The Lego City Passenger Train Set

LEGO 60197 City Passenger Train set

The Lego City Passenger Train Set (No. 60197) might be a fantastic way for you or a youngster to get into the growing brick train hobby. I missed the whole Lego “thing” when I was a kid. Lego blocks were building toys back in the 1970s. I bought a small set for making bunkers, hard […]

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RDC expands its European locomotive fleets

Red electric locomotive with white passenger cars

Railroad Development Corp., the Pittsburgh-based company with rail operations on four continents, has added electric locomotives to its operations in both France and Germany. In Germany, subsidiary RDC Deutschland has bought two Class 101 electric locos from German national operator Deutsch Bahn and agreed to options to buy three more. The DB Class 101 is […]

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Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee remembered

Streamlined electric passenger train crossing railroad tracks at grade during Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee history

Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee history is tied to the transit needs of Chicago and Milwaukee. In 1891 the Waukegan & North Shore Rapid Transit Co. was incorporated — a trolley line for the city of Waukegan, Ill., on the shore of Lake Michigan, 36 miles north of Chicago. In 1897, by which time it […]

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Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee equipment remembered

Streamlined Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee equipment under catenary

Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee equipment set it apart from other electric interurban lines. Please enjoy this photo gallery selected from files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library.     Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have selected one Fallen Flag to honor. A Fallen Flag is a railroad whose name and heritage have succumbed […]

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Two NYC electrics are safe, await relocation to museum

Two graffiti-covered electric locomotives on platform

GLENMONT, N.Y. — Two historic New York Central electric locomotives are finally safe after a 4½-hour ballet to lift and shift them 200 feet on a Hudson River island on which they were stranded, dodging a torrent of heavy truck traffic. The Danbury (Conn.) Railway Museum announced Thursday night (Dec. 29) that Phase 1 of […]

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Locomotives we didn’t get for Christmas

A black and white photo of Soviet steam locomotive

Trains and Christmas go hand-in-hand, and many of us had some special railroad-related gifts on our wish list, but instead of a wish list, this is a list of the locomotives we didn’t get for Christmas. These models either have never been mass-produced in our preferred scale or have not been produced in a decade […]

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Top 10 stories of 2022: No. 10, alternative-power locomotives

Rear view of red and gray battery-electric locomotive

Today, we begin our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 22, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents. Up today, stories Nos. 10 and 9. The railroad industry’s search for alternatives to diesel-electric power continued to move forward in 2022, with manufacturers and railroads making inroads […]

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Metra battery locomotives included in funding bill

Illustration of Metra locomotive in green versioin of paint scheme

CHICAGO — Metra would receive $1.5 million for its planned test of battery-electric locomotives on the Rock Island District under the Omnibus Appropriations bill passed by the U.S. Senate, the state’s two senators said in a press release. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for action. The Metra funding are part of […]

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Year in review: Top international stories

Train at crowded station at night

Trains News Wire’s review of the top stories of 2022 continues. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Monday, Dec. 26. Today, we asked our European correspondent, Keith Fender, to look at what he considers the year’s top international rail stories. At […]

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Year in review: Preservation stories from coast to coast

Three-stall roundhouse building under construction

Trains News Wire continues our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t make that list. Today: Preservation. While some preservation stories did […]

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