Kitbashing a large-scale Pacific from a broken Aristo-Craft model wasn’t easy, but the result has been worth the work. My family has a history of model railroading spanning three generations. My grandfather modeled O scale as a child in the 1940s and passed that love along to my father in the 1970s, and who got […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Clinchfield on Copper Creek
Pacific 153 leads the Clinchfield Railroad’s daily passenger train from Spartanburg, S.C., to Elkhorn City, Ky., across the landmark Copper Creek Viaduct near Speers Ferry, Va., on May 28, 1952. The lower trestle carries Southern Railway’s Bristol–Appalachia, Va., line over the creek. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Destination: the cutting torch
Nine Milwaukee Road steam locomotives move east out of Marion, Iowa, on April 5, 1954, en route to an appointment with the scrappers. A 4-8-4 hauls the grim assemblage, but dieselization is around the corner. Robert Laker photo […]
Four railroad themed novels for summer reading
You might enjoy these four railroad themed novels on your summer travels. Rene Schweitzer details these four works of fiction that you may have overlooked. The Christmas Train David Baldacci Genre: Fiction First published: 2004 Journalist Tom Langdon, due to an “incident” at an airport, is banned from flying commercial airlines and takes Amtrak […]
B&O Pacific entering Howard Street Tunnel
Baltimore & Ohio’s first P-7 Pacific, No. 5300 (originally named President Washington) is about to enter Howard Street Tunnel as it departs Mount Royal Station in Baltimore with train 21, the Washingtonian, in 1952. The 4-6-2 would soon be retired to the B&O’s museum in Baltimore, where it resides today. James P. Gallagher photo […]
Big Boy West Coast tour off; Denver-Cheyenne excursion announced
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The planned Pacific Northwest tour of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is off for 2022, the railroad announced in a Thursday afternoon email to members of its Steam Club. But the locomotive will make an outing to Denver later this month to pull an excursion benefitting the Union Pacific Museum. The […]
FRA approves return to service for Minnesota 2-8-0
DULUTH, Minn. — After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 and necessary repairs, the Federal Railroad Administration has approved the return to service of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway 2-8-0 No. 332. The locomotive was fired up this week and inspected, including setting its three sets of safety valves. […]
PRR group raises $100,000 toward restoration of K4s steam engine No. 1361
ALTOONA, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society has met and exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 toward the construction of a new firebox for PRR Class K4s 4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 1361. Owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum, the engine is in the midst of a $2.6 million overhaul to restore it […]
Fort Wayne organization acquires two PRR passenger cars
NEW HAVEN, Ind. — The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has acquired two Pennsylvania Railroad passenger cars from the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The cars will be used to support the Indiana Rail Experience, a series of excursions with the society’s steam locomotive, Nickel Plate Road No. 765 [see “Indiana […]
Cumbres & Toltec sidelined by fire danger
CHAMA, N.M. — Facing high fire danger and a water emergency in the village of Chama, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has delayed the start of its 2022 season to July 1. The tourist railroad had been scheduled to open its season June 11. A message on the railroad website says the move was […]
Coal and lumber garden railroad
The Kettle Valley Railway – Bruce Division is a coal and lumber garden railroad modeled after the Kettle Valley Railway that at one time carried freight and passengers through the Thomson/Okanagan Region of British Columbia. The garden railway was started in 2004 and covers a triangular-shaped hillside on Brian Swanton’s property. The railroad features two […]
News photos: Conway Scenic 0-6-0 makes first appearances of 2022
CONWAY, N.H. — Conway Scenic Railroad’s 0-6-0 steam locomotive No. 7470, Dwight Smith, was on display under steam on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19, as part of the preparations for resuming regularly scheduled passenger moves with the locomotive later in the 2022 season. The locomotive, built by Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway at its Point Saint Charles […]