All through October, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the gritty, coal-hauling, Pennsylvania-based Reading Company railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Reading freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Reading Company, as a railroad, disappeared into Conrail more than 40 years ago. But it is still possible to […]
NEWTON, Iowa — Fifteen years have flown by for Chinese-built QJ 2-10-2 No. 6988, and it is making its last runs today and Saturday before going into storage. The locomotive is at the point where it is required to have a 15-year inspection per Federal Railroad Administration. It and sister No. 7081 were brought to […]
WHIPPANY, N.J. — A well-known artifact of 1960s and 1970s tourist railroading has been restored to its appearance from that era. Whippany Railway Museum’s 1907 Baldwin-built Southern Railway Class H4 2-8-0 No. 385 has been repainted into the green and gold scheme it wore for the Morris County Central tourist railroad 50 years ago. The […]
LONDON — British rail infrastructure owner Network Rail has appointed two specialist contractors to deliver an industry-first “pathfinder” project fitting positive train control to heritage steam and diesel locomotives. The consortium of Atkins (part of the SNC-Lavalin Group) and Thales is undertaking the work as part of Network Rail’s “East Coast Digital Programm” which will […]
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—One of the senior organizations in American railway preservation, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, is celebrating its 60th anniversary the weekends of Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 23-24. Plans include rides featuring the museum’s two operational steam engines, as well as steam- and diesel-themed night photo sessions, as the non-profit looks ahead with […]
ELY, Nev.—The Nevada Northern Railway Museum has been awarded a $10 million grant to rebuild 16 miles of railroad from Ely to McGill and install a turntable. The legendary preservation railroad is getting ready to expand train service in a big way. For years, the railroad has been eyeing a section of long-unused track to […]
Eagle River Canyon Winding through the Eagle River Canyon west of Redcliff, Colo., Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3603 helps a 4-8-4 train 2, the Scenic Limited, in 1939. Eight years later, author Hamilton passed this way on a similar train. R. H. Kindig photo […]
The world’s smallest pacific locomotive — among standard-gauge equipment — is Little River Railroad 4-6-2 No. 110. COLDWATER, Mich. — The world’s smallest standard gauge Pacific, No. 110, is alive and well at age 110. The Little River Railroad 4-6-2 is running in south Michigan, fresh from a 15-year inspection and a rebuild that included […]
CLEVELAND – Restoration of Reading T1 4-8-4 No. 2100 by the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association, a 501c3 non-profit, has reached another milestone with completion of welding work within the firebox grate area. The work included welding of 548 new side sheet flexible and rigid staybolts, the welding of the inner sheets to the mud […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – East Broad Top Railroad staff and volunteers went the extra mile – literally – to fully reopen the company’s line from here to its tourist-era (1961-2011) wye and picnic area at Colgate Grove, just in time for this past weekend’s Friends of The East Broad Top annual reunion. Since 2020, when […]
STRASBURG, Pa. — Norfolk & Western Class J locomotive No. 611 will remain at the Strasburg Rail Road this winter, undergoing an annual inspection and maintenance, following the conclusion of its operations on the Pennsylvania short line. The Virginia Museum of Transportation’s 4-8-4 had operated at Strasburg since May, wrapping up its schedule of excursions, […]
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Milwaukee Road locomotive No. 261 is back on the road after a two-year absence from mainline operation. The S-3 Class Northern 4-8-4, built in 1944 by the American Locomotive Co. at Schenectady, N.Y., was in action Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 2-3, on the Twin Cities & Western Railroad between Chanhassen and Bongards, […]
