the"Celestial Railroad" (Jupiter & Lake Worth Railway) got that nickname because of it's stops in towns named Juno, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10215375229651298&set=gm.28508226895466242&idorvanity=775685475813757

Brightline could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to address more than $1 billion in debt as early as this week

The prospect of bankruptcy has been considered significant since the company released financial statements earlier this year in which its auditor, Ernst & Young, said there was “substantial doubt” the company could “continue as a going concern” [see “Brightline finances create ‘susbstantial doubt’ …,” Trains.com, May 4, 2026]. The company has deferred bond payments several times since while seeking a way to address some $5.5 billion in long-term debt [see “Brightline defers bond payments …,” Trains.com, June 16, 2026.

Brightline West, the sister company’s effort to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, would not be part of the bankruptcy proceeding involving Brightline in Florida.

https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/brightline-could-be-near-bankruptcy-filing-news-report/

cool railroad photos from the era of great designs

https://www.facebook.com/arhsinc/posts/pfbid0nvVaKDzhnSkjLKvVh8EA6JjFHEudnZXSeF1kdEtzcS5jn3fQzkbNSh4U8zQqmCF7l

this is a one man operation, a fulfillment of a childhood obsession with cool trains

The Mt Washington cog railway! 

a street car elevator for getting cars to and from the 2nd floor paint shop, from a 1902 book/magazine "Railway Master Mechainic"

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Railway_Master_Mechanic/U0EOAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA5-PA263&printsec=frontcover&fbclid=IwY2xjawUJ1JVwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXVubnpTWncwd05BRDFjZ3FzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEei0h3xj1HH4Mb9OPFeTCSbZaL3l6WS0ZYEY6I0bw0VGnRtDTqScp1xlEdvoI_aem_MwzLff3STifYaM9tD603TQ

 this magazine collection is on Google Books, and has a lot of interesting stuff about trains and rail cars, like 

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=pratt+and+whitney

a compressed air powered fan, for a shop or garage... very cool! 

measuring wear on train wheels

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Railway_Master_Mechanic/U0EOAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA5-PA263&printsec=frontcover&fbclid=IwY2xjawUJ1JVwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXVubnpTWncwd05BRDFjZ3FzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEei0h3xj1HH4Mb9OPFeTCSbZaL3l6WS0ZYEY6I0bw0VGnRtDTqScp1xlEdvoI_aem_MwzLff3STifYaM9tD603TQ

at the America 250 Locomotive Celebration at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, ... Spinning on the Bob Julian Roundhouse's 100ft turntable is the 1956 GP9 among units from all of the Class 1 Railroads

https://www.facebook.com/groups/280781616123369/permalink/2129794467888732

An Electroliner set at Arcady Station in June, 1962.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1615079407284362&set=a.509862831139364

brakemen needed an out of the weather place to hang out, a place more comfortable than a step or ladder rung. Because there was no room in the cab, on the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company train tenders, they installed 32 Chevy coupes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p1ilti-i4g at minute 26

http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/shlco/Wrecks.html

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?

fbid=10227460148042628&set=gm.3644541675813744&idorvanity=1613284028939529

http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/shlco/SHLCO5.html

an Amtrak baggage train ended up in SoCal as a bridge

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067811412084

I wonder if bajillionaires look for cool old railroad engines to restore the way blue collar pay check to paycheck guys look for muscle cars we can afford

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=808338092175066&set=a.369187376090142

the Alcos of Ely

https://railfan.com/photo-line-the-alcos-of-ely/

compressed air train engine for mining.... and used as a piggy bank in a Lions Club fundraiser

 https://exporail.org/canrail/canadian_rail_1990_plus/canadian-rail-423-1991.pdf  is a 1991 newsletter of Canadian rail, in PDF form, if you want to look through back issues. 

https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/compressed-air-over-water-for-short-distance-propulsion

Amtrak TurboTrain was designed by United Aircraft and built by Pullman-Standard, was an articulated, lightweight trainset with gas-turbine propulsion funded by the U.S. DOT as part of a program to explore the future of high-speed rail service in the 1960s

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=768717289470480&set=a.369187376090142

trains are used to move cargo... but this is the first time I've heard of trains used to move snow

a 113-year-old Union Pacific box car that had been sinking into the ground of Cheyenne for 75 years, is getting a shot at restoration by a train nut who is also restoring a Pullman and Utah’s 1949 “Merci Car” in a workshop inside an old Atlas Missile silo site

railroad workers occupied the car after it was converted to an outfit car signed it on the inside.

An outfit car, sometimes called a camp car, provided housing and cooking facilities for railroad construction and maintenance workers and their families.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/09/14/113-year-old-union-pacific-boxcar-rescued-from-oblivion-in-cheyenne/

I wonder, how often did this triple level actually have trains going through at the same time, instead of having to pose them for a photo op

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=743599825315560&set=a.369187376090142

Summer and Winter Resort Post Offices, and South Western Michigan resorts in the 1920s and 30s

 According to the publication "Summer and Winter Resort Post Offices of the United States 1891-1966" by Chester Smith Jr., the Wabaningo Post Office began operation in 1897 and ran continuously until 1938. 

The post office was open from June 15 to September 15 and served the Sylvan Beach Resort and other resorts in the area. 

There were over one hundred resort post offices in Michigan that operated three or four months out of the year during the peak of the resort area in the 1920s and 1930s and 1600 resort post offices across the United States.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Pere Marquette Railroad provided service from Chicago to West Michigan’s resorts, even running extra trains called the Resort Special in summer months. 

https://www.miplace.org/4a77f3/globalassets/documents/shpo/research-resources/publications/west-michigan-pike-project-report--volume-ii-historic-resource-survey-part-ii.pdf

1942. "Tulsa, Oklahoma. Loading rack at the Mid-Continent refinery, Tulsa station of the Great Lakes pipeline."

 Photo by John Vachon, Office of War Information. Vachon is remembered most for his photography working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA)

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=706679722340904&set=a.369187376090142

OK... now Sacramento can gloat it has a hydrogen powered train. What's the big deal? It's not pulling cargo. It's a switcher. So... trainyard work. Not really doing much to change the world, or lower emissions on a scale that's noticeable

The locomotive will replace aging diesel switchers statewide, potentially eliminating up to 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually, according to industry estimates.

https://www.kcra.com/article/hydrogen-fueled-train-unveiled-west-sacramento/65986830

50,000 gallons a year. What's that good for? About 2 weeks of operating a regular diesel locomotive hauling a full load of cargo across the country, for a round trip, one time?

Not impressively eliminating much... that's the smallest fraction of diesel fuel measurable on an annual nationwide, or even statewide, use. It's about how much a single freight train uses round trip, from coast to coast, one time. There are a LOT more trains in use, all over the state, and the country, than that. We know, because they seem to crash alot, and get into the news

A 16 cylinder EMD uses 130-140 gallons of diesel per hour. All this depends on the amount of weight pulled, and the geography it's rolling over... if that's going uphill at all, it uses more fuel.

So, in 10 hours, about 1500 gallons, so, in 24 hours, about 3600 gallons. 

In 7 days, about 21,000 gallons. 

trains and train stations, from the original "cut and paste" toy making method

https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffeta/albums/72157626790129899/with/5981923016

there are even dirigibles 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffeta/albums/72157626790129899/with/17292974653