2022 steam locomotive list

Small steam locomotive with freight car in high-plains scenery

Here’s our 2022 steam locomotive list. As 2021 may be the best so far in the 21st century to be a steam locomotive enthusiast, 2022 is looking good too! A Big Boy is running on Union Pacific’s main lines, the last Baldwin steam locomotive built is flexing its articulated muscles on a mountain railroad, and […]

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Trains Magazine, Western Maryland Scenic announce 1309 event

Large steam locomotive, shining after restoration

CUMBERLAND, Md. — Trains Magazine and Western Maryland Scenic Railroad are pleased to announce the first enthusiast event to celebrate return of newly restored 2-6-6-2 No. 1309, to be held Feb. 25-27, 2022. The three-day event will be limited to 100 participants and will include a night run on the legendary Western Maryland Railway main […]

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Reefer block

Steam locomotive with freight train

Reefer block 4-8-2 2605, a product of IC’s own Paducah (Ky.) shops, leads a long string of refrigerator cars north on the main line at Peotone, Ill., in the 1940s. Illinois Central photo […]

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Western Maryland Scenic 1309 receives FRA approval

steam locomotive outside shop

RIDGELEY, W.Va. — The Federal Railroad Administration Thursday approved Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 for service, officials of the Cumberland, Md.-based tourist railroad tell Trains News Wire. The last Baldwin built for domestic service in 1949 immediately becomes the world’s largest operating Mallet on a 17-mile mountain railroad that was once the Western […]

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Handsome Hudson

Streamlined steam locomotive with passenger train at speed

Handsome Hudson For a few years in the late 1930s, the steam queens of New Haven’s Shore Line were 10 class I-5 4-6-4s. The handsome Hudsons’ wheel-balance woes prompted NH to begin acquiring a fleet of 60 DL109 diesels in 1941. Here, an I-5 roars west with the Merchants Limited at Sharon, Mass. Wayne Brumbaugh […]

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Milwaukee Road freight trains photo gallery

Streamlined electric locomotive leads freight train with four diesels through mountain valley in snow

All through November, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the multi-faceted Milwaukee Road. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Milwaukee Road freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. In its history, the Milwaukee Road operated freight service from as far as Louisville, Ky., west to Tacoma, Wash., and Portland, […]

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Nashville Steam Issues End of Year Matching Grant Challenge

Steam locomotive rounds curve

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – As the restoration of Nashville’s iconic steam locomotive nears its halfway point, Nashville Steam Preservation Society has issued a matching grant challenge to raise $100,000 by the end of 2021. Thanks to a generous opportunity from The Candelaria Fund and The Wick Moorman Charitable Foundation, all donations, and gifts over $500 will […]

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Feather River freight haulers

Feather River freight haulers Western Pacific’s original road freight locomotives were 65 Consolidations; 20 came from Baldwin in 1906, followed by 45 from Alco’s Schenectady plant in 1909. Engine 63 was still on the job at Oakland in 1952. Western Pacific photo […]

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