DETROIT — Google is joining Ford Motor Co.’s effort to transform the landmark Michigan Central Station into a hub of technology and innovation. The news site mlive.com reports Google will be a “founding member” of the Michigan Central Innovation District, a 30-acre campus being developed by Ford at the long-neglected station. “This is not going […]
Train Topic: History
East Broad Top announces Winter Spectacular schedule
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The EBT Foundation has released the list of activities for its East Broad Top Railroad Winter Spectacular, to be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19. This is the second Spectacular to be held since the Foundation acquired the historic narrow gauge railroad, a National Historic Landmark, in 2020. Last year’s event […]
‘Cardinal’ conductor L.L. Claytor reflects on five decades of railroading
Second of two parts Two veteran Amtrak employees retired last year after lengthy tours of duty on the New York-Washington-Indianapolis Chicago Cardinal, and a regular on the train reached out to suggest their stories were worth telling. Previously, we spent time with sleeping-car attendant Janice Adams [see “Two ‘Cardinal’ veterans look back …,” Trains.com, Jan. […]
Group forms to save Bakersfield, Calif., station
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A group has formed to try to save a 133-year-old former Southern Pacific railroad station in Bakersfield, and is asking the public’s help in convincing the city to extend a lease on the structure while it mounts its preservation efforts. The Bakersfield Californian reports the Save the Sumner Station Working Group […]
Toronto museum offers online talk on film ‘Iron Road’
TORONTO — The Toronto Railway Museum will host an online lecture “Trains in the Movies: Behind the Scenes of ‘Iron Road’” on Feb. 17. Producer Anne Tait will be the featured speaker for the event, set for 7-8:30 p.m. EST, on the movie Iron Road, described as “the building of the Canadian Pacific’s transcontinental route, […]
Civil trial against Durango & Silverton is delayed
DURANGO, Colo. — A trial in which more than 30 property owners and businesses are seeking damages from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad over a 2018 wildfire has been delayed, the Durango Herald reports. The civil lawsuit was delayed by 6th Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson to Aug. 29 because of ongoing negotiations […]
Legislator seeks state status for Virginia Museum of Transportation
ROANOKE, Va. — A state legislator is seeking to gain status as a state agency for the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which would make the Roanoke attraction eligible for state funding. The website Cardinal News reports the museum is already recognized as the commonwealth’s official transportation museum, but that distinction carries no legal status that […]
Two ‘Cardinal’ veterans look back at rewarding careers
First of two parts. For decades, two Amtrak employees developed mutual respect for their work ethic among regular or occasional passengers, fellow employees, and each other. Janice Adams joined Amtrak as a train attendant in 1984. Leonard Claytor started with the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1969 and was promoted to a conductor in 1975 when […]
NS, museum team up to save Southern Railway Kentucky storehouse
LUDLOW, Ky. – Norfolk Southern and the Ludlow Heritage Museum have signed a lease agreement to preserve the NS-owned former Southern Railway Ludlow Yard Store House building, the last remaining original structure in Ludlow used by the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway, which was leased to Southern in 1894. The agreement allows museum […]
Friends of the 261/Railroading Heritage of Midwest America to expand to Silvis shop complex
SILVIS, Ill. — In one of the largest expansions in railroad preservation in recent decades, Minneapolis-based Railroading Heritage of Midwest America/The Friends of the 261 will expand operations into the former National Railway Equipment (NRE) shop complex in the Quad Cities community of Silvis. The 90-acre facility was once the main shop of the Chicago, […]
Reading museum receives $100,000 state grant
HAMBURG, Pa. — The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum has received a $100,000 state grant to be used for outdoor upgrades at the facility, the Reading Eagle reports. The funds will be used to buy ties for the construction of tracks into the museum’s recently completed railcar protection building; materials for construction of a small replica […]
Norfolk & Western Railway history remembered
Norfolk & Western Railway history has two distinct phases. Before 1964, it was a coal hauler controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It even looked like the Pennsy in places: Tuscan Red coaches, position-light signals, and a short electrified district — but no Belpaire fireboxes. In 1964, possibly as a reaction to the proposed merger of […]