The New Berlin & Winfield was a 3-foot-gauge short line in central Pennsylvania extending from Winfield on the west shore of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to New Berlin. It opened in 1905, quite late for a narrow-gauge common carrier. NB&W 2-6-0 No. 2, photographed at New Berlin around 1910, went to Argent […]
Train Topic: Narrow Gauge & Industrial
Illinois grain elevator acquires ex-C&NW GP50
DEWEY, Ill. — Premier Cooperative in Dewey, in east central Illinois, has purchased a former D&I Railway GP50 to serve its large grain elevator. GP50 No. 2512 was built for the Chicago & North Western as its No. 5054 in May 1980, spending most of its early life speeding “Falcon Service” piggyback trains between Chicago […]
Ukraine war leads to coal shortage for British heritage steam
Several of the largest steam heritage railways in Britain have announced reduced schedules or postponed special events involving multiple locomotives. The reason: a shortage of suitable coal because of transport or supply problems following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Britain once boasted the world’s largest coal export ports. Railways around the world relied on coal […]
Durango & Silverton settles lawsuits stemming from 2018 wildfire (updated)
DENVER — The Durango & Silverton has agreed to pay $20 million and adopt fire mitigation plans in a proposed settlement to a lawsuit over its role in a massive 2018 Colorado wildfire. The money will settle a suit filed in 2019 by the federal government, which claimed cinders from one of the railroad’s locomotives […]
Illinois grain facility acquires rare SD18M
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Grain terminal operator AgRail LLC is moving to replace its current locomotive with a rare six-axle EMD unit. Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 has arrived on the property of Bloomington-based AgRail to replace GP7 No. 35, a former Guilford/Springfield Terminal unit. The six-axle, low-nose unit began its life with Minnesota’s Reserve […]
East Broad Top’s Mount Union Yard
Railfans mill around the East Broad Top’s dual-gauge yard at Mount Union, Pa., as Mikado No. 14 waits with their excursion train in the 1950s. The “Timber Transfer” overhead crane was used to lift standard-gauge cars so their trucks could be changed for passage over the EBT. Charles Small photo […]
East Broad Top sells out Winter Spectacular
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The East Broad Top Foundation posted a sold-out Winter Spectacular celebration Feb. 18-19, with 10 internal-combustion-powered trips over its restored main line between Rockhill Furnace and Colgate Grove and tours of the roundhouse and station archives. This year’s winter event built on the success of the Foundation’s first Winter Spectacular in […]
Cumbres & Toltec’s 2021 was good by most measures, and 2022 is shaping up nicely
CHAMA, N.M. — After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns of 2020 and 2021, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad ridership rebounded to within 11% of 2019 ridership, railroad President Scott Gibbs tells Trains News Wire. With most restrictions lifted by July 1, 2021, the railroad carried 37,735 riders for the year versus 42,451 in 2019, Gibbs […]
Narrow gauge electric line
The 3-foot-gauge Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn was built in 1875 and in 1928 electrified its double-track line along the shore north of Boston. Business was brisk at first, as attested by this scene at Crescent Beach, Mass. Nevertheless, the BRB&L was abandoned in 1940. General Electric photo […]
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic commission votes to restore Rio Grande K-37
CHAMA, N.M. — We may yet see a Rio Grande K-37 climb Cumbres Pass once more. On Saturday, the two-state commission that oversees the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad voted to restore a Rio Grande K-37 2-8-2, returning that model to the 64-mile narrow gauge railroad for the first time since 2002 when No. 497 […]
Maine narrow-gauge passenger cars
Passenger cars of the moribund Bridgton & Harrison languish in the 2-foot-gauge line’s yard at Bridgton, Maine, in 1940. B&H was abandoned the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
Minnesota’s Northshore Mining to be idled
CLEVELAND — Mining and steelmaking firm Cleveland-Cliffs will at least temporarily idle its Northshore Mining operation in Minnesota, which includes a 47-mile railroad connecting its mine in Babbitt to a processing plant at Silver Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The Duluth News-Tribune reports the move — announced by company CEO Lourenco Goncalves […]