U.S. Presidents have traveled by train almost as long as there have been rails on the continent. Learn more with these two downloadable PDFs looking back at the relationship between Richard Nixon and the railroads and George H.W. Bush’s 1992 campaign train. […]
Train Topic: History
Bush funeral train attracting media attention NEWSWIRE
Union Pacific No. 4141, the George H.W. Bush unit, leads a southbound train through Fort Worth, Texas, on July 4, 2008. The locomotive will lead Thursday’s funeral train for former President Bush. Steve Schmollinger The funeral train for President George H.W. Bush is a rare moment when railroads and railroading are in the general media […]
Bush Funeral Train schedule set NEWSWIRE
UP veterans unit No. 1943 hustles the Bush funeral train consist southward toward Houston on Sunday. Zach Pumphery COLLEGE STATION, Texas — George H.W. Bush, the last president who served in World War II, will make his final journey Thursday — by train. Union Pacific says the special Bush Funeral Train will run from its […]
UP 4141 expected to participate in Bush funeral train NEWSWIRE
UP No. 4141 rests at Ney Yard in Ft. Worth, Texas on July 4, 2008. Steve Schmollinger COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Early this morning Union Pacific’s Jenks locomotive shop in North Little Rock, Ark., outshopped another diesel. That happens every day. In this case, the unit was a specially-painted SD70Ace No. 4141 in honor of […]
Spacing of steam ‘chuffs’
A conventional two-cylinder locomotive like this one exhausts four times per wheel revolution. This is thanks to the position of the valves. Library of Congress Q At low speed, the four “chuffs” a steam engine makes per wheel rotation all sound the same to me, but at higher speed I think I hear a four-beat […]
BL2s and Pullmans to the Stock Yards
A pair of Rock Island BL2s, with an F7B between them, led the “Fat Stock Special” one night in 1956. Monty Powell In November 1956 I was a management trainee on the Rock Island Railroad in Rock Island, Ill. A special movement known as “the Fat Stock Special,” which originated in western Iowa, was coming […]
California State Railroad Museum announces events to mark transcontinental railroad anniversary NEWSWIRE
The California State Railroad Museum will host a number of events in 2019 to mark the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. CSRM SACRAMENTO – In 2019, the California State Railroad Museum & Foundation are proud to present a series of exciting events, activities and exhibits to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of […]
The Portage Railway An Illustrated History of the Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railway
The Portage Railway: An Illustrated History of the Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railway by Jeff Young and Peter Foley Available from: Credit Valley Railway Company 2900 Argentia Road, Unit 24 Mississauga ON L5N 7X9 Canada www.cvrco.ca 12 1/4″ x 9 1/4″; 204 pages, including 10 9″ x 18 1/2″ foldout drawings; hardbound The Huntsville […]
Three-way race on the B&M
Just out of Boston’s North Station, three Boston & Maine trains have crossed the Charles River drawbridges and approach the Charlestown Avenue bridge in mid-1947. From left: a 4-6-2 with a beach special, an E7 with the Alouette for Montreal via Canadian Pacific, and another 4-6-2 on the Boston section of the Green Mountain Flyer, bound for […]
Union stations
A CSX Transportation freight passes Marion (Ohio) Union Station. The site is now a museum with a restored interlocking tower. Brian Schmidt Q Why is the word “Union” used so often in the names of passenger stations and terminals? For example, Cincinnati Union Terminal, St. Louis Union Station, or Denver Union Station. Is there a […]
Christmas & Electric Trains
Sharing the joys of toy trains at Christmas […]
John Gruber, rail photographer extraordinaire, dies at 82 NEWSWIRE
John Gruber MADISON, Wis. — In the world of railroad photography, few practitioners have had an impact as profound as that of John Gruber. He arrived in the 1960s with a daring new approach to photographing the railroad scene, then went on to found the leading organization devoted to preserving and promoting the art form. […]
