Room Service? Can you send up a 6300?

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A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter In modern-day Toronto, Ontario, I’m told the Skydome Hotel occupies what was once the site of Canadian National Railway’s Spadina Avenue engine terminal. Back on September 4, 1958, I spent part of a warm, late-summer night at Spadina, lugging cameras and a tripod and […]

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Virginia & Truckee

Virginia & Truckee

V&T 11 and 27 with a railfan special on the 2 percent grade at Moundhouse, Nev., June 5, 1938. T.G. Wurm V&T 11 and 27 run light into Virginia City to turn on the turntable after pulling a railfan excursion from Carson City to Gold Hill on June 5, 1938. T.G. Wurm Last train from […]

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McKinney Avenue Trolley’s fleet

In Historic Trains Today, we bring you “Unburied Treasure,” the story about the McKinney Avenue Trolley Authority in Dallas. In 2010, MATA has six streetcars cars listed as in service, two undergoing restoration, and five more awaiting work. Learn more about these trolleys below. McKinney Avenue trolley No. 122 Rosie, Dallas. Ken Fitzgerald 122: RosieThe […]

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Web exclusive: St. Kitts Scenic Railway

August 2010 web exclusive first page

Click the image to download a PDF of this article as it would appear in TRAINS magazine. Mouse over photos in the PDF for bonus information and click hyperlinks to go to websites. While on a Caribbean cruise a few winters ago, my wife and I discovered a remarkable tourist railroad that operates on 18 […]

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Not what it appears to be

Two Norfolk Southern six-axle GEs haul BNSF office cars south on the former Southern Railway main line at Spencer, N.C. in October 1999. The train was on an inspection tour for TTX, the freight car company. Jim Wrinn photo […]

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By train to Cedar Point

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A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter The pride of Sandusky, Ohio, is the huge Cedar Point Amusement Park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie north of downtown. The pride of Cedar Point, at least for railfans, is its 2-foot-gauge steam-powered railroad. On June 26, 1966, Cedar Point was a […]

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Threading through Ragan Interlocking

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train No. 9243 threads through Ragan Interlocking in Newport, Del., on its way south to Newark passenger station. Norfolk Southern train H5G with 17 empty autoracks bound for Chrysler Yard waits in the siding on Sept. 14, 2009. Michael S. Murray photo […]

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Diesel locomotive delight

In Historic Trains Today, David Lustig tells of seven cool diesels you can visit in museums today. Here are four more examples of neat historic locomotives you can see, and in some cases, ride behind. Wisconsin Central GP30 No. 713 rests between assignments at Waukesha, Wis., on May 3, 1989. The ex-Soo Line unit rides […]

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Empty Amtrak roomettes go begging

Denver Union Station

An Amtrak conductor in Denver Union Station checks in passengers heading east on the California Zephyr, Sept. 2, 2008. Bob Johnston Many Amtrak conductors and sleeping car attendants are eager to help Amtrak maximize revenue by letting coach passengers know when their train has unsold roomettes and bedrooms available. As Trains’ July 2010 Passenger column, […]

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North Platte: The rise of a railroad town

Union Pacific depot, North Platte, Neb.

Soldiers and citizens pose in front of the Union Pacific depot in North Platte, Neb., on April 27, 1898. Union Pacific Museum Before there was a burning man festival, North Platte threw the biggest party in the West, when Union Pacific tracklayers made a winter camp with miners, traders, Mormon emigrants, and stagecoach drivers in […]

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Humping cars in Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard

Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., was named world’s largest rail yard by Guinness. The yard’s 2,850 acres includes two separate hump yards (eastbound and westbound) where freight cars are sorted and combined into new trains. From the top of the West Hump tower, watch cars move toward the crest of the hump, […]

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