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The scenic town of Osceola, Wisc., recently hosted the inaugural Trains Magazine diesel photo special, attracting rail enthusiasts and photographers. The Osceola and Saint Croix Valley Railway typically offers passenger services along a former Soo Line branch, owned by Canadian National. However, special events extend the experience to other tracks, including the line’s northern terminus […]
Explore Paw Paw, WV’s rich history with the Magnolia Cutoff, an engineering masterpiece from 1913 designed to streamline the Baltimore and Ohio mainline, reducing congestion and enhancing rail transport efficiency. This legacy route, complete with tunnels, bridges, and a massive retaining wall, continues to serve CSX today. Read more about this route in Trains magazine’s […]
On June 25th, 2023, Trains Magazine sponsored their first photo special of the year at the Silver Creek and Stephenson Railroad in Freeport, Illinois. The event was timed to coincide with the Jim Wrinn Memorial Shay-It-Forward event at the Illinois Railway Museum. Let’s take a look at the weekend! […]
After almost twenty years on static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Va., Norfolk & Western Class J No. 611 returned to operation in 2015. Her time on the mainline was very brief though, lasting only three years. Since then, new venues have been needed to operate the large engine. Let’s get […]
In the shadows of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota, you can find one of America’s oldest tourist railroads. Welcome to the Black Hills Central Railroad (BHC). Operating between Hill City and Keystone, S.D., tourists can ride behind articulated steam locomotives over some of the steepest grades in the country. As highlighted in the August […]
In June 2023, Union Pacific’s No. 4014 “Big Boy”, a 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive, ventured out from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Omaha, Neb., for a display date at the 2023 College [Baseball] World Series. While any big steam run is noteworthy in this day and age, it was the routing that made this especially appealing. Instead of […]
It’s May 25th, 2023, and a test run of the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railroad’s new NODA Express is heading toward Charlotte, North Carolina. The Aberdeen Carolina & Western is a 150-mile short line, which hosts recently acquired E9A, No. 103, an EMD passenger diesel that was originally built for the Union Pacific Railroad. Come along […]
A ghost from the past is staging to return! In the spring of 2023, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad announced that No. 722 would be going into the shops for a return to operational service. Let’s take a look back to see how this historic Southern Railway 2-8-0 steam locomotive arrived at this point. […]
Steam trains have been running at Durbin, W.Va., for the past 20 years. But if you look closely, this video captures double-headed Shay steam locomotives working up from Cass, W.Va., for the first time since 1985! Hop aboard for the sights and sounds on this special, restored route along the Greenbrier River. Want to see […]
The Rocky Mountaineer began as a VIA Rail service in Canada in the late 1980s. Operating over Canadian National tracks from Vancouver, British Columbia to Jasper, Alberta, the service was privatized in 1990 and the Rocky Mountaineer now operates three routes in Canada and a new route in the United States. We caught up with […]
While commuters between Miami and West Palm Beach have enjoyed Brightline passenger rail service since 2018, in 2023, the system will be expanding north to Orlando. As part of that expansion project, the company is opening a new “Basecamp” near the Orlando Airport. Enjoy this quick look inside the $100 million maintenance facility and a […]
The famous Saluda grade in western North Carolina has seen its last train. Railbanked in December 2001, nature has slowly but ever so surely reclaimed the right of way. Now, in 2023, an agreement has been reached to sell the railroad to become a hiking trail. Let’s take a look back to the years when […]
