Host David Popp has the track and cork roadbed in hand, so he’s all set for trackwork! Following good construction processes, David first surveys the various sites where tracks will route. You’ll see how to install roadbed along the main line roadbed, along the turntable lead tracks, under turnouts, and even over bridges! Follow along […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Kansas tourist railroad finds it has another year to operate steam locomotive
ABILENE, Kan. — Sometimes, paperwork can be a good thing. The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad has received positive news for its 2023 operating plans, learning it has one more year to operate its 1919 Baldwin 4-6-2, Santa Fe No. 3415, before the locomotive is sidelined for two years to undergo its federally mandated 15-year […]
Common questions about live steam locomotives
Common questions about live steam locomotives: At model-train shows and garden-railway open houses, live-steam locomotives always seem to gather a crowd of interested onlookers. Our small steam locomotives are new to many people and questions naturally arise. I thought it would be worthwhile to answer some of the most common questions for those of you […]
East Broad Top steam returns to revenue service
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — East Broad Top Railroad’s freshly restored 2-8-2 Mikado locomotive No. 16 delighted admirers over the weekend by pulling a full schedule of eight passenger trains and two photo freights for the road’s annual Winter Spectacular. All trains were sold out. The event was a landmark in several ways. First, No. 16 […]
Pacific on a Soo Line local
Soo Line 4-6-2 2718 is at Sussex, Wis., with Minneapolis–Chicago local train No. 2 in a view from the late 1940s or early ’50s. Classic Trains coll. […]
Santa Maria Valley No. 205 at Work
Newly restored Santa Maria Valley 2-6-2 number 205 is under steam at the Albany and Eastern Railroad shops as the crew readies the locomotive for a photo charter the following day. We’ll follow the 205 as she is pressed into revenue freight service for a day, March 17, 2022. The Albany and Eastern operates 64 […]
N&W Y6 eastbound
One of Norfolk & Western’s powerful homebuilt Y6-class 2-8-8-2 Mallets drifts downgrade along the New River with eastbound freight at Narrows, Va., in mid-1954, when the N&W was still unsullied by diesels. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
Brass engine disassembly basics
Brass engine disassembly basics: When I was a kid, I’d go to the local hobby shop and drool over the brass steam locomotives in the glass display case near the cash register. I’d seen most of them in the Pacific Fast Mail advertisements that used to grace the back cover of Model Railroader, and here […]
Western Maryland locomotive 1309 is a steam standout
Name: Western Maryland locomotive 1309 Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works Wheel arrangement: 2-6-6-2 Mallet (Articulated) Build date: November 1949 Why it’s important: The 1309 is one of the largest regularly operating steam locomotives in the United States. The big 2-6-6-2 originally belonged to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, where it was one of 10 class H-6 compound articulated […]
Silvis update: UP passenger cars being repaired
SILVIS, Ill. – Railroading Heritage of Midwest America reports it is making significant progress on repairs to former Union Pacific passenger rolling stock at its Silvis, Ill., shop complex. In an email to donors, RRHMA President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg said in the coming weeks former Southern Pacific business car Stanford will be sandblasted […]
Pacific with Santa Fe mail and express
A mail-and-express train running as the second section of Santa Fe train 20 descends Edelstein Hill west of Chillicothe, Ill., around 1950. Six express reefers trail the locomotive, followed by several baggage express cars. The locomotive, Pacific No. 3434, has its smokestack extension raised. T. H. Cole Jr. photo […]
Fire-fighting 4-6-0
Southern Pacific 4-6-0 No. 2248, built in 1896, remained active into the 1950s providing motive power and pumping capacity for a fire train in the Sierra Nevada. Since the early 1990s, No. 2248 has been in tourist service around Fort Worth. SP photo […]