Extra Board
Welcome to Passenger Train Journal’s Extra Board! Enjoy previews and features from the pages of our magazine.
November 23, 2016
Union Pacific’s Butte Special
The Butte Special was a Union Pacific passenger train connecting Butte, Mont., and Salt Lake City, Utah, providing a vital service to the sparsely populated area in eastern Idaho and southwestern Montana. UP provided this passenger service between the two cities for 90 years, operating the trains under a variety of names and numbers.
August 31, 2016
Northward to Hudson Bay
Traveling by rail from Windsor, Ont., to Churchill, Man., is a one-way journey of about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) on three different VIA Rail Canada trains. The western end of VIA’s Corridor links Windsor with Toronto, where connections can be made with trains 1 and 2, the transcontinental Canadian. In Winnipeg, Man., Churchill passengers make their connections to and from twice-weekly trains 692 and 693, the Hudson Bay.
August 25, 2016
Metro-North: Part 2
Fortunately, prior to MNR’s start, the serious planning underway at both MTA and CDOT did mitigate the challenge somewhat. A multitude of projects and plans were underway to address the looming realities regarding delivering reliable service, along with a tight supply of electric-service passenger equipment.
August 5, 2016
Denver Commuter Rail Awakening
By the end of 2016, Denver will be one of the busiest passenger terminals in the Amtrak network with the introduction of new RTD commuter rail trains serving the fast-growing suburbs of the Mile High City.
July 25, 2016
Metro-North: Part 1
Today, little resembles MNR’s ragtag beginnings on Jan. 1, 1983, when this new, roughly 400 mile railroad was an unwanted appendage of Conrail and several other eastern commuter operations, all suffering from years of deferred maintenance and attention. Oh, the MNR ran—but barely, with old equipment lacking parts, worn infrastructure, shortages of tools, an absentee top management, and no vision or direction toward the future, neither service-wise nor functionally.
May 3, 2016
Riding Colorado’s Vintage Railways
SPONSORED CONTENT: As an old steam engine chugs along through the breathtaking passes of the Colorado Rockies, hauling coaches and travelers past evergreen-covered hills, around sheer rock faces, and over deep gorges, there are many fantastic photo opportunities. Join Country Travel Discoveries for a special tour of Colorado’s Vintage Railways.
February 10, 2016
Conrail Passenger Service
When Conrail was created in 1976 to take over the railroad operations of six bankrupt lines in the Northeast, the new ward of the government became the nation’s second largest passenger carrier overnight. Its colorful career as a commuter-hauler was short-lived, however.
November 10, 2015
Passenger Trains of Peoria: Part 2
When America entered World War I in 1917, Peorians could ride passenger trains on 14 railroads. But storm clouds had gathered during and after the war’s conclusion. Year by year, the addition of thousands of paved miles enabled private automobiles and bus operators to siphon off passengers from the railroads in ever greater numbers.
November 10, 2015
Passenger Trains of Peoria: Part 1
Much has been written of Peoria’s rail history thanks to the presence of colorful small carriers like the Chicago & Illinois
Midland, Illinois Terminal, Peoria & Pekin Union, and Toledo, Peoria & Western. But with the passage of time, certain aspects
of the city’s early passenger train and station history may have been forgotten.
June 16, 2015
Chasing Canadians
Towards the middle of November 2012, there were rumblings that Amtrak was going to lease some passenger equipment from VIA Rail Canada to help alleviate the shortage of equipment due to the increase in holiday passenger traffic.
