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Great Dome (railcar)
The Great Domes were a fleet of six streamlined dome lounge cars built by the Budd Company for the Great Northern Railway and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1955. The cars were used exclusively on the ''Empire Builder'' from their introduction in 1955 until the end of private passenger service in 1971. Amtrak retained all six cars and they continued to run on the ''Empire Builder'' before new Superliners displaced them at the end of the decade, after which they saw service elsewhere in the system before the last one being retired in 2019. The Great Domes were similar in design to the Big Domes Budd built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Design The Great Domes were "virtually identical" to the Big Dome lounges Budd constructed for the Santa Fe in 1954, save for the fact that their smooth sides lacked the fluting of the Big Domes. The top level featured coach-style seating for 57, plus a lounge area which could seat an additional 18 on sofas and in booths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United States, contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ''Amtrak'' is a portmanteau of the words ''America'' and ''trak'', the latter itself a sensational spelling of ''track''. Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit corporation, for-profit organization. The United States federal government, through the United States Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Transportation, owns all the company's Issued shares, issued and Shares outstanding, outstanding preferred stock. Amtrak's headquarters is located one block west of Washington Union Station, Union Station in Washington, D.C. Amtrak serves more th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hi-Line (Montana)
The Hi-Line is a railroad in Montana running between Havre and Whitefish. It serves as a portion of the BNSF Railway Northern Transcon. Originally the mainline of the Great Northern Railway, the Hi-Line name has its origins in the railroad line being the northernmost transcontinental railway line in the United States. While the modern BNSF Railroad has only named this portion the Hi-line, the term is colloquially used for other portions of the Northern Transcon. Hi-Line also more generally refers to the area of northern Montana near the Canada–United States border and U.S. Highway 2. The route is served by one passenger train daily in each direction operating between Chicago and either Portland, Oregon or Seattle: Amtrak ''Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midwest Rail Rangers
Midwest Rail Rangers is a non-profit organization specializing with on-board educational programs to railroad passengers in the Midwestern United States with information regarding history, ecology, and geology. Guides with Midwest Rail Rangers provide interpretive programs on-board the South Shore Line between Chicago, Illinois and South Bend, Indiana. The organization is based in Barron, Wisconsin. History The Midwest Rail Rangers was officially chartered on July 20, 2015. The organization is modeled after Trails & Rails, a formal partnership between Amtrak and the National Park Service. In 1999, The National Park Service established the Trails & Rails program. Docents associated with the park service travel aboard select Amtrak long-distance passenger trains to provide educational commentary. Docents would point out interesting landmarks along the way to passengers, including the history of various towns the train was passing through, ecology, and geology of the landscape. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalmbach Publishing
Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which began publication in the summer of 1933 with a cover date of January 1934. A press release announcing the magazine appeared in August 1933, but did not receive much interest. In 1940, business was good enough for Kalmbach to launch another magazine about railroads in general with the simple title of ''Trains Magazine''. From its first issue dated November 1940, it grew quickly from an initial circulation of just over 5,000. Kalmbach became exclusively a publisher when it discontinued its printing operations in 1973, opting to contract production from other printers. In 1985, Kalmbach purchased AstroMedia Corporation, adding its four magazines: ''Astronomy'', ''Deep Sky'', the children's science magazine ''Odyssey'' and ''Telescope Making'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR) is a heritage railroad based in Cumberland, Maryland, that operates passenger excursion trains and occasional freight trains using both steam and diesel locomotives over ex-Western Maryland Railway (WM) tracks between Cumberland and Frostburg. The railroad offers coach and first class service, murder mystery excursions, and special seasonal trips. Rail line history and description The Western Maryland (WM) was a railroad that served Cumberland, Maryland, along with a branch line that ran between there and Frostburg, as well as stretching to other small towns, like Hancock and Connellsville.. In 1973, the WM joined the Baltimore and Ohio and Chesapeake and Ohio railroads to group into the Chessie System, which would eventually be completely merged into the new CSX transportation system. The Cumberland-Frostburg branch was subsequently abandoned. In the late 1980s, the city of Cumberland started seeing the old branch line as a possible t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily newspaper in Boston. Founded in 1872, the paper was mainly controlled by Irish Catholic interests before being sold to Charles H. Taylor and his family. After being privately held until 1973, it was sold to ''The New York Times'' in 1993 for $1.1billion, making it one of the most expensive print purchases in U.S. history. The newspaper was purchased in 2013 by Boston Red Sox and Liverpool owner John W. Henry for $70million from The New York Times Company, having lost over 90% of its value in 20 years. The newspaper has been noted as "one of the nation's most prestigious papers." In 1967, ''The Boston Globe'' became the first major paper in the U.S. to come out against the Vietnam War. The paper's 2002 c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Peeping
__NOTOC__ Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colors in autumn, particularly in northern New England, Appalachia, the Pacific Northwest, and the upper Midwest, as well as the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. An organized excursion for leaf peeping is known as a foliage tour or color tour. A similar custom in Japan is called . In Finland, the season is and a trek is called . United States The term "leaf peeper" is used both with appreciation from businesses that benefit from the millions that pour into the higher elevations of the West, upper Midwest, and northern New England in fall, and with disdain from those who have to use the roads that get over-crowded due to leaf peepers. Hobbyists who get together for leaf peeping may refer to their gatherings as ''leaf peepshows''. In popular culture The term "leaf peeping" has been used in numero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Downeaster (train)
The ''Downeaster'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak and managed by the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), an agency of the state of Maine. Named for the Down East region of Maine, the train operates five daily round trips between North Station in Boston, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine, with 10 intermediate stops. In 2018, the ''Downeaster'' carried 551,038 passengers and earned ticket revenue of $10.2 million. History Previous service The ''Downeaster'' follows the route historically used by the ''Pine Tree'' and ''Flying Yankee'' trains that traveled from Bangor to Boston and were operated jointly by the Boston & Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad. Passenger operations between Portland and Boston ceased in 1965. Service resumption In 1989, a group of volunteers founded TrainRiders/Northeast, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing modern passenger rail service to Northern New England. In 1990, at the urging of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Surfliner
The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is a passenger train service serving the communities on the coast of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. The service carried 2,924,117 passengers during fiscal year 2016, a 3.4% increase from FY2015. Total revenue during FY2016 was $73,020,267, an increase of 3.6% over FY2015. The ''Pacific Surfliner'' is Amtrak's third-busiest service (exceeded in ridership only by the ''Northeast Regional'' and ''Acela Express''), and the busiest outside the Northeast Corridor. Like all regional trains in California, the ''Pacific Surfliner'' is operated by a joint powers authority. The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency is governed by a board that includes eleven elected representatives from the six counties the train travels through. LOSSAN contracts with the Orange County Transportation Authority to provide day-to-day management of the service and with contracts with Amtrak to operate the service an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auto Train
''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in the United States. Passengers ride in coach seats or private sleeping car rooms while their vehicles are carried in enclosed automobile-carrying freight cars called autoracks. The train can carry up to 320 vehicles. The train also includes lounge cars and dining cars. ''Auto Train'' allows its passengers to avoid driving Interstate 95 in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida while bringing their own vehicles with them. It has the highest revenue of any Amtrak long-distance train. The service operates as train number 52 northbound and number 53 southbound. The train operates non-stop between its Virginia and Florida terminals, except for a brief stop in Florence, South Carolina, for servicing and a crew change of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Head End Power
In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, provides the electricity used for heating, lighting, electrical and other 'hotel' needs. The maritime equivalent is hotel electric power. A successful attempt by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in October 1881 to light the passenger cars on the London to Brighton route heralded the beginning of using electricity to light trains in the world. History Oil lamps were introduced in 1842 to light trains. Economics drove the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to replace oil with coal gas lighting in 1870, but a gas cylinder explosion on the train led them to abandon the experiment. Oil-gas lighting was introduced in late 1870. Electrical lighting was introduced in October 1881 by using twelve Swan carbon filament incandescent lamps c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hi-Level
The Hi-Level was a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used in the United States. Car types included coaches, dining cars, and lounge cars; a sleeping car variant was considered but never produced. Most passenger spaces were on the upper level, which featured a row of windows on both sides. Boarding was on the lower level; passengers climbed up a center stairwell to reach the upper level. Vestibules on the upper level permitted passengers to walk between cars; some coaches had an additional stairwell at one end to allow access to single-level equipment. The Budd Company designed the car in the 1950s for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") for use on the ''El Capitan'', a coach-only streamliner which ran daily between Los Angeles and Chicago. The design was inspired by two recent developments in railroading: the dome car, employed in intercity routes in the western United States, and bilevel commuter cars operating in the Chicago area. Budd built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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