Big Boy’s ‘Westward Bound Tour’ to begin June 30

Map of planned train route between Cheyenne, Wyo., and Roseville, Calif., and return

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Evolving plans for this year’s tour by Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 now call for the locomotive to make what the railroad is calling its “Westward Bound Tour” beginning Sunday, June 30, traveling to Roseville, Calif., and returning to its home base in Cheyenne by the end of July. At this […]

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BART to offer final rides on original equipment on April 20

Black and white photo of rapid-transit equipment in underground station

OAKLAND, Calif. — Bay Area Rapid Transit, the 131-mile electrified rail network in the San Francisco Bay Area, is offering the public a last chance to ride the 1970s-era futuristic railcars that made up its original fleet. On Saturday, April 20, at 1 p.m. at the MacArthur station in Oakland, BART will commemorate the cars […]

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Durango & Silverton | Coal-fired steam finale

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has faced numerous challenges in the last few years, the results of which have attributed to the end of using coal to fire their steam locomotive fleet.  Following a major fire near the railroad, the D&S fast-tracked a program to convert their steam engines to burn oil.  A […]

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Nashville Steam adds hall of fame musician Stinson to board

Man sitting in seats in otherwise empty theater

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A preservation project in the community known as “Music City” has added some appropriate individuals to its board of directors. The Nashville Steam Preservation Society, the non-profit organization working to restore Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 No. 576, announced last week that it had added Harry Stinson and Jeff Syracuse to […]

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CPKC announces times, locations for Steam Tour stops

Steam locomotive with short passenger train in low angle sunlight.

CALGARY, Alberta — CPKC has released a more detailed schedule of dates, display times, and locations for its Final Spike Steam Tour, the three-nation trip featuring CP 4-6-4 No. 2816 to mark the first year of the merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern. The trip begins April 24 in Calgary with a display […]

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Contemplating the King: Bessemer & Lake Erie No. 643

Disassembled steam locomotive inside shop building

If there’s one thing you could never accuse the late Jerry Joe Jacobson of, it was thinking small. At every turn in his remarkable career as a railroader and preservationist, he went big. Really big. When he got started in the shortline business 40 years ago, he began with a modest 35-mile former New York […]

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