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 […]
Zone & Region: Appalachia
Was club in trouble before New River Train’s problems with Amtrak tariffs? NEWSWIRE
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia railroad club that sponsored the annual New River Train blames its financial woes on the cancellation of its annual October excursions on Amtrak, but an analysis of financial reporting shows the club may have been in trouble long before Amtrak began increasing its chartered private train rates in 2018. […]
West Virginia’s Potomac Eagle tourist line in new hands, but will there be steam? NEWSWIRE
Potomac Eagle F7 No. 722 in B&O colors leads a photo special. Chase Gunnoe ROMNEY, W.Va. — One of the East’s best-known tourist railroads has been sold to one of the nation’s top freelance steam locomotive rebuilders. But does that mean there will be steam for the first time at West Virginia’s diesel-powered Potomac Eagle? […]
Timeworn combine, tiny Pacific
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 […]
Challengers on Helmstetter’s Curve
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 […]
What’s in a photograph?: Norfolk & Western at Blue Ridge, Va.
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, […]
West Virginia’s New River Train won’t run in 2019 NEWSWIRE
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, […]
Horseshoe Curve in 1969
See color movies that Dave’s friend Dick Wallin took during their 1969 visit to Horseshoe Curve. […]
Horseshoe Curve in 1969
See color movies that Dave’s friend Dick Wallin took during their 1969 visit to Horseshoe Curve. […]
No support group
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 […]
Pittsburg & Shawmut coal train
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 […]
Lima’s last Shay
Western Maryland three-truck Shay No. 6 works a coal plant on the Chaffee (W.Va.) Branch not long after delivery in 1945. The 324,000-pound giant was the last of nearly 2,800 Shays built by Lima Locomotive Works. Today she works on the Cass Scenic Railroad. Western Maryland photo […]
