SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Already facing one major project — recovery from major flood damage — the Sioux City Railroad Museum announced Wednesday that it would take on another: restoring one of the museum’s steam locomotives to operating condition. The museum, its parent Siouxland Historical Railroad Association, and the American Heartland Railroad Society are beginning […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
News photos: Big Boy heads west
EVANSTON, Wyo. — Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is four days into its “Westward Bound” tour, preparing for a Fourth of July move from Evanston to Salt Lake City after travel from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Evanston in three days of travel, with an off-day Tuesday in Rock Springs, Wyo., for an employee event. The […]
Olympia & Sand Creek, Sidetrack Ep. 6 | Harnesses and reins
In this concluding video of the Olympia & Sand Creek Sidetrack Series, host David Popp finalizes the assembly of the horses, mules, and wagons. Follow along as he shares techniques for hitching the ponies to the carts, before he gets back to working on the On30 model railroad! Be sure to explore the entire Olympia […]
Durango & Silverton again up and running to Silverton
DURANGO, Colo. — The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has made quick work of its latest slide disruption. The heritage railroad said on its Facebook page that it has resumed service to Silverton today (Wednesday, July 3) after Tuesday trains to Silverton were halted by a Monday night slide at milepost 486.0, near Needleton. […]
Cardinal River Models’ Super Power startup
In May 2024, an up-and-coming model railroad company took the stage with Super Power in its arsenal. Cardinal River Models LLC of West Virginia announced plans to manufacture a museum-tier model of the Nickel Plate Road Class S-2 2-8-4 Berkshire-type steam locomotive in HO. Although Nickel Plate Berkshires are nothing new to the market, owner […]
High-wheeled North Western 4-6-4
Chicago & North Western 4-6-4 No. 4004, having brought the San Francisco-bound Gold Coast in from Chicago, backs out of Omaha Union Station for servicing in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on June 6, 1953. Alco built nine of these 84-inch-drivered Hudsons for C&NW in 1938. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
News photos: The Empress returns north
Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s Final Spike Steam tour made its way from Nahant Yard, south of Davenport, Iowa, to Dubuque, Iowa, on Monday, July 1, as “the Empress,” CP Class H1b Hudson 4-6-4 No. 2816, works its way back to its home base in Calgary, via a planned July 6 display date in Winnipeg, […]
Elephantine 2-10-4s
Making like two great pachyderms joined tail to nose, Pennsylvania Railroad J1 2-10-4s 6486 and 6488 doublehead a coal train out of Columbus, Ohio, with a coal train for the Lake Erie docks at Sandusky in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Preservation news from Appalachia: 0-4-0 finds new home, GP9 gets B&O-inspired paint upgrade
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An H.K. Porter 0-4-0T will be restored for operation at the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. in Ravenna, Ky., after being on display for many years at the Kenova Historical Museum Commission in Kenova, W.Va. And in Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad has just finished repainting an EMD GP9 into a Baltimore & […]
The 4-6-2 Pacific-type steam locomotive
Prior to the Hudsons, Mountains, and Northerns, the 4-6-2 Pacific-type was celebrated as THE passenger locomotive at the turn of the 20th century. Outperformed in later years by their bigger, faster, and stronger successors, the smaller racehorses continued to hold their own until the end of steam along North America’s railroads. Though, it can be […]
East Broad Top by night
Mikado No. 14 rides the turntable at the narrow-gauge coal hauler’s headquarters of Orbisonia, Pa., in July 1952. The road would shut down in 1956, then partially reopen for tourists in 1960. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Sam Foster’s Owl Cove Lumber Co. in O scale
Enjoy a glimpse of 1930s-era logging operations on Sam Foster’s 6 x 40-foot On30 (1:48) scale model railroad. Tall timber and equally impressive railroad engineering abound on this freelanced, around-the-walls narrow gauge (30″) layout. You can read more about the layout in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader magazine. […]