PRR T1 Trust to hold open house for its new-build 4-4-4-4 frame

ALTOONA, Pa. — A series of events, including a public open house, will be held next weekend to show the progress on building a 21st-century recreation of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s T1-class 4-4-4-4 streamlined steam locomotive. The nonprofit Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust will display its 64-foot-long, 35-ton fabricated frame at the Blair County Convention […]

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CPKC adds June stop in Winnipeg to steam tour

Three-quarter shot of 4-6-4 steam locomotive with maroon trim and tender

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — CPKC has added a Winnipeg stop during the return leg of its Final Spike Steam Tour with 4-6-4 No. 2816, the railroad announced late Monday. The railroad said in a Facebook post that the locomotive would make a “special stop” in Winnipeg on June 30. The engine will be on display at […]

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CP 2816 begins Final Spike tour

Steam locomotive surrounded by people

CALGARY, Alberta — After its first public display on Wednesday, Canadian Pacific No. 2816 begins the CPKC “Final Spike Steam Tour” today, traveling from Calgary to Medicine Hat, Alta., on the first leg of a two-day trip to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where its next display event is scheduled. The first U.S. display date is April […]

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Last chance to ride VIA’s Budd RDCs

Under overcast skies a silver and blue two car passenger train reverses past a red brick depot

The days of the five serviceable Budd RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars) remaining on VIA Rail Canada’s roster may be numbered. As Siemens Venture equipment displaces the stainless and LRC coaches (and F40s and P42 locomotives) on the Windsor-Quebec City corridor, the aging RDC fleet assigned to train Nos. 185 and 186 between Sudbury and White […]

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Sold-out Reading & Northern special covers rare mileage

Three RDCs exit tunnel

MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. — For the first time in decades, a passenger train Saturday (April 20, 2024) covered the full length of Reading & Northern Railroad’s Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch, carrying 194 riders aboard a trio of Budd Co. Rail Diesel Cars. Sponsored by the affiliated Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society […]

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CPKC releases travel schedule for tour by No. 2816

Schedule for tour by CPR steam locomotive 2816, from April 24 in Calgary to May 28 in Laredo, Texas

CALGARY — CPKC has filled in many of the blanks on the upcoming Last Spike Steam Tour, releasing a schedule with travel days and intermediate stops for the Canadian and U.S. portions of the three-nation tour of 4-6-4 No. 2816, shown above. Locations and times for the “Event” days on the schedule were released last […]

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Great Railfan Roads | U.S. Route 30 in Nebraska

The Union Pacific main through Nebraska is one of the best train-watching spots in America, with a plethora of trains operating over double track and sometimes triple track mainline.  U.S. Route 30 closely parallels the railroad, making this stretch of the Union Pacific a great place to see trains.  Let’s follow the route from Cheyenne, […]

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Railfan Road: Nebraska’s U.S. Route 30

A train rolls by a sunset sky

Nebraska’s U.S. Route 30 LOCATION: Trains Columnist Don Phillips prescribed driving Nebraska’s U.S. Route 30 along the Union Pacific main line as an antidote for the 1970s railroad blues (“Solace on Highway 30,” October 1978). For all that has changed in 45 years, the railroad is still Union Pacific and it always puts on a […]

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East Broad Top 2-8-2 No. 16 out of service through summer

ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – East Broad Top Railroad 2-8-2 engine No. 16 is out of service until the end of August due to a cracked driving-wheel center, the railroad announced today (Thursday, April 11). In its place, the narrow gauge EBT will substitute its General Electric 55-ton center-cab diesel switcher M-7, the same unit that […]

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When Ringling Bros. rode the rails

For 146 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train criss-crossed the nation as America’s longest passenger train.  With a mile-long train of passenger cars and container flats and housing about 300 performers and crew, the circus train was a regular sight on American railroads. The Ringling Bros. shut down operations in 2017 […]

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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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