A southbound Norfolk Southern freight takes the clear signal at South Leesburg, Ind., on May 16, 2011. The former New York Central branch line was upgraded with Pennsylvania-style position light signals recycled from other routes during Penn Central ownership. Photo by Bob Jordan […]
Norfolk Southern’s Norfolk & Western-painted heritage unit leads northbound train No. 124 through South Fork, Ky., and into the Green River valley on May 31, 2016. Photo by Jeff Wagoner […]
Join Trains for a trackside look at Sept. 2015 steam and diesel excursions the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum orchestrated out of Chattanooga, Tenn. Only from Trains! […]
Seventy-five years ago on Nov. 25, 1939, Electro-Motive Corp.’s FT demonstrator diesel locomotive No. 103 left its birthplace at the company’s La Grange, Ill., plant. Nobody, not even its builders, knew what the new creation could do. True, the 17-year-old Electro-Motive had been a pioneer in diesel propulsion for railroad use, having built a successful […]
Boston Surface Railroad Co.’s chartered Providence & Worcester passenger train pauses at Woonsocket, R.I., July 30, 2016. Scott A. Hartley WORCESTER, Mass. — Commuter trains could be running between Woonsocket and Providence, R.I., by late 2017, if all goes according to Vincent J. Bono’s plans. Bono is Boston Surface Railroad Co.’s CEO. He founded the […]
On West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad, engine crews with three Shay locomotives signal each other with whistles for moves and stops. Steve Sweeney Q In the days of steam, when railroaders didn’t have radios or other one-to-one communication, how did the engineer on the lead locomotive communicate to the engineers in the “helper” locomotives as […]
BIG STONE GAP, Va. — Within a year of mothballing a section of its former Clinchfield line between Frisco, Tenn., and McClure, Va., CSX Transportation has witnessed a notable upswing in coal traffic over the past two weeks. Newly-formed Contura Energy LLC is now leading the way to increased rail traffic out of southwestern Virginia. […]
Trains Presents takes you to the marvelous Montana Rail Link in its latest installment! Check out the heavy mainline action, see the railroad’s all-EMD roster, enjoy run-through trains from BNSF Railway, and find out just what is a “Gas Local!” And be sure to check out the Trains‘ Montana Rail Link photo diesel roster and […]
Henry M. Flagler’s personal business car on the Florida East Coast, No. 90, is now up for sale. Ozark Mountain Railcar website NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — If you want to live like a railroad tycoon, at least a little, you’d be hard pressed to do any better than own the private railroad car of one of […]
AMARILLO, Texas — City officials in Amarillo have voted to sell one of the city’s largest museum pieces — an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2-10-4 steamer. The city has owned the locomotive, known as the Madam Queen, since shortly after the railroad retired the engine in the 1950s. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, city […]
Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited pulls into downtown Chicago on Monday, July 25, with two Amfleet II diner-lounge cars in the consist. Recently discovered structural problems forced Amtrak to remove heritage diners, ones built in the 1940s and 1950s, and reassign structurally OK diners from certain trains, including the Lake Shore. Bob Johnston CHICAGO — Amtrak […]
As part of America’s bicentennial celebration, the American Freedom Train spent 21 months touring the country, displaying 500 artifacts of the nation’s history — ranging from George Washington’s copy of the Constitution to a moon rock — to more than 7 million visitors in 48 states. That journey, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016, was […]
