West Virginia survivor

20180307

2-8-0 No. 4 of short line Buffalo Creek & Gauley works at Swandale, W.Va., in the early 1960s. After a spell at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, where it ran as “Southern Railway 604,” this engine is now at Cass, W.Va. Classic Trains coll. […]

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Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 No. 476 steams again NEWSWIRE

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Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 No. 476 steams again on Feb. 14, prior to a test run to Rockwood, Colo. D&SNGRR DURANGO, Colo. — One of the Silverton train’s classic K28s has returned to steam after 19 years of inactivity and an extensive multi-year rebuild. Rio Grande Mikado No. 476 made a test run to Rockwood, […]

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Narrow gauge combo car takes up residence at East Broad Top NEWSWIRE

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Stephen Lane is shown posing with his Tuscarora Valley combination baggage-coach car at Rockhill Furnace, Pa. The car is being stored there until it can find a more permanent home. Lawrence Biemiller, Friends of the East Broad Top ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — While operations at the historic narrow-gauge East Broad Top Railroad in central Pennsylvania […]

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Pennsylvania narrow gauge

20161223

A passenger train departs Waynesburg, Pa., in 1907 on the Waynesburg & Washington, a 28-mile-long, 3-foot-gauge pike that came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1885. Waynesburg University Museum collection […]

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East Broad Top comes back to life

20161221

In August 1960, four years after Pennsylvania’s coal-hauling, narrow-gauge East Broad Top shut down, owner Nick Kovalchik reopened part of it for tourist operations. People crowd the platform at Orbisonia, Pa., to board one of the first trips. Don Wood photo […]

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Wood-burning narrow-gauge Mikado

20160831

Sumpter Valley Railway No. 18, built by Baldwin in 1916, is a modern-design, low-drivered, 36-inch-gauge wood-burning 2-8-2. The timber-hauling Sumpter Valley extended 80 miles out of Baker, Ore.; today, tourists can ride behind steam on 5 miles of rebuilt track. Matt Coleman collection […]

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Narrow gauge in Ohio

20160804

The Ohio River & Western was a 3-foot-gauge line in Ohio affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Folks have driven out in their cars to the road’s famous S-shaped trestle just west of Key, Ohio, to watch the OR&W’s last train on May 30, 1931. John B. Corns collection […]

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Standard and narrow gauge in Maine

20160419

The two-foot-gauge Bridgton & Harrison (former Bridgton & Saco River) interchanged passengers and freight with the Maine Central in Bridgton Junction, Maine. Compared with a high-mounted MEC 2-8-0, diminutive B&H No. 5 could be confused with an amusement park engine. Dwight A. Smith Jr. photo […]

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Classic logging Mallet

20160212

The 2-6-6-2T Mallet, exemplified by Weyerhauser No. 9, was perhaps the ultimate development of the logging locomotive. Compact, powerful, and flexible, the type was ideally suited to pulling heavy loads over rough, sharply curved track. Geared locomotives like the Shay also possessed these traits, but could not make the speed of a rod engine. Baldwin […]

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