No. 611’s last run at Kings Mountain, N.C., in 1994. Steve Glischinski ROANOKE, Va. – Famed Norfolk & Western Class J No. 611, one of the most famous 4-8-4s in American railroad history, will steam again — if a $3.5 million fund raising campaign is successful. The Virginia Museum of Transportation announced today its intention […]
FULL SCREEN John Gruber Graham Claytor Jr. (left) appears apprehensive as he talks with D. W. Brosnan and Walter Dove on the platform at Asheville, N.C. But the conversation was friendly and the 4501 soon was on its way. FULL SCREEN John Gruber Locomotive 4501 proudly poses at Terminal Station, about ready to leave on […]
Norfolk & Western J-Class 4-8-4 No. 611 rolls north on the Southern Railway main line, Aug. 22, 1982 during the engine’s three-day move from its restoration in Birmingham, Ala., to its birthplace in Roanoke, Va. The engine has an eight car train high above the James River. William D. Middleton photo […]
Southern Railway’s master mechanic-steam occupies the engineer’s seat of Tennessee Valley 630 during a 1980s excursion. Jim Wrinn ATLANTA – Bill Purdie, the beloved master mechanic for Southern Railway’s extensive steam locomotive excursions in the 1960s and 1970s, died yesterday evening. He was 95. Purdie joined Southern Railway as a helper in 1936 and progressed […]
ATLAS O IS OFFERING a rugged rendition of one of the stalwart diesels of the second-generation period – the GP35. The EMD GP35 was a prominent and reliable player in the game against General Electric and Alco for control of the U.S. locomotive market. The 2,500-horsepower, four-axle locomotives were built from October 1963 through January […]
Bachmann HO scale Norfolk & Western class J streamlined 4-8-4 steam locomotive Bachmann’s Spectrum-line HO Norfolk & Western class J 4-8-4 is an exciting, all-new locomotive. It shouldn’t be confused with the model of the same prototype that Bachmann introduced in 1985, which missed the mark on many dimensions. The new locomotive is highly accurate […]
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. — Regional Rail LLC has added to its holdings in the Midwest with acquisition of the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad, a 70-mile Ohio short line, the company has announced. The company now has seven railroads in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. “The Regional Rail team and I are delighted to partner with the team […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An H.K. Porter 0-4-0T will be restored for operation at the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. in Ravenna, Ky., after being on display for many years at the Kenova Historical Museum Commission in Kenova, W.Va. And in Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad has just finished repainting an EMD GP9 into a Baltimore & […]
Although the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway employed several nicknames — “Dixie Line,” “Nashville Road,” and “Lookout Mountain Route” among them — to former employees and their families, it will always be “Grandpa’s Road.” James A. Skelton was one of those Grandpas. He was 14 in April 1862, and although the War Between the […]
MOUNT VERNON, Ind. – OmniTRAX has been named the railroad operator for Ports of Indiana – Mount Vernon. The short line holding company, which operates 27 railroads, will begin serving the 1,200-acre port on Aug. 4. It’s the fourth domestic port in the OmniTRAX network, the company said today. “OmniTRAX is excited to add our […]
The 31 new safety recommendations that the National Transportation Safety Board made yesterday in response to Norfolk Southern’s hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, have prompted a flurry of responses from the rail industry, lawmakers, and union leaders. The Feb. 3, 2023, derailment was caused by the failure of a wheel bearing on a […]
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Norfolk Southern and its contractors should not have decided to vent and burn derailed tank cars carrying vinyl chloride three days after the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment in East Palestine, the National Transportation Safety Board said today (Tuesday, June 25). The five tank cars were among the 38 cars of train […]
