1st QUARTER 2024: This issue of PTJ takes a look at fan favorite Ontario Northland Railway, then and now. Ken Goslett recalls a 1976 trip on ONR’s Polar Bear Express, and shares his experiences during an August 2023 return visit. Amtrak Diaries author Mark Jones recounts his own ONR adventures during a dead-of-winter 1988 “busman’s holiday,” and PTJ Editor Kevin J. Holland looks back at ONR’s original Northlander, a quartet of former Trans Europ Express trainsets. “Wilderness” travel of another sort is recounted in Thornton Waite’s history of Union Pacific’s Utah Parks Limited and other trains that forwarded passengers to scenic Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks. All this and more in the 1st Quarter 2024 issue of Passenger Train Journal!

Metra to Purchase Battery-Powered Trainsets for Rock Island Line

Metra to Purchase Battery-Powered Trainsets for Rock Island Line

The new trainsets built by Stadler will be used on the Rock Island Line’s Beverly Branch between LaSalle St. and Blue Island.


Harley’s Hornet: Amtrak in West Virginia

Harley’s Hornet: Amtrak in West Virginia

The politics and legacy of Amtrak’s “Potomac Special” and its kin serving West Virginia and the constituents of Sen. Harley O. Staggers.


The “Utah Parks Special”

The “Utah Parks Special”

Traveling with Union Pacific Railroad to the national parks of southern Utah was a seasonal vacation attraction until 1960.


The Lure of the North: Riding the Polar Bear Express

The Lure of the North: Riding the Polar Bear Express

Now much more than a tourist train, the ride from Cochrane to Moosonee aboard Ontario Northland’s Polar Bear Express is a vital connection.


Remembering the Northlander

Remembering the Northlander

Four little trains with a European pedigree that provided upgraded passenger service on Ontario Northland between Toronto and Cochrane.


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