Visit the Polar Express Railway

O gauge Polar Express train set

Name:    Kevin Grant Railroad Name:    “Polar Express Railway” Location:    Louisiana Scale:    O/1:48 Gauge Theme:    Polar Express Description:    Video of my old 8×8 O gauge 1:48 layout I had in a small section of my home. Most of the building are Department 56 and Lemax with a few kit built buildings I’ve constructed over the years. […]

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2017 Trains Photo Contest

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Grand Prize winner: A reflection of a BNSF Railway engine in water droplets near Old Monroe, Mo., on the BNSF K-Line. Barry Gaston This year we are publishing our 77th volume, so it seemed fitting to call the 2017 Trains Photo Contest “Lucky 7.” As always, you can interpret our theme in any way you […]

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Remembering the C&NW in Madison

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Running left-handed per C&NW practice, E-class Pacific 1634 skirts Lake Monona as she departs Madison with the evening local to Chicago. Frank Rogers Back in the days when there were enough railroad companies to make train-watching really interesting, Madison, Wis., was served by three: the Milwaukee Road, the Chicago & North Western, and the Illinois […]

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Sunshine no more

  Even the Sunshine State sees the occasional rainstorm, which has caught southbound Florida East Coast train No. 101 on Jan. 12, 2015, just north of St. Augustine. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]

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Side by side

Eastbound Providence & Worcester train NH-1 with B39-8 No. 3909 and B30-7A No. 3007 waits in the siding at Triebel interlocking at Guilford, Conn., for an eastbound Amtrak train to get by on June 15, 2009. Photo by Thomas Mik […]

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Video Review: 20th Century Limited

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20th Century Limited Kalmbach Publishing, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. 56 minutes kalmbachhobbystore.com Just under 50 years ago, a famous train ended a 65-year run as the premier conveyance linking New York and Chicago. Operated by the New York Central Railroad, the 20th Century Limited was launched in 1902 during the “the age of […]

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Blue bearing caps

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Two blue end caps for bearings made by Amsted Rail’s Brenco Inc. appear on a freight car truck at the Union Pacific’s Butler Yard in Wisconsin. Steve Sweeney Q What is the significance of the blue paint that I see on the rotating bearing caps on freight car wheelsets? – Tito Porfiri, Olney, Md. A […]

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Early Amtrak trains in color

FULL SCREEN John F. Bjorklund, Collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art In its early days, Amtrak relied solely on equipment provided by its member railroads. The passenger carrier is barely two months old in this Independence Day view from Chicago in 1971, where train No. 18, the eastbound Super Chief-El Capitan, still […]

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