Watch the Union Pacific funeral train for George H.W. Bush as it crosses Texas. You’ll see SD70ACe No. 4141, painted and lettered for our 41st president, do the honors while thousands of people line the tracks to pay their respects. […]
Check out the 2018 Canadian Pacific Holiday Train at Milwaukee with Trains‘ Editor Jim Wrinn! You’ll see the spectacle of the train arriving under the recently rebuilt train shed and the fabulous musical performers that travel with the train thanks to special access granted to Trains by Canadian Pacific. The train has gathered 4.3 million […]
Videographer Rich Luckin and Trains Magazine Editor Jim Wrinn discuss the new PBS documentary, Journey to Promontory. It’s the saga of the first transcontinental railroad. On the 150th anniversary of this accomplishment, hear about the new video available from Kalmbach Media that tells the story of the Golden Spike. Be sure to pick up the […]
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. […]
Download this free 21-page PDF download to read the stories of a field engineer, a young brakeman, and a locomotive fireman. Their stories uncover the adventures of riding and working on the Alco RS3, the C&NW freight, and the Union Pacific 4-8-4. […]
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 […]
Financial hardships, highway competition, and inadequate maintenance and investment led to the abandonment of a wide array of railroads. Take a look at our free 45-page PDF download to uncover the history behind the following railroads: The formation of the Wisconsin & Calumet Railroad and the different rail lines it operated, restored, and acquired. How the Vicksburg Route changed […]
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 […]
FULL SCREEN Tom Danneman GE B23-7 No. 4201, built for Conrail in 1978 FULL SCREEN Tom Danneman EMD SW14 No. 102, built for Illinois Central in 1951 FULL SCREEN Tom Danneman EMD GP30 No. 2508, built for Rio Grande in 1962 FULL SCREEN Tom Danneman EMD GP9R No. 8319, built for Southern Pacific in 1955 […]
A water tank on the Pacific Coast Railroad in Washington displays discoloration brought by impurities in the local water. Al Farrow photo, Martin E. Hansen collection Q Did steam locomotive operators test the water prior to filling the tender? Was water treated then or prior to filling the tank? Without treatment would there have been […]
Ride along on Trains‘ August 2018 photo charter experience commemorating the end of revenue freight operations on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad’s narrow gauge route through New Mexico and Colorado 50 years ago in 1968. Along the way, you’ll see double-headed 2-8-2s Mikado-type steam locomotives, helper engines, and classic railroad action on the […]
Learn more about the Nashville steam restoration project and 4-8-4 No. 576! You’ll hear from the people involved in the project and examine the locomotive in its current state. […]
