RICHMOND, Va. —The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority board of directors has approved a recently negotiated plan with Norfolk Southern to acquire the railroad’s former Southern Railway route out of Alexandria, Va., to Manassas, Va., and gain Amtrak train access to the NS main line beyond Roanoke, Va., to Christiansburg, Va. In a press release, the […]
CASS, W.Va — Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, the facility including the 11-mile heritage railroad and preserved lumber company town, will add its first campground as part of $13 million in improvements in the state park system announced by Gov. Jim Justice. The campground will feature 100 campsites with water and electrical connections, two bathhouses, […]
Two 2-8-8-0 Mallets assist a train of oil-laden tank cars up Baltimore & Ohio’s 2.4-percent Cranberry Grade to Terra Alta, W.Va., in the early 1940s. The train has four of B&O’s distinctive “wagon top” cabooses, three of which presumably are deadheading. Classic Trains coll. […]
The Cass Scenic Railroad is logging locomotive central for the East Coast, rostering all three major types of geared steam locomotives. The railroad is based out of Cass, W.Va., where a former logging railroad was saved in the 1960s to become the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park to preserve the railroad for future generations. Come […]
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 & […]
Mikado No. 14 rides the turntable at the narrow-gauge coal hauler’s headquarters of Orbisonia, Pa., in July 1952. The road would shut down in 1956, then partially reopen for tourists in 1960. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
On June 22nd, 2024, steam power — in the form of Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad T1 4-8-4 “Northern” type — returned to the rails for the 2024 Iron Horse Rambles event! Come with us as Trains.com chases the excursion from Nesquehoning, Pa., to Tunkhannock, Pa. […]
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — CSX has reopened one track of its two-track main line at Harpers Ferry, W.Va., about 3:30 a.m. today (Tuesday, June 25) and expected the other to be reopened by midday following Monday’s fire on the bridge across the Potomac River. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports railroad spokesman Bryan Tucker wrote in an […]
CASS, W.Va. — Some 3,000 spectators descended on the tiny mountain town of Cass on Saturday, June 15, to see, photograph, and record all five of Cass Scenic Railroad’s operational Shay locomotives in the fifth annual Parade of Steam. Beginning on the inner station track with Shay No. 11 (Construction No. 3221, 1923; Class 90-3, […]
Norfolk & Western class A No. 1239 is ready to depart Roanoke, Va., with eastbound time freight 84 in 1954. The potent 2-6-6-4 was built in N&W’s shops here just five years earlier. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
U.S. Highway 460 is one of the great railfan roads, paralleling the former Norfolk & Western mainline across the state of Virginia for hundreds of miles. Starting in Norfolk on the Atlantic coast, 460 follows today’s Norfolk Southern into the Blue Ridge Mountains to Roanoke and beyond. West of Roanoke, the Norfolk & Western confronts […]
Two big 2-10-0s cut in as mid-train helpers assist in lifting a train up the Western Maryland main line west of Cumberland, Md., at famous Helmstetter’s Curve in May 1952. The road engine and rear-end helper are also Decapods. WM’s class I-2 engines were the heaviest 2-10-0s ever built. Edward Theisinger photo […]
