In position for a shot of Pennsylvania Railroad J1 2-10-4 No. 6427 climbing Horseshoe Curve with empty hopper cars in September 1955, photographer Phil Hastings had to settle for this view when a mixed freight overtook the Texas type on the outside track. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Realistic operations on a raised railroad
Realistic operations on a raised railroad: In my first garden railroad, (see Garden Railways May-June 1990), The Great Lakes and Gazebo Railroad, the objective was to add interest to my garden, have fun around the pool, and engage my kids in a new way to play with Dad. My new chapter had to include a […]
More fiction books about railroading and locomotive topics
Fiction books about railroading and locomotive topics The Necropolis Railway (A Jim Stringer mystery) By Andrew Martin Genre: Mystery/crime novel First published: 2002 It’s November 14, 1903, and young Jim Springer is traveling to London to start a job on the London & South Western Railway. He’s put to work cleaning engines No. […]
Rock Island’s ‘Golden State Limited’
Mountain type 4040 rolls the Rock Island’s Golden State Limited, bound for Los Angeles via Tucumcari, N.Mex., where the Southern Pacific takes over, near Annawan, Ill. Classic Trains coll. […]
The first Hudson comes to life
Brand-new New York Central J-1a 5200 — the first of the road’s famous fleet of Hudsons, and the first example of the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in North America — steams through a ceremonial banner at Alco’s Schenectady plant on February 14, 1927. NYC photo […]
Monticello museum hosts Railroad Days event (with video)
MONTICELLO, Ill. — The Monticello Railway Museum hosted its annual Railroad Days event Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18, 2022, drawing hundreds of people to the museum in central Illinois. The event featured Southern Railway Consolidation No. 401 pulling a coach passenger train; Wabash F7 No. 1189 pulling a three-car train; a caboose hop powered by […]
Mt. Rainier Scenic to return in 2024 or 2025, museum official says
ELBE, Wash. — The Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad and Museum, shut down by owner American Heritage Railways in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume operation in 2024 or 2025, according to the executive director of the Western Forest Industries Museum. The Centralia Chronicle reports Forest Industries Museum Executive Director Bethan Maher […]
Profile in speed
The rakish front end of a Milwaukee Road F7 4-6-4 hints at the locomotive’s famous potential for speed. MILW photo […]
A Big Boy adventure photo gallery
“Been there. Done that.” In no way does this saying apply to standing trackside as Union Pacific No. 4014 — Big Boy — rumbles by. Every trip taken by the world’s largest operating steam locomotive is a new adventure. Here is a spectacle that doesn’t get old. It’s time for a Big Boy adventure. Although […]
Canadian Pacific donates turntable to Railroading Heritage of Midwest America
SILVIS, Ill. — Canadian Pacific has donated the former Milwaukee Road twin-span turntable from Bensenville, Ill., to Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA) for use at its Silvis shop complex. On Sept. 8, the turntable, constructed in 1937, was successfully split in two and loaded onto trucks for the move across Illinois to Silvis. Project […]
Storm damage leads to weekend cancellations for Western Maryland Scenic
CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad excursions have been cancelled through Sept. 11 because of track damage caused by recent heavy rains, the Cumberland Times-News reports. Damage was confined to about 250 feet of track near the railroad’s shop and yard in Ridgeley, W.Va., on the West Virginia side of the North Branch Potomac […]
Kentucky Steam acquires tubes, flues for No. 2716 restoration from Indiana museum
IRVINE, Ky. — The Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. will purchase a full set of boiler tubes and flues from the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Ind., for Kentucky Steam’s restoration of C&O 2-8-4 No. 2716. The collaboration, made possible through funds from the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust, will make use of […]