High Iron Company’s Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 759 thunders down the Norfolk & Western main line with an excursion train at Natural Bridge, Va., in November 1968. Don Wood photo […]
NKP 759 in Virginia
Zone & Region: Appalachia
Humping at Enola Yard
A boxcar rolls though a retarder in the Pennsylvania’s vast Enola Yard near Harrisburg, Pa., in the early 1950s. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
East Broad Top’s Mount Union Yard
Railfans mill around the East Broad Top’s dual-gauge yard at Mount Union, Pa., as Mikado No. 14 waits with their excursion train in the 1950s. The “Timber Transfer” overhead crane was used to lift standard-gauge cars so their trucks could be changed for passage over the EBT. Charles Small photo […]
B&O EM-1 and Big Six
In the Potomac River narrows west of Cumberland, Md., on Baltimore & Ohio’s main line to Pittsburgh, EM-1 2-8-8-4 7613 and 2-10-2 6222 doublehead on a westbound freight in May 1952. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Last Baldwin steams again in preview of 2022 season
CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and Trains Magazine kicked off the 2022 steam season at the Cumberland, Md.-based tourist railroad with a three-day photo charter featuring former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309, the last Baldwin built for domestic service and now the world’s largest operating Mallet. Some 100 enthusiasts were on hand […]
Western Maryland thunder
WM Consolidations 840 and 816 shake the earth and blacken the sky as they restart their train at Thomas, W.Va., in May 1952. Out of view, five more 2-8-0s assist at mid-train and on the rear. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Tennessee Ten-Wheeler
Chicago, Memphis & Gulf 4-6-0 No. 2, built by Rogers in 1884, was first owned by Chesapeake & Ohio, then Illinois Central, and then, after 1906, CM&G, a 52-mile short line between Dyersburg and Hickman, Ky. The Ten-Wheeler, missing a cylinder head, is pictured at Dyersburg in 1912. C. W. Whitbeck coll. […]
New boiler will allow Buffalo Creek & Gauley No. 4 to run again
CASS, W.Va. — Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad 2-8-0 No. 4, the last steam locomotive in revenue service on the fabled West Virginia short line, will steam again, thanks to a plan to obtain a new boiler for the Consolidation. John Smith, CEO of Cass Scenic Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad operator Durbin & […]
How West Virginia’s lone Amtrak station agent was reinstated
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some may take the physical presence of a station agent for granted, especially in a world that has learned to do more with less interaction. But the story of how West Virginia regained its only agent back helps underpin the importance of humanizing the passenger railroad experience. In April 2018, before the […]
Norfolk Southern intermodal train derails in Virginia
BLUEFIELD, Va. — An estimated 30 cars of a Norfolk Southern intermodal train derailed Monday in Bluefield, leading to a response by hazmat teams. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports the derailment occurred Monday morning, and no injuries were reported. Railroad spokesman Connor Spielmaker told the newspaper that a small number of the cars were categorized […]
Remembering Norfolk & Western Railway locomotives
Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, heritage, and style of the Norfolk & Western Railway all through January 2022. So, please enjoy this photo gallery of Norfolk & Western locomotives selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Norfolk & Western locomotives served in the coal fields and later on high-speed freight […]
N&W Pacific on a local train
Norfolk & Western 4-6-2 No. 578 crosses Bull Run with Bluefield–Norton, Va., train 5 on May 27, 1952. The Pacific now resides at the Ohio Railway Museum. Edward Theisinger photo […]
