Reading & Northern No. 2102 set for September excursion

Steam locomotive blowing out steam

PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern T-1 4-8-4 No. 2102 will power a Sept. 13, 2025, steam excursion through Lehigh Gorge sponsored by the Rotary Club of Mountain Top, the railroad has announced. Tickets for the excursion from the R&N’s Penobscot (Mountain Top) station to Jim Thorpe, Pa., and return will go on sale […]

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Build an animated sawmill and storage shed

end of model sawmill with crane

It’s nice to have structures on our railways. You can often see coaling towers, sand stations, water towers, and sometimes a sawmill.  A sawmill can also be a source of additional industries, such as a lumber store for cut planks or a log storage area, featuring an overhead crane. You might add animated features to […]

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Fast-freight engines

20200423

Norfolk & Western’s top fast-freight engines were 43 class A simple articulated 2-6-6-4s. No. 1239, built in 1949 as part of the final A order, couples to time freight 84 at Roanoke. Sister 1218 would rise to fame in the 1980s under successor Norfolk Southern’s steam program. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]

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Englewood engines

20200430

The Pennsylvania Railroad liked to double-head K4s Pacifics on heavy passenger trains. Here, the second section of eastbound train 76, the Trail Blazer, leaves Englewood, Ill., in south suburban Chicago in January 1941. Paul Eilenberger, Harold Stinton collection […]

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N&W No. 1218 gains state, national historic recognition

Articulated steam locomotive rounds curve with passenger excursion train

ROANOKE, Va. — Norfolk & Western Class A locomotive No. 1218, the 2-6-6-4 built by the railroad’s East End Shops in Roanoke in 1943, will be added to the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated as a Virginia Historic Landmark. The locomotive, retired in 1959 and restored for excursion service between 1987 […]

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B&O Museum puts spotlight back on American Freedom Train 1

Red, white, and blue steam locomotive with flags in front of towering passenger station

Has any class of homebuilt, remanufactured mainline steam locomotive ever performed as brilliantly as the Reading T-1 4-8-4? Given the long lives of four from its illustrious class of 30 engines, I’d say no. I came to this conclusion during a recent visit to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, which has announced that ex-RDG […]

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High-speed steam action

20180319

Louisville & Nashville 4-8-2 No. 407 on Cincinnati–Birmingham train 7 passes 2-8-0 No. 1212 on a northbound freight on double track 10 miles south of Louisville in November 1948. C. William Streit photo […]

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Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum announces 2025 schedule

Steam locomotive on turntable

SUGARCREEK, Ohio — The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum will launch its 2025 season on Thursday, April 3, the museum has announced. The season will run through Nov. 22, with tours offered on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. Family tours begin June 6 and conclude Aug. 30. Special events, […]

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