and Birmingham. Atlantic Coast Line control at the close of 1926. Merged in January 1946 as the Western Division. Steam roster of th… -
El Paso & Southwestern Railroad: Map, History, Logo
Nov 05, 26 12:00 PM
The El Paso & Southwestern, the Phelps Dodge copper railroad from Tucson to the Rock Island at Tucumcari. Southern Pacific control on October 31, 1924. -
Brightline Says Orlando Service Has Resumed
Nov 05, 26 11:55 AM
Brightline said on November 5, 2026, that trains to and from Orlando have resumed after weather suspensions in Brevard County. Later that morning the departures page still showed the Orlando segment s… -
Metra Customers Must Sign Up Again
Nov 05, 26 11:43 AM
Metra says customers who want service alerts must sign up again at metratracker.com. The November 2 story says the new system has launched and the old email list is shut down. A notice on the same pag… -
Norfolk Southern Packs Six Projects Into One Window
Nov 05, 26 11:38 AM
Norfolk Southern used one 26-hour window on the W Line for six projects in Indiana and Kentucky, including three bridge replacements. The October 27 account does not give the calendar day of the work. -
CSX: More Time to Comment on an Inspection Waiver
Nov 05, 26 11:29 AM
The Federal Railroad Administration extended comments on a CSX petition for relief from some qualified mechanical inspector rules until December 2, 2026. The November 2 notice does not grant the waive… -
Brightline Expects Orlando Service on Thursday
Nov 05, 26 09:21 AM
Brightline said on November 4, 2026, that it expects trains to and from Orlando to resume on Thursday, November 5. South Florida stations kept running. The departures page still showed the Orlando seg… -
Union Pacific: More Time to Comment on an Inspection Waiver
Nov 05, 26 09:15 AM
The Federal Railroad Administration extended comments on a Union Pacific petition for relief from some qualified mechanical inspector rules until December 2, 2026. The November 2 notice does not grant… -
Wisconsin Opens Comments on the 2027 Freight Plan
Nov 05, 26 09:03 AM
WisDOT opened the draft 2027 State Freight Plan for comment through December 1, 2026. The plan covers freight rail with highways, harbors, aviation, and intermodal links. Completion is expected in sum… -
U.S. Rail Traffic Rose 3.5 Percent in the Week Ending October 31
Nov 05, 26 08:52 AM
U.S. railroads moved 514,080 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending October 31, 2026, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads said on November 4. -
Muni and Bay Area Transit Measures Pass
Nov 05, 26 08:49 AM
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said on November 4, 2026 that Proposition H and a regional transit measure passed. Proposition H is about 160 million dollars a year for Muni. The regiona…
