This Week in Illinois History: First tra...

Brave. Courageous. Bold. All words used to describe legendary Western lawman Wyatt Earp. But novels, films and TV shows often overlook his reckless youth in Illinois, where he earned a reputation as a thief, swindler and pimp. 

A popular Chicago Mayor and champion to the city's overlooked immigrant communities is struck down by an assassin’s bullet, a bullet that was meant for someone else. 

Carl Sandburg, author, journalist, folk singer, and poet of the people, appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois. 

The first Eurostar train left London's Waterloo station heading for the Gare du Nord in Paris in November 1994. It was the first commercial passenger train to travel through the Channel Tunnel which had only been finished a few months earlier. Robert Priston was one of the driver ... Show More

On 1 October 1964, the fastest train the world had ever seen was launched in Japan. The first Shinkansen, or bullet train, ran between Tokyo and Osaka, and had a top speed of 210km per hour. Lucy Burns spoke to Isao Makibayashi, one of the train's first drivers.This is a rebroadc ... Show More

Since 1971, Amtrak has run passenger rail routes throughout the United States and Canada. But how did it get started, and why have some politicians called it a "money pit?" Listen in as Scott and Ben take a closer look at Amtrak. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.ih ... Show More

On Feb. 3, a nearly two-mile long freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, a town of about 4,700 people.The railroad company and local officials decided to do a chemical burn to neutralize the cargo, but as a giant plume of black smoke settle ... Show More

(Note: this episode originally ran in 2019.) In the 1800s, catching your train on time was no easy feat. Every town had its own "local time," based on the position of the sun in the sky. There were 23 local times in Indiana. 38 in Michigan. Sometimes the time changed every few mi ... Show More

In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that follo ... Show More

The Trans-Siberian railway is the longest train line in the world, spanning 5700 miles, seven time zones, and straddling two continents.Though today’s passengers on the week-long journey can enjoy relative luxury, the route has a dark past. Who were the labourers who built it, en ... Show More

When journalist Danelle Morton’s daughter skips town to hop trains, Morton follows her into the train yard, and across America. In City of the Rails, the listener shadows Morton as she travels the country trying to understand what drew her daughter to this life. Her guides are th ... Show More

Happy National Train Day, everyone – for those of you who missed it: that was May 13th this year. A year ago, we started down this path with Train Set: Track One, which gave way to Track Two …and now, here we are for the final part of our train-fecta.Slip coaches, the worlds shor ... Show More