George Hamlin’s top 10 hot spots

Two Amtrak ‘Acela Express’ trains meet on the massive bridge at Perryville, Md., in January 2015. Four photos, George W. Hamlin I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively during my almost 60 years of rail photography, and to have been able to see and photograph railroads throughout the continent. In addition, I’ve lived in […]

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UP 844 has a date with Memphis on Oct. 22 NEWSWIRE

Union Pacific 4-8-4 Northern-type No. 844 pictured at LaSalle, Colo., in 2009. The famed locomotive is set to arrive in Memphis, Tenn., in steam on Oct. 22. Bruce A. Daugherty OMAHA — Union Pacific says its 4-8-4 No. 844 steam locomotive will cross the Mississippi River to Memphis, Tenn., on Oct. 22 and cross back […]

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The big picture

  A westbound Union Pacific manifest freight works its way toward Los Angeles in October 2013 in the “Blue Cut” section of California’s famed Cajon Pass. With the lead locomotives a mile away in the distance, you gain a better perspective of magnitude of the San Gabriel Mountains and the challenges railroads overcame more than […]

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MTH RailKing Pennsylvania RR 2-10-0

O gauge RailKing 2-10-0 by MTH Price: $459.95 (no: 30-1626-1) Features: O-42 operation, can-style motor, smoke unit, coil coupler on tender, ProtoSound 3.0 sound and command system, wireless drawbar Current road names: Pennsylvania RR with three road numbers The Pennsylvania RR’s answer to the challenge of always having one more mountain to climb, might well […]

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Rail historian Alvin Staufer dies NEWSWIRE

MEDINA, Ohio – Famed author, artist, and rail historian Alvin F. Staufer died Oct. 30 in Medina. He was 88. Staufer is best known for his seminal works on the steam power of the New York Central System and Pennsylvania Railroad. Trains Editor David P. Morgan was so impressed with Pennsy Power, which Staufer co-authored […]

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Railroad photography and the lasting influence of painting

FULL SCREEN Édouard Baldus/J. Paul Getty Museum Toulon Station, c. 1861. Édouard Baldus, who trained as a painter and worked as a lithographer, adopted compositional conventions of painting, such as centered motifs and balanced space surrounding the center, to his railroad photographs. FULL SCREEN Édouard Baldus/St. Louis Art Museum Approach to the Mountain Pass at […]

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S GAUGE 4-6-6-4 FROM AMERICAN FLYER BY LIONEL

This S gauge model is a major step forward for American Flyer enthusiasts. The arrival of the Union Pacific Challenger clearly affirms Lionel’s intention of marketing die-cast metal steam locomotives that are both esthetically and operationally the equal of anything in O gauge, but in 1:64 scale, of course. The Union Pacific Challenger needs no […]

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O gauge Santa Fe Vision Line 2-10-10-2 by Lionel

Okay, I’m scratching my head with this one. Years back, when I first read the story of the Santa Fe 3000-series 2-10-10-2s, I thought something like, “Why’d they do something crazy like that?” When I took this Lionel model out of the box, as Yogi Berra said, “It was deja vu all over again.” The […]

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Don Williams’ O and S gauge layout

Tourists motor to Horseshoe Curve to watch the cavalcade of trains. When Don was young, the headliners were aluminum cars on the Pennsy’s Broadway Limited. Don and Karen Williams share their layout with visitors, including grandsons Jacob and Zachary. Iron horses in the Korber roundhouse watch a 3rd Rail Pennsy Atlantic 4-4-2 steam locomotive take […]

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Cal-State Railroad Museum O and Standard gauge layout

What’s that? This is the summer when you visit every NASCAR track and Elvis memorial in Dixie? Forget it. Your passports are ready so you can take the kids to Six Flags over Cambodia? Put ’em away. There’s a family reunion in Wisconsin and you promised to bring the cheese curds and bratwurst? Let the […]

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