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Amtrak

How the Golden Spike Gave us National Train Day

May 08, 2014
The United States became truly united on May 10, 1869, when two locomotives, one belonging to Union Pacific and the other to Central Pacific, drew nose-to-nose at Promontory Summit in Utah. Central Pacific boss (and Stanford University founder) Leland Stanford stepped into the space between them and drove one last golden spike into the ground, thus joining the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
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Amtrak

Leaving L.A.: Who's Riding Amtrak’s Social Media Special?

April 10, 2014
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Trains

Happy Rails To You: Amtrak’s Chief Mechanical Officer Mario Bergeron Talks about Thanksgiving Travel and a Workhorse GE Locomotive

November 27, 2013

If you are reading this on a railroad platform while waiting to board a train home for Thanksgiving, pay good attention to your train’s locomotive. In the early 1990s, engineers at GE Transportation designed the P42 Genesis diesel-electric locomotive for Amtrak, and the streamlined, low-profile engine remains a workhorse of the system. It can travel as fast as 110mph and pull 16 Amtrak Superliner coaches. GE manufactured more than 300 of them for Amtrak, Metro North and Via Rail.

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