The year is not starting off well for those that travel by rail

Jan 28, 2:12 PM EST

Chicago-Bound Amtrak Train Derails

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Amtrak's Chicago-bound Empire Builder passenger train derailed early Saturday near Spokane, causing minor injuries.

Preliminary reports indicated that a rail was broken, but it wasn't
immediately clear when it broke or how, said Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy
Connell.

A few of the 86 passengers and six crew members were treated for minor injuries in the town of Sprague, near the accident site about 45 miles west of Spokane, Connell said. Passengers were taken back to Spokane by bus, she said.

The engine and four cars that derailed remained upright, and equipment was brought in to put them back on the tracks Saturday morning, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns and maintains the tracks.

Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF expected to have the damaged track reopened within 24 hours, he said.

New feature on the weekly Rail Fan Net

There has been a new feature on the Pittsburgh Rail Fan Net that I have been meaning to write about. Each week now one of the members who checks in, usually Craig KB3KBH, has a trivia question for us and some of them have been very interesting. I will start posting them here on the blog each week with the answer the following week.

If you are a licensed amateur radio operator you are encouraged to join us each week on the net which is held on the North Hills Amateur Radio Club's 146.28/88 repeater every Thursday evening at 09:30 PM local time. If you are not licensed you can listen in with your scanner. Simply program 146.880 in one of your channels and listen in. If you would like to participate you can send questions or comments to the net manager Dennis / KB3HPC via email. Send them to railfannet@hotmail.com .

And now for this weeks question.

What one thing is different on a locomotive intended for passenger service for the units that only are used on freight trains?

Check back here next week for the answer to this question and a new one from the next rail fan net.

From the magazine rack

If you are like me you get more magazines than you can consume in a months time. Seems like every hobby that I'm involved in has at least two magazines dedicated to the subject and some have several. Much to my wife's chagrin I seem to get them all. I guess for this reason I do not get some of the monthly periodicals that you find around most homes like Popular Mechanics. Not that Popular Mechanics isn't a find magazine you understand. I used to get it a number of years ago and loved the wide variety of subjects that it covered. Now days however there are only so many hours in a day and time spent outside of the one person one room library for reading are limited.

So I was glad that someone brought to my attention that the January 2006 issue contained an article that would be of interest to rail fans. Titled the rebirth of rail it talks about how much freight is being moved around the country by rail and the numbers are impressive. They are moving all this freight at a cost that can't be matched by trucks and there is a new generation of diesel locomotives in the works that will increase fuel economy and reduce maintenance costs making rail roads even more attractive for moving the countries goods from point to point. If you can find it on your local news stand or super market magazine rack take a look I think you will enjoy the article.