Trains are just as American as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. What’s even better is combining these. Imagine sitting back in the stands, munching a hot dog, watching a ballgame, and a train rumbles past outside the right-field fence. Could summertime be any better? This is high iron baseball — exploring independent leagues More […]
We continue our look at the best ballparks to catch a game and a train with a few stops on the AAA minor league circuit. High iron baseball — AAA minor league stadiums More than half of the nation’s 240 professional baseball stadiums have a railroad connection — built next to a railroad, located on […]
Bessie and Roxey Two things children love are dogs and trains. This idea inspired Heather Hill Worthington, a children’s books author, to write a story about a dog named Roxey — a dog who was a mascot on the Long Island Rail Road between 1901 and 1914. Naturally, a children’s book needs illustrations to captivate […]
Mind-blowing beer and train facts Beer arrived first, but the railroads helped this favorite beverage grow to national prominence. The beer in your glass, however, is not the whole story. Throughout history there are many twists and turns in the relationship between beer and trains. Here are five mind-blowing beer and train facts. No. 1: […]
East Broad Top Railroad freight cars tell the story of a narrow-gauge railroad that was ahead of its time. Here’s what you should know about this mostly home-built fleet that survives today at the National Historic Landmark in Pennsylvania. Hoppers In the common-carrier era, East Broad Top lived off coal as its main traffic. The […]
Why are there so many derailments? Freight train derailments have been in the headlines since the disastrous Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. Some have been spectacular, like the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train caught on video at a grade crossing in Springfield, Ohio.; the fiery derailment of a BNSF Railway […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Kevin Gilliam: My first byline was what became a Trains Trackside (previously Trains Presents) five-minute video that was concurrent with the Norfolk Southern 21st Century Steam Program visit to Asheville, N.C., in April 2013. More of those short videos followed, eventually culminating in the first feature-length 611 In Steam […]
Still in use more than 180 years after they were built, the Keystone Arch Bridges of western Massachusetts stand as enduring monuments to the skill of their creators. An economic crisis Boston had a problem in the late 1830s. The newly completed Erie Canal was drawing more and more trade to the ports of New […]
Mind-blowing Conrail facts Arguably, the Consolidated Rail Corp. story is one of the darkest and yet brightest chapters in American railroad history. Consolidated Rail Corp. or Conrail — originally spelled ConRail — was the government-led and financially backed bailout of six Northeastern railroads. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the demise of the Penn […]
What is your history with Trains? Carl Swanson: I hired on with Kalmbach twenty-five years ago after previous stints with another publisher where I was editor of Passenger Train Journal and RailNews magazines. In 1999, I became an associate editor with Trains Magazine. For a lifelong railfan, and long-time reader of Trains, this was a dream […]
Mind-blowing railroad words Depending on how you slice it, there are easily over one million words in the English language. Ours is a dynamic tongue, ever expanding and contracting to suit current societal needs. What influences our vocabulary is also dynamic. Prevailing social trends, events, and technology, to name a few, all influence what words […]
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 […]
