Trains

ELLEN CREAGER/Detroit Free Press
The Agawa Canyon Snow Train passes over the Montreal Trestle.

Agawa Canyon Snow Train back on track

AGAWA CANYON, Ontario, Canada -- There are no animals, no birds, not one moving creature, except for a man on a lake who raises his hand as we pass. It is overcast. Sky the color of cotton wool muffles the harsh rocky landscape; the snow and hills blend into a black-and-white panorama dotted with the drab loden of the pines. Snow falls in fits and starts. It is already more than 2 feet deep. Let spring come somewhere else; winter has settled here, as always.

Last year, the Agawa Canyon Snow Train did not run. This year, it has $11 million worth of new equipment, upgraded coaches and splendid new burgundy paint. It has a warm dining car with good service and hearty food. It is running each Saturday through March 10.

The question is: Does anyone have the patience to ride the Snow Train anymore?

Firemen rescue wounded passengers from a commuter train after a collision in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday Feb. 22, 2012. A packed train slammed into the end of the line in Buenos Aires' busy Once station Wednesday, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, according to police. (AP Photo/Leonardo Zavattaro,Telam)

Packed train slams into Argentine station, killing 49

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- A packed train slammed into the end of the line in Buenos Aires' busy Once station Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters in Argentina's worst train accident in decades.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2007 file photo, passengers sit on top of a train in Jakarta, Indonesia, as thousands heading to home villages to celebrate Eid al-Fitr holiday. Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from riding the roofs of trains by suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls above railway lines a few inches (centimeters) above the tops of carriages at points where trains enter or pull out of stations, or where they go through crossings. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

'Train surfers' a problem in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from illegally riding the roofs of trains -- hosing down the scofflaws with red paint, threatening them with dogs and appealing for help from religious leaders.

Public invited to watch or help in train restoration sessions

OGDEN -- The Golden Spike Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will host its weekly work session Saturday in its ongoing project to restore a Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad steam locomotive to operational status.

(MATTHEW ARDEN HATFIELD/Standard-Examiner) Lee Witten, a volunteer at the Ogden Union Station, looks at the Moon Glow, a historic and once-futuristic railway car that he hopes can be restored.

Historic Moon Glow seems destined to rust away

OGDEN -- Union Station's hard core of railroad fans and volunteers is trying desperately to save the Moon Glow, but despite everyone's best efforts the priceless piece of railroad history seems condemned to rust away.

"I have actually lost sleep worrying about that car," said Lee Witten, chief archivist at the Union Station railroad museum. "It's like watching someone slowly die. That's how I feel about that little cuss."

Moon Glow, a luxury dome car, is the last surviving piece of what was supposed to be the future of passenger rail travel. General Motors wanted to show the public what the future held after four years of wartime hardships.

(NICHOLAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner) Spectators watch as a replica of the Union Pacific steam train goes backward on the tracks.

Train enthusiasts witness engines in action at Promontory

PROMONTORY -- A scrum of photographers advanced on the railroad crossing at Golden Spike National Historic Site early Wednesday with Ogden photographer Jon Williams shouting instructions behind them.

In the distance, the site's Engine 119 was firing up, steam blowing and whistle hooting. Any second it would run through the crossing, and the photographers wanted it.

"Remember to keep your horizons level!" he yelled. "Use the rule of thirds! Put your focus point on the train!"

Trains collide, derail in SLC railroad yard

SALT LAKE CITY -- Officials say more than 1,000 gallons of fuel spilled when two trains sideswiped each other and derailed in a Salt Lake City train yard.

Winter train festival set at Promontory

PROMONTORY -- The Golden Spike National Historic Site's annual Winter Steam Festival will be Dec. 28-30 this year.

Historic train engine in Ogden

OGDEN -- With the blast of a whistle, Union Pacific Railroad steam locomotive No. 844 rumbled into Union Station on Saturday to the delight of several hundred train enthusiasts.

Union Pacific Steam Engine #844

Steam locomotive coming to Ogden

OGDEN -- The historic Union Pacific steam locomotive No. 844 will roll into Union Station around 11:45 a.m. Saturday for a brief visit, Union Pacific announced Wednesday.

UTA hopes new safety emphasis will curtail accidents

SALT LAKE CITY -- After a recent string of accidents involving its rail operation, the Utah Transit Authority is looking at ways to improve safety and inform the public of the proper behavior around FrontRunner and TRAX trains.

Standard-Examiner file photo
People check out steam locomotive 844 when it visited Union Station in Ogden in 2009. It is the last steam engine built for Union Pacific and is a high-speed passenger train.

'40s-era steam engine to return to Ogden

OGDEN -- Union Pacific Steam Engine 844 will make a three-day visit to Ogden in November, including a full day of public display on Nov. 27.

Union Station Foundation director Roberta Beverly said the museum is planning for the visit, which will let residents of Top of Utah see one of only two steam locomotives in the UP fleet up close and operating.

NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner
FrontRunner pulls away from the Layton station on Friday. In the foreground is the former train depot. Instead of demolishing the building, UDOT will sell it.

UDOT to sell old Layton depot, not demolish it

LAYTON -- When Hal D. Renfro sold the old train depot building, he thought it would be demolished as part of the Layton Parkway project. So he was a bit surprised a week ago when he was driving through Layton and saw the building still standing next to the FrontRunner station.

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