DURANGO, Colo. – Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad on Tuesday accusing the popular Colorado tourist railroad of starting a massive wildfire last summer that burned for months and torched more than 53,000 acres. The government is seeking about $25 million from the D&SNG and its parent company, […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Pikes Peak cog steam locomotive lands … in Arizona?!? NEWSWIRE

Manitou & Pikes Peak Railroad steam locomotive No. 4 is staged on a short stretch of railroad track outside the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams, Ariz., after delivery on June 28, 2019. The smokestack, removed for transport, has yet to be reinstalled. GCRY: Eric Hadder WILLIAMS, Ariz. — In another symbiotic tie between members […]
Tickets go on sale Tuesday for Nickel Plate Road 765’s only 2019 excursions NEWSWIRE

Nickel Plate Road No. 765, seen on a Norfolk Southern excursion in 2013, returns to Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in September. PENINSULA, OHIO — Tickets go on sale Tuesday for Nickel Plate Road No. 765’s return to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and its annual Steam in the Valley event Sept. 21, 22, 27, […]
Ask Trains: How does the Big Boy distribute weight to its front drivers?

A side view of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 on a test run in May 2019. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn Q: With interest in the completion Union Pacific’s Big Boy’s restoration, how does the weight of the boiler get down to the front drivers? — Carl Amerlan, Downers Grove, Ill. A: Great question! As an […]
Ask Trains: Why was Big Boy No. 4014 picked to be restored?

Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 arrives in downtown Cheyenne, Wyo., on May 4, 2019. The locomotive was chosen for restoration for a variety of reasons. TRAINS Staff Q: I may have missed it, but why was UP 4014 picked over all other displayed Big Boys? — Tom Otoski, Dayton, Ohio A: A combination […]
Missabe Road steam returns NEWSWIRE

Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway 2-8-0 No. 332 is under steam at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s shop in Duluth on June 25, 2019. David C. Schauer DULUTH, Minn. – For the first time since 1962, a Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range steam locomotive is under steam with proper Missabe Road lettering. On June […]
Western Maryland 1309 restoration update: Cranes on the horizon NEWSWIRE

Drivers and driving boxes await installation at Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Chris Campbell 56 inch drivers are ready for installation on Western Maryland 2-6-6-2 No. 1309. Chris Campbell RIDGELEY, W.Va. — The long and twisting restoration of 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 at Western Maryland Scenic Railroad may finally be nearing a successful conclusion, punctuated with the […]
Trains Presents: Iowa Interstate QJ May 2019 trips

Iowa Interstate’s Chinese-built 2-10-2 No. 6988 is back in service again in 2019. After a lull that ended in 2018, the QJ-type is seeing service on the former Rock Island main line in Illinois and Iowa. Watch it pull excursions with a train of P70 coaches, and freight, too! […]
Trains Presents: Iowa Interstate QJ May 2019 trips

Iowa Interstate’s Chinese-built 2-10-2 No. 6988 is back in service again in 2019. After a lull that ended in 2018, the QJ-type is seeing service on the former Rock Island main line in Illinois and Iowa. Watch it pull excursions with a train of P70 coaches, and freight, too! […]
Steam at Harlem

Great Northern O-8-class 2-8-2 No. 3396 leads the first section of train No. 402 at Harlem, Mont., in August 1948. The O-8s, rebuilt from older engines, were the heaviest Mikado types ever. Frank McKinlay, N.F. Priebe collection […]
Ten-wheeling

New York Central 4-6-0 No. 1290, a July 1900 product of the Michigan Central’s St. Thomas, Ontario, shops, works west on Ontario’s St. Clair Subdivision. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Royalty in the making

On May 29, 1950, workers put the finishing touches on brand-new Norfolk & Western J Class 4-8-4 No. 611 at Roanoke, Va. It was one of four such engines outshopped in 1950 and would come to be the face of successor Norfolk Southern’s steam program in the 1980s and 1990s. Norfolk & Western photo […]