Trains Photo Contest 2022: Still Soldiering On

steam train in distance coming at you with signal in foreground

Trains is happy to announce its partnership with the National Railway Historical Society for the 2022 photo contest. The NRHS is a nonprofit that promotes the interest and study of the railroad industry, a mission the Trains brand shares. The NRHS, which was established in 1935, is a perfect match for a magazine that’s been […]

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Thanksgiving in Toronto

Thanksgiving in Toronto was about to begin. Shortly before noon, two teenagers swung down from the Pacific’s cab. Just as they hit the station platform, two peeps came from the cab communication whistle. The fireman turned around, waving a good-bye, and Canadian Pacific train 326 was in motion — 11 minutes away from its final […]

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Nashville Steam to host open house for No. 576 project

Boiler of disassembled steam locomotive

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville Steam Preservation Society’s fall 2021 open house will be this Saturday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Steam locomotive No. 576, formerly on display in Nashville’s Centennial Park for more than 60 years, has been undergoing a complete mechanical overhaul at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum since March […]

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Horseshoe Curve diesel receives new paint

Freshly painted dark green locomotive with gold lettering

A repainting of the Pennsylvania Railroad GP9 diesel locomotive on display at Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark near Altoona, Pa., headlines several developments at the historic site where Norfolk Southern’s former-PRR Pittsburgh Line climbs the Allegheny Mountains. A final detail — applying yellow safety paint to the handrails — took place this week on the […]

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Dad was a closet railfan

Black-and-white photo of front end of steam locomotive emerging from enginehouse doorway

My father was a closet railfan. He didn’t hang around the tracks or take pictures of trains. On the other hand, he was always more than happy to take us kids to almost any railroad yard or station if we asked. And he never told us to stay away from the tracks, perhaps swayed by […]

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81 for 81: Celebrating Trains Magazine and a Nevada Northern 2-8-0

Steam locomotive at speed with tall plume of smoke.

ELY, Nev. — Consolidations, the everyday freight workhorse of the steam era, garner little love. They’re not sleek or refined like the rare Pacific passenger locomotive still found in service in the 21st century. They’re not as muscular as the Mikados that surpassed them with greater fireboxes, a trailing truck, and powerful muscularity in eight […]

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Cheyenne, Wyo., makes plans for rail-oriented tourist project

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Cheyenne City Council has voiced support for a rail-oriented tourist attraction that will initially include a series of historic railcars and could expand to include Union Pacific’s roundhouse and the Big Boy locomotive currently on display elsewhere in the city. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports the council last month approved a […]

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Mark Twain Zephyr mural takes shape

Mural of passenger train

HANNIBAL, Mo. — While the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad is home of the under-restoration Mark Twain Zephyr, the city of Hannibal, Mo., is getting its own version of the streamliner — a 60-foot-by-14-foot mural. For a couple of weeks, muralist Ray Harvey of surburban St. Louis has been perched on a manlift above the corner of […]

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