This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. Canadian Pacific’s transcontinental mainline across Canada traverses a wide range of terrain, from the Rocky mountains in the west, across the plains in its midsection to the Canadian Shield in the east. One of the most beautiful and inaccessible locations is […]
Section: Railfanning
Automobiles on the Rails
Originally, cars didn’t have it so good. They went in boxcars. They went on flatcars, stacked one on top of the other. Trains were important in making cars, too, and auto-parts special trains with nicknames like the *Sparkplug* began to appear. It didn’t take long to realize that something better had to come […]
BNSF/Florida East Coast and natural gas testing
This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. Natural gas as a locomotive fuel has been around for decades. Testing in the 1980s and 1990s on several railroads failed to yield the interest and scope of testing the fuel has enjoyed in the past several years. Six of the […]
Operations on the Delaware Lackawanna
This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. The northeast United States continues to be an Alco and MLW stronghold. The largest percentage of active units from these two builders call many short line railroads in this region home. Two of these railroads, Western New York & Pennsylvania […]
Ontario Southerns FP9s and plowing snow
This video was originally published by Trains as part of the Locomotive 2017 DVD. Southwest Ontario’s rolling countryside is home to vast open stretches of fertile farmland. The gently rolling topography of the area forced the original builders of the rail lines in the area to employ a cut and fill approach to right of […]
Class One Motive Power–an overview
Kansas City Southern hasn’t purchased new locomotives since 2014 as the company has had ample power for its traffic levels with coal deliveries down across its core north-south mainline south of Kansas City. The railroad continues to upgrade its existing power, converting six (confirm) GP38-2s and GP40-2s to GP32ECOs using kits supplied from EMD. KCS […]
Rolling stones: rock, stone, sand — aggregates that railroads make money hauling
At first glance, aggregates — stone, sand, and gravel — are unlikely darlings among railroad commodities. They’re low-value and they tend to move only short distances. But even though their revenue per car is low, they are nearly perfect freight: indestructible and relatively harmless if spilled. In fact, stones and sand not only make […]
Railfanning
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Trains.com Holiday Party: CN Heritage Locomotives, Episode 2
David Popp joins Trains magazine editor Jim Wrinn at a trackside hotspot in Wisconsin. That’s where they hope to lay eyes on one or more of Canadian National’s fleet of modern diesel locomotives recently repainted to salute the railroads rolled into CN control. […]
Railfanning
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Trains Presents: Geared steam locomotive show at Cass, W.Va.
Cass Scenic Railroad reopened in June 2020 with a splash of geared steam. Climax No. 9 kicked off things with a photo charter, then lead a pack of Shays for side-by-side running and a five-chime whistle to let everyone know that steam is alive and kickin’ in the Mountain State! […]
Trains Presents: East Broad Top revival
The phenomenal narrow gauge of the Northeast, the East Broad Top, is coming back. Nine years after it was closed and almost six decades since it shut down in the 1950s as a coal hauling railroad, the EBT has reopened and is on track to reopen in steam in 2021. Here’s a report from our […]