Colebrookdale Trust will acquire locomotive from Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

4-6-2 steam locomotive on outdoor display

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum will transfer ownership of former Canadian National 4-6-2 No. 5288 to the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust in Boyertown, Pa., the two organizations announced Friday, with Colebrookdale planning to eventually restore the locomotive to operation. The engine will move to Pennsylvania as soon as possible. Built by Montreal […]

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News photos: Conrail Historical Society Museum opens

People gathered inside of boxcar turned into musuem

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — The Conrail Historical Society’s museum and archive center, housed in a retired 86-foot hi-cube auto parts boxcar, opened to the public with ceremonies on Saturday, April 1. The facility, located along the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail, is a collaboration of the society with the rail trail, Shippensburg University, Cumberland Area Economic Development […]

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2-8-0 with a fraught history

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Duluth & Northeastern 2-8-0 No. 16, pictured without her smokebox door inside the short line’s enginehouse in September 1954, went into a river in 1916, was caught in a wildfire in 1918, and was inside the old enginehouse when it burned down in 1952. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Nickel Plate Road’s major components

Map of the Nickel Plate Road’s major components

The Nickel Plate Road’s major components were all in place by 1949.     The Nickel Plate, formally the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, was conceived in 1881 as a Buffalo-Chicago project to compete with the parallel Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (later New York Central) of William H. Vanderbilt. To thwart rival […]

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Amtrak E60 locomotives

Front three-quarter view of Amtrak E60 locomotives

Amtrak E60 locomotives are an important bridge for Northeast Corridor electric railroading between the GG1s of the 1930s and 1940s to the AEM-7 and HHP-8 locomotives of the 1980s and early 2000s.   E60 locomotive history General Electric developed the E60 C-C or six-axle locomotives at its Erie, Pa., plant in the early 1970s. The […]

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Fairbanks-Morse H12-44TS locomotive: A special diesel for a special job

Three-quarter view of Fairbanks-Morse H12-44TS locomotive

  The Fairbanks-Morse H12-44TS locomotive was a familiar-looking unit with different internals.   FM was a fierce competitor in the early days of dieselization, perhaps remembered most for its H24-66 Train Master, a six-axle 2,400 hp road-switcher that impressed almost every railroad it demonstrated on.   Among its lesser-known successes were three specialized units produced […]

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Kansas City Southern Shay locomotives

One of two Kansas City Southern Shay locomotives with a train

Kansas City Southern Shay locomotives were oddballs on a steam locomotive roster of non-conformity. Ephraim Shay came up with the design for the geared locomotive in the 1870s. The Lima Locomotive Works popularized the design and sold almost 2,770 copies.     Throughout the Leonor F. Loree administration, Kansas City Southern was a loyal Alco […]

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Kansas City Southern locomotives remembered

Red, yellow, and black streamlined diesel locomotive with passenger train

Kansas City Southern locomotives were full of surprises in both the steam and diesel fleets.     Steam locomotives saw a gradual evolution, from 2-8-0 to articulated 0-6-6-0s (an oddball in the industry for road service) and 2-8-8-0s and eventually the much-vaunted 2-10-4s of 1937. The 0-6-6-0s were the largest group of the type built […]

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Most versatile: Canadian National U-class 4-8-4 locomotives

Canadian National U-class 4-8-4 locomotives coming off lift bridge

Canadian National U-class 4-8-4 locomotives proved to be the most versatile of the type operated in North America.   It’s generally accepted that the ultimate in steam power was the 4-8-4 Northern type, if defined by criteria that includes speed, power, technology, and, perhaps most importantly, versatility. A lot of railroads capped off the steam […]

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