Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

Story and Photos by Dave Zeman

For many railfan photographers, a large part of the motivation for taking photos of trains is documenting a subject before it is gone forever and lost to history. However, when the stars align, it is possible to bring history back to reality. Bringing the late-1950s and early 1960s on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad back to life was the main objective for myself, Ralph Durham, James Keats Jr., and the Illinois Railway Museum Diesel Department, when we hosted the “Nebraska Zephyr Night Photo Shoot” in October 2025.

For the last handful of years, Ralph and I, plus a handful of other dedicated IRM volunteers, have coordinated several special night photo shoots with a diverse variety of equipment, having mostly focused on highlighting the Museum’s steam locomotive, Frisco 2-10-0 1630. Last year, as 1630 underwent a mandatory 1472-day inspection, we shifted our focus ahead to the diesel era with the 1935-built Nebraska Zephyr for an all-CB&Q evening featuring other miscellaneous pieces of Burlington Route equipment. Our main goal for the event was to take our guest photographers back to the golden age of passenger rail travel on one of America’s most famous streamlined trains by incorporating actors and crew members in period dress plus appropriately placed memorabilia items and props into our photo setups…

Read more about this night photo session in the February 2026 edition of Railfan & Railroad…

A sharp-dressed crew was one of the highlights of a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy-themed photoshoot at the Illinois Railway Museum in October 2025. 

Timetables, rule books, tickets, luggage tags, maps, conductor hats and more all served as props for the CB&Q photoshoot at IRM.

Here one of those timetable props is put to use in a scene with a conductor helping a pair of passengers. The moon is rising in the distance on a beautiful October evening in the Heartland. 

Scenes inside the Nebraska Zephyr were also part of the photoshoot. Old magazines, coffee cups and cigarettes were all props used to bring the 1960s on the Q back to life for one night only. 

Two passengers play cards aboard the Nebraska Zephyr at the Illinois Railway Museum. These interior shots were set up ahead of the shoot’s highlight later that evening. 

A real Chicago, Burlington & Quincy E5 leads the Nebraska Zephyr past the East Union Depot during a night photo session at the Illinois Railway Museum in October 2025. 

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North America’s four Class I railroads not named Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern took aim at the proposed UP-NS merger in January, a combination that, if approved, would create the largest railroad in U.S. history and the first single transcontinental. UP and NS submitted their historic merger application in December, and since then, their rivals have been taking potshots at the proposal. Most notably, all four railroads have filed comments with the U.S Surface Transportation Board — the independent regulator that will approve or deny the merger — claiming they believe the application is incomplete. 

Canadian National, through its American subsidiary Grand Trunk Western, perhaps summed up the opposition best when it wrote: “(The) Applicants seek approval from the Board for a proposed transaction they assert is an ‘unprecedented opportunity for our country’ because it will purportedly ‘create America’s first transcontinental railroad’ and ‘transform the nation’s supply chain.’ Applicants are correct that their Application is unprecedented in at least one respect: They seek the Board’s approval to undertake the first major transaction under the Board’s new rules, which require Applicants to show that the proposed transaction would not only preserve, but also enhance competition. Yet they fail to provide the Board, or interested parties, the information that is required.”

Among the rival railroads’ complaints is that while UP-NS has said their merger would remove 2 million trucks from America’s highways, it doesn’t provide proof of that claim. It also provides little evidence of how it would enhance competition, a requirement of the STB’s “new” merger rules established in 2001 (but exempted any merger with the smallest Class I railroad, Kansas City Southern, which was acquired by Canadian Pacific in 2023). 

For their part, UP has said the other Class I railroads are simply trying to delay the merger because it will force them to work harder against the competition. 

—Justin Franz 

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KC Streetcar ridership has surged to record-breaking levels following the October 24, opening of the Main Street Extension. Even with rainy weather and cool temperatures dampening Kansas City, streetcar ridership drew nearly 35,000 passenger trips during the three-day opening weekend. 

Following the late-October service start, November 2025 has seen the highest monthly ridership in system history, demonstrating that the expanded 5.7-mile rail route from the River Market to UMKC is attracting unprecedented demand for fare-free, frequent, and reliable public transit. November ridership was 341,922 passenger trips, bringing the 2025 year-to-date total to 1,799,708 trips. November system ridership is 2.5 times above November 2024 levels and November 22 saw the single highest ridership of 2025 with 19,761 trips. During November, the KC Streetcar carried an average of 11,397 daily riders, accounting for approximately 30% of all transit trips in the Kansas City region.

—Bob Gallegos 

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Mario Péloquin, president of VIA Rail Canada since 2023, will retire on January 15 after more than four decades in rail and transportation. 

Péloquin began his career as a train dispatcher for Canadian National in the 1980s before moving to Transport Canada. He later worked on Ottawa’s light rail system and at Siemens. In 2020, he briefly served as chief operating officer for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

“It has been a privilege to serve as President and CEO of VIA Rail Canada and to work alongside dedicated colleagues across the country,” Péloquin said. “Together, we advanced important initiatives, from modernizing key systems to progressing fleet renewal projects that will support passenger rail in Canada for decades.”

A search for his replacement is presently underway. 

—Justin Franz 

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Northeast Rail Heritage, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to preserving equipment in the northeast that previously saved an Amtrak AEM-7, announced in January that it has acquired the only remaining Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Silverliner III car.

St. Louis Car Company built 20 Silverliner III cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, which entered service in 1967. These cars later operated for Penn Central, Conrail, and finally SEPTA. The Silverliner IIIs served for 45 years and were synonymous with daily commuter operations around Philadelphia. The last one was retired from service in 2012. Car 238 was set aside for preservation, but it sat forgotten for more than a decade. In 2023, it was moved to Morrisville, Pa., for scrapping. However, logistical challenges prevented its immediate destruction, giving Northeast Rail Heritage the chance to save it. In July 2025, Sullivan’s Scrap Metals donated the car to NRH, which plans to restore it to its 1990s “Yellowbird” appearance. That livery helped promote SEPTA’s Airport Line service. 

“This car represents an era of railroading that millions of Philadelphia-area riders experienced firsthand,” said Mike Huhn, NRH President. “Preserving 238 ensures that an important chapter of Philadelphia-area transportation history is not lost. Our goal is to stabilize, cosmetically restore, and interpret the car for public education and potential display.”

In December, 238 was moved from the yard in Morrisville, where it had been stored, to an SMS Rail-owned facility. SMS has agreed to store both the Silverliner and the AEM-7 until NRH can acquire its own property (as of this writing, the AEM-7 has not yet been moved to SMS). 

For more information and to learn how you can help, visit northeastrailheritage.org. 

—Justin Franz 

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The slow trickle of locomotives being painted to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will likely turn into a flood as July 4, 2026, approaches. The first Semiquincentennial units appeared in 2023, and more arrived in 2025. Just before the New Year, two more joined the fleet, one from New Jersey Transit and another from North Shore Railroad.

The North Shore locomotive might be one of the most complex. Instead of the red, white, and blue that’s graced the dozen or so locomotives revealed so far on other shortline and regional railroads, North Shore chose murals that depict scenes from the Revolutionary War and American iconography. On one side, there’s George Washington crossing the Delaware River, the Declaration of Independence, and the Liberty Bell. On the other side, there are amber waves of grain, purple mountains, a flag, and the Statue of Liberty.

NJ Transit 4526 was released in December 2025. Courtesy Photo. 

The locomotive chosen was North Shore SW1500 2238, built in 1966 as EMD demonstrator 106. It later went to Conrail and Norfolk Southern. 

The murals are the vision of railroad employees Diana Williams and Loni Martz Briner, and they were hand-painted by Sunbury, Pa., artist Pedro Reyes. Reyes said he started working on the locomotive in early October and finished just before the dedication on December 22, putting in about 1,500 hours of work.

The locomotive was not renumbered during the repaint. On the cab door, there is a depiction of The Mayham Tower in Augusta, Ga., a turning point in the Revolution that occurred 2,238 days into the conflict, the railroad said.

In 2026, the 2238 will be showcased at towns where North Shore railroads operate, both on display and pulling excursions. —M.T. Burkhart

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

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

—Otto M. Vondrak

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

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

—Scott Lindsey

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

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

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

—Justin Franz 

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

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

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

—Justin Franz 

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

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

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

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

—M.T. Burkhart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This story will be updated as more information is received. 

—Justin Franz 

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

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

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

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

—Justin Franz

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

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

A newly rebuilt bridge near Port Daniel, Que.

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

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

—Justin Franz 

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

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

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

—Justin Franz 

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by Jim Rowland/photos as noted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by David T. Rohdenburg/photos by the authors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by Rick Malo/photos by the author

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

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

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

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

They dared to be different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Camera Bag: Two Sides of the Same Coin appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Communicating With Light appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.