Pennsylvania Railroad class T1 4-4-4-4 duplex 5536 shows the effects of hard service at Chicago in the late 1940s, but the engine is in fact less than five years old. Classic Trains coll. […]
Timeworn T1
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
By caboose to Silverton and back
It does not matter how many times you have traveled the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad between its namesake cities. Every time you ride is a new adventure. The scenery evolves over time and is dependent on the season at hand. The people you ride with change. The purpose of the ride is different. […]
Lionel Legacy A5-class 0-4-0
In January 2022, when Lionel released the Volume 1 Big Book, a few pages beyond the Visionline Class A you’d find an old, but familiar locomotive, the A5. Tooling from K-Line became the skeleton for this small 0-4-0 switching locomotive. However, even with good bones, it took Lionel two and a half years to deliver […]
Soo local in northern Minnesota
Pacific 2702 clatters across the Northern Pacific tracks at McGregor, Minn., 81 miles west of Duluth, with Soo Line’s Thief River Falls–Duluth train 64 in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Illinois Terminal locomotives remembered
Illinois Terminal locomotives included steam, electric, and diesel over its existence. The Illinois Terminal was an electric interurban line serving western Illinois down to the St. Louis area. In the mid-1950s the railroad abandoned its electric operations, moving to all-diesel operation — the last steam ran in 1950, and dieselization had begun with […]
Notable model train products from the early 1960s
One of my favorite things to do while eating lunch is to pull out an old volume of Model Railroader magazine and page through it. Lately, I’ve been working my way through the decade of the 1960s, often posting things I’ve rediscovered to MR’s Facebook page under the heading of “Lunchtime Reading.” Editor Linn Westcott […]
Secondhand 2-8-2 in West Virginia
Mikado 482 was built by Alco’s Schenectady plant for the Mobile & Ohio in 1928. It went to West Virginia short line Cherry River Boom & Lumber after the GM&O merger. It’s resting at Jerryville, W.Va., southwest of Elkins, in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
U.S. Sugar 148 enjoys the spotlight
I haven’t counted every last owner one time or another of Florida East Coast 4-6-2 No. 148, but it must be close to a record. For a mainline-size engine, the Pacific was incredibly peripatetic, sort of like former Burlington 2-8-2 No. 4960 before it landed at the Grand Canyon Railway. The 148 emerged from Alco’s […]
Pere Marquette No. 1225 stacking up miles in fall and winter operations
OWOSSO, Mich. — The norm for most operating steam locomotives around this time is to call it a season and begin receiving routine maintenance in preparation for the new year. For Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225, the Berkshire-type is still in the midst of its 2024 season, having completed fall excursions in late October and […]
Cass Scenic announces schedule for winter 2025 Greenbrier Express trains
CASS, W.Va — Cass Scenic Railroad operator Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad has announced its 2025 winter Greenbrier Express excursions from Cass to Durbin, W.Va., and return, beginning Jan. 18. Trains will operate Saturdays and Sundays from Jan. 18 to Feb. 23, 2025, departing at 10 a.m. for a round trip of about 5 hours. […]
Topeka heritage group seeks to save Santa Fe locomotive
TOPEKA, Kan. — A non-profit group seeks some $1 million to move and cosmetically restore a Santa Fe 4-6-4 long on display in Topeka but that has experienced significant neglect and deterioration since the 1990s, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports. Hudson No. 3463, built by Baldwin in 1937, is the only surviving member of a class […]
Soo Line No. 1003 attracts crowds for 2024 Santa Train
HARTFORD, Wis. — A bit too early to be kicking off the holiday season? That certainly wasn’t the case for Soo Line No. 1003, the Steam Locomotive Heritage Association, and Downtown Hartford. The 2-8-2 was in steam on Nov. 9, 2024, for the annual Santa Train to precede the city’s Christmas Parade. Mike Raia, president […]
