The Canadian customs agent checks your passport and gives you a puzzled look when you explain that you just landed in Vancouver so that you can head to Toronto tomorrow. The poor young chap cannot wrap his head around the concept of taking VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian 2,800 miles simply for the fun of it. […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Steve Glischinski: My first byline was an article on the Escanaba & Lake Superior in the July 1984 issue. It was the cover story. I was so excited I went out and bought a whole bunch of issues and gave them out to friends! For several years I had […]
Locomotives short lines like to use: Shortline railroads have long fascinated me. Perhaps it’s because I had a front-row seat to the startup of one in my hometown in December 1996. Maybe it’s because some are real underdog stories. Seeing a railroad turn a line or lines plagued by years of deferred maintenance into a […]
Here are some personal recollections of 12 notable model railroaders who died in 2022. Don Ball For many years, Don Ball was a regular contributor to Model Railroader. I worked with him on several stories, including his big feature in Model Railroad Planning 2011 about building his Stockton & Copperopolis HO layout. I visited Don […]
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Implementing positive train control was a long, costly process for the railroad industry. Now that it’s in place, the people who know it best — the communications and signal specialists — are finding there are a lot of benefits to the technology beyond its primary purpose of accident prevention. “As a […]
BOCA RATON, Fla. — CSX Transportation put a lot of effort into upgrading newly acquired property Pan Am Railways in 2022. That effort will continue this year, Ed Sparks, the railroad’s chief engineer, bridges, design, and construction, said Saturday. The plans for the former Pan Am trackage in New England was just one part of […]
Trains LIVE — Northern Pacific Slenderella Salad Trains LIVE — 1-4-2023 — Happy New Year and welcome to 2023. Did you know that of the top five New Year’s resolutions made annually, three of them involve fitness, health, and a better diet? Our resolve regarding our resolutions fades quickly, however. In 2022, surveys indicate that […]
Trains LIVE — Northern Pacific Slenderella Salad Trains LIVE — 1-4-2023 — Happy New Year and welcome to 2023. Did you know that of the top five New Year’s resolutions made annually, three of them involve fitness, health, and a better diet? Our resolve regarding our resolutions fades quickly, however. In 2022, surveys indicate that […]
Garden railroading in Hawaii: In late 2013, my wife set in motion a scheme that eventually became the Oberammergau, Ogden & Olomana Railroad – the Triple O. A few books, a GR subscription, and a year of study later, and we broke ground on what has become a family project to bring a stylized piece […]
My first railroad book has stuck with me ever since my parents gave it to me when I was 9. Lucius Beebe’s “Hear the Train Blow” was a massive scrapbook of American railroad history, full of the author’s outrageous prose and uncanny skill at digging up illustration. I still love looking through it 62 years […]
Mind-blowing dining car facts Dining by rail was transformed from a disgusting experience to a culinary calling card pitting one railroad against another to garner passengers. At the table, passengers enjoyed fine food served with the grace and style of the best restaurants. What we didn’t see was the world and culture of the dining […]
Interview with Photographer Wang Wei: Golden sunlight-lit autumn leaves, grazing horses, steam, snow. Majestic mountains. Night shots. Sparks. The Big Dipper. Words fail at this point. Wang Wei’s images convey color, contrast, and depth to equal any images showing off awe-inspiring Chinese landscapes. Underlying these images’ qualities is a single constant: trains. Steam locomotives are […]
