Homemade muscle

Homemade muscle

Norfolk & Western Y6 2-8-8-2 No. 2130, one of the road’s distinctive homegrown designs, works near Elliston, Va., 20 miles west of the road’s headquarters in Roanoke. It was one of 35 such locomotives built 1936–40. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]

Read More…

West Virginia varnish

20200317

Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 207 waits with train 1 at Thomas, W.Va., on April 29, 1951. From here, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, the train will run downhill through the Black Fork Gorge to Elkins. K. F. Merlin photo […]

Read More…

Two cars to Tidewater

20200204

Eastern Gas & Fuel’s modern Wharton No. 2 mine southwest of Barrett, W.Va., will load 105 hoppers, including subject C&O 134594 and 47859, with coal on June 2, 1955. Trains’ Editor David P. Morgan tracked the cars from mine to ship in the April 1956 issue. W.A. Akin Jr. photo […]

Read More…

Gravity assisted railroading

20200220

A Chesapeake & Ohio Mallet starts downgrade for Barrett, W.Va., with loads from Eastern Gas & Fuel’s Wharton No. 2 mine in June 1955. Trains’ Editor David P. Morgan tracked two cars from mine to Tidewater in the April 1956 issue. W.A. Akin Jr. photo […]

Read More…

East Broad Top Railroad memories: a railroader’s life

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado No. 15 and its short train head out of Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, June 21, 2009, the 49th year the former coal hauler has been a tourist line.

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado No. 15 and its short train head out of Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, June 21, 2009, the 49th year the former coal hauler has been a tourist line. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the October 2009 issue of Trains Magazine. Stanley G. Hall has […]

Read More…

East Broad Top Railroad profile and history

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado-type 2-8-2 locomotives Nos. 12 and 15 appear at the Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, station as part of a nighttime photo shoot in October 2011.

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado-type 2-8-2 locomotives Nos. 12 and 15 appear at the Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, station as part of a nighttime photo shoot in October 2011. Alex Mayes East Broad Top Railroad map The East Broad Top was the last narrow gauge common carrier in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. It was […]

Read More…

Virginia vista

20200123

One of Norfolk & Western’s streamlined J-class 4-8-4s leads the Memphis–WashingtonTennessean east between Roanoke and Lynchburg, Va., in 1954. Southern Railway diesels brought the train to Bristol, Tenn., and will take over again at Lynchburg. W.A. Akin Jr. photo […]

Read More…

Autumn Colors Express returns to New River Gorge in 2020 NEWSWIRE

Autumn_Colors_Logo

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Rail Excursion Management Co. announced Friday that it would again run its Autumn Colors Express through West Virginia’s New River Gorge in October. The Autumn Colors Express first ran in 2019 and was organized after the operators of the original New River Train, the Collis P. Huntington Chapter of the National Railroad […]

Read More…

CSX Santa Train makes its 77th journey

Business car at end of train crossing bridge

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — CSX’s long-running Santa Train has put another trip in the books. The railroad celebrated the 77th running of the Santa Train on Saturday in rainy conditions for most of the day. Despite the wet weather, large crowds still turned out trackside along the former Clinchfield Railroad main line, part of today’s Kingsport […]

Read More…

Video: N scale Gauley & Shavers Fork

model railroad layout

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Bob Ferguson’s N scale Gauley & Shavers Fork features interchangeable scenes and a 1960s diesel-era setting. The 16′-4″ x 33′-6″ shelf layout is inspired by several central Appalachian railroads. Get an overview of the railroad in this short video. […]

Read More…