PORT HURON, Mich. — The Port Huron & Detroit Railroad Historical Society, which has dissolved its non-profit organization and is ending operations, has created a heritage organization to receive its remaining assets of more than $85,000. WGRT radio reports the society has created the Tunnel City Railway and Transportation Fund, a collaboration with the Community […]
Train Topic: History
Steam Railroading Institute launches campaign for C&NW 175
OWOSSO, Mich. — The Steam Railroading Institute (SRI) has launched a fundraising campaign for the restoration of Chicago & North Western R-1 class 4-6-0 No. 175, which the museum acquired in 2018 from the Mineral Range Railroad in Ishpeming, Mich. Built in 1908 by American Locomotive Co. at its Schenectady Works, the 175 was one […]
William F. Howes Jr., railroad official, R&LHS president, author, dies at 83
William F. Howes, Jr., a longtime Baltimore & Ohio, Chessie System and CSX official, author, and president of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society from 1994 to 2003, died in Jacksonville, Fla., on July 30 at the age of 83. In his career with B&O and Chessie System, he enjoyed a front-row seat at one […]
Hays Watkins, key figure in CSX merger, dies at 96 (updated)
Hays T. Watkins Jr., a soft-spoken Kentuckian who made the CSX merger a classic success, is dead at the age of 96. Watkins died Friday after complications from a fall, his son Tom Watkins has reported. “Hays Watkins without a doubt was and to this day remains the person with the highest degrees of integrity […]
News photos: Reading & Northern excursion travels rare mileage
READING, Pa. — In a trip featuring the first appearance by a passenger train in Tremont, Pa., in at least 30 years, the Reading & Northern hosted the National Museum of Industrial History’s Anthracite Railroad Ramble on Friday, July 29. The trip, featuring Reading & Northern’s Budd Rail Diesel Cars, originated at the Reading Outer Station, […]
Metra begins rehab project at Blue Island station
BLUE ISLAND, Ill. — Metra has broken ground on a $3.8 million rehabilitation of the Vermont Avenue station in Blue Island, a structure dating to 1868 on Metra’s Rock Island District. A Thursday, July 28, ceremony including Metra CEO Jim Derwinski and other state and local officials marked the start of a project including a […]
Groups seek to buy Saluda Grade for conversion to rail trail
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Three non-profit groups say they have made an offer to Norfolk Southern buy the right-of-way of the inactive Saluda Grade — when active, the steepest main line in America, averaging a 4.7% incline with a brief stretch of 5.1% grade — with plans to turn it into a 31-mile rail trail. The […]
Officials approve $1.5 million for Tampa Union Station rehab
TAMPA, Fla. — City of Tampa officials have voted to spend $1.5 million to refurbish Tampa Union Station, a 1912 structure which remains in use for Amtrak service. WTSP-TV reports the funds will go for updating restrooms, repairing windows and doors, and replacing the intricate façade. Once those repairs are complete, the city plans to […]
Gulf Mobile and Ohio remembered
Gulf Mobile and Ohio remembered: The “modern merger movement” is often said to have begun in 1957 when Louisville & Nashville absorbed the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, in which the L&N had a three-quarters ownership. Some would argue that three similar 1947 mergers — Denver & Salt Lake into Denver & Rio Grande Western; […]
Vintage NYC subway cars make second summer excursion trip
NEW YORK — Historic R-1 through R-9 subway cars built for the IND (Independent) line in the 1930s operated to Coney Island on Sunday in the second of three excursions planned for this summer using equipment from the New York Transit Museum. The R-1 through R-9 “City Cars” operated with in combination with the “Standards” […]
PRR group raises $100,000 toward restoration of K4s steam engine No. 1361
ALTOONA, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society has met and exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 toward the construction of a new firebox for PRR Class K4s 4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 1361. Owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum, the engine is in the midst of a $2.6 million overhaul to restore it […]
Site identified for Southern Pacific Railroad History Center
ROCKLIN, Calif. — A group seeking to preserve and promote the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad has a identified a site for a proposed museum and archives. The Gold Country Media website reports the proposed Southern Pacific Rail History Center has identified a 7.6-acre site in Rocklin and plans to make an offer on […]