Report: New River Train coming back this fall NEWSWIRE

HUNTINGTON, W.V. – U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. D-W.Va., says the legendary New River Train is coming back. On Wednesday, Manchin tweeted “I’ve been working nonstop with @Amtrak to preserve #WV’s proud railroading history by keeping the annual New River Train running, and that’s why I’m glad a deal is in place to continue this proud […]

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Timeworn combine, tiny Pacific

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On Tennessee’s Smoky Mountain Railroad, a ramshackle old combine is pushed by 4-6-2 No. 110 on May 26, 1952. Outshopped by Baldwin in 1911 for another Tennessee short line, the Little River Railroad, No. 110 was the smallest standard gauge Pacific built for U.S. service. Edward Theisinger photo […]

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Challengers on Helmstetter’s Curve

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Western Maryland 4-6-6-4s up front and at mid-train lift a freight upgrade around Helmstetter’s Curve in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Today, Western Maryland Scenic Railway tourist trains still traverse this landmark a few miles west of Cumberland, Md. George C. Corey photo […]

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What’s in a photograph?: Norfolk & Western at Blue Ridge, Va.

View from the cab of a Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive on an eastbound freight in 1953 at Blue Ridge, West Virginia. The photograph is black and white with 12 numbered callouts.

1 Split-point derail device. Considered more effective than a lifting-block derail when there is extra risk of cars rolling out onto the main line from a “house track” or “back track” (terms for station trackage other than a passing siding), or from an industry track, especially when there is a descending grade toward the switch, […]

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West Virginia’s New River Train won’t run in 2019 NEWSWIRE

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The westbound New River Train with there Amtrak P42DCs and a 30-car passenger car consist rolls along its namesake river on its journey to Huntington, W.Va., from Hinton, W.Va., on Oct. 29 2017. Chase Gunnoe HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — After 52 years of operating mainline passenger excursions between the West Virginia cities of Huntington and Hinton, […]

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No support group

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While not technically perfect, this photo of L&N C628s under the sanding gantry at Corbin, Ky., remains a treasured link to an earlier time. Ron Flanary As a young railfan growing up in central Appalachia in the late 1950s and early ’60s, my only link to fellow enthusiasts was through the pulp pages of Railroad magazine, or the […]

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Pittsburg & Shawmut coal train

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Three yellow-and-red SW9s move a cut of hopper cars out of the coal-cleaning plant at Ringgold, Pa. in the mid-1950s. P&S, a 100-mile line between Freeport and Brockway, Pa., dieselized in 1953 with nine SW9s. Richard J. Cook photo […]

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