As the pig train trundled by, I cautiously touched its side. My hand came flying back toward my face. Yeah, the train was probably going too fast. I was in

It would work out this way: my first train in 15 months would be the toughest to catch. At 1:15 a.m. a few nights ago, the Midnight Ghost came barreling down

It was time, after a long and gloomy hibernation in perhaps America's foulest climate, to resume hitting the rails. From time to time, I still like to explore the forgotten

My target was Buffalo's magnificent, long-abandoned train station, the Central Terminal. After two days of legitimate sightseeing in low-key Canada, I crossed back to the overstimulated gun-o-rama that we call

I'd bought a discounted round-trip Greyhound ticket to Salt Lake, my jumping-off point.  I looked through the bus window and saw a hobo emerging from the UP yards, so I

This has been a sad summer of watching the Union Pacific prepare to swallow up the Southern Pacific. Already some magnificent trackage is doomed. In May I said goodbye

My plan was to hit two separate lines, the Royal Gorge route and the Santa Fe's Raton Pass route. The former lies between Pueblo and Minturn, Colo.; the latter

The Santa Fe's Raton route's existence is secure; though a secondary freight line, it has enough business and carries Amtrak's Southwest Chief. I wanted to cross the Sangre de

The Vegas-to-San Bernardino, Calif., run on the Union Pacific had long intrigued me. I had dark fantasies of crossing the Mojave in an open car without a hat. On