NORTH JUDSON, Ind. — An operable steam locomotive has arrived at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, moving the museum closer to offering steam excursions for the first time in more than a decade. Bock Lumber Co. No. 1, an 0-4-4T Forney-type locomotive build by Baldwin in 1908, arrived at the museum on Monday. The museum […]
Train Topic: History
Kentucky Steam Heritage operates first excursion trains
RAVENNA, Ky. — Train operations are now underway at the Kentucky-based nonprofit where steam locomotive C&O 2716 is being restored, and officials there are looking forward to larger-scale operations in the near future. On Saturday, Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. hosted train excursions for the first time in its six-year history to help celebrate the Ravenna […]
The aftermath: Sept. 13, 2001, at Chicago Union Station
CHICAGO — Travelers all over the U.S. had been stranded for two days after the September 11 attacks, when all air traffic was abruptly grounded. Many Amtrak trains had also been stopped that day as a precaution. While people who had been on the road assumed flights might soon resume, continuing security concerns and the […]
Crash at Crush killed 3 in 1896 Texas publicity stunt
Crash at Crush history “Crash at Crush” turns up thousands of Google search results. Many of these point to the fateful publicity stunt that killed three people and injured more in 1896. What was William Crush thinking the day he thought up a staged train wreck in Texas? Here was a quiet man who went […]
Pullman cars return to their birthplace for weekend open house
CHICAGO — A heavyweight business car and two lightweight sleepers will return to their birthplace as part of this weekend’s grand opening of the Pullman National Monument Visitor Center on Chicago’s South Side. The cars, built by Pullman or Pullman-Standard between 1928 and 1955, will be available for tours Saturday and Sunday at Metra’s 111th […]
Faces of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s K4s steam locomotive
The recent announcement of a fresh start in the long effort to restore the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum’s class K4s steam locomotive No. 1361 is great news for Pennsylvania Railroad fans. More than any other locomotive, the K4 was the face of the steam-era PRR. For 40 years, the Pacific types could be found […]
Preview: Pullman National Monument Visitor Center opens
CHICAGO — Mirroring a song from the hit musical “Hamilton,” the formal opening of the Pullman National Monument Visitors Center on Chicago’s South Side will give participants a sense of “the room where it happened.” The “room,” in this case, is the long-shuttered Clock Tower Administration Building and grounds that were the birthplace of assembly-line […]
New Haven Railroad history
History of the New Haven Railroad New Haven Railroad history reveals that the New York, New Haven & Hartford was a railroad of many different faces, depending on which part you saw. The double-track Shore Line between New Haven and Boston was home to famous trains such as the Merchants Limited and Yankee Clipper, hauled […]
Reading & Northern special highlights rare mileage, labor history
GIRARDVILLE, Pa. — Passengers got a rare look at the normally freight-only Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch of the Reading & Northern Railroad Monday, Aug. 23, as well as a short course in 19th century Reading Railroad/mining labor history. One hundred twenty riders climbed aboard two Budd Co. Rail Diesel Cars at R&N’s Outer Station in […]
East Broad Top group acquires 1934 standard-gauge PRR boxcar
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – The East Broad Top Railroad reached one of its preservation goals Thursday, Aug. 19, with the arrival of a period standard-gauge, 40-foot steel boxcar to illustrate how the historic common-carrier narrow gauge line once hauled larger cars on interchange trucks. Loaded on a flatbed trailer on Wednesday at the Kiski Junction […]
Western Pacific Railroad: Locomotives
All through August 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and splendor that was the Western Pacific Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of locomotives selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Trains.com! […]
Beebe and Morgan on Al Perlman and the ’20th Century Limited’
Lucius Beebe-David Morgan correspondence project Between 1961 and 1966, prolific railroad book author Lucius Beebe and Trains editor David P. Morgan exchanged a flurry of letters, telegrams, and postcards, up to the week before Beebe’s death on February 4, 1966. The contents of this volume of correspondence regarded many things, including the art of book […]