Passenger trains at your hotel window

Las Vegas, N.M., station sign with Spanish-style hotel in background

IRVINE, Calif. — The structure used to be a grain elevator served by Santa Fe locals. After the concrete silos outlived their original function, the complex next to the tracks at Irvine’s Sand Canyon Road was converted into a La Quinta Inn and Suites, a great place to watch passenger trains during a stay. There […]

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How to visit Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

steam passenger train in Tennessee

Visiting Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum If you took a major Class I railroad in the early 1950s, shrunk it, and set it aside to show people today what a section of big-time, steam-era railroading was all about, you’d create Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. Set on a portion of Southern Railway’s original main line into Chattanooga, […]

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Big Skies & Iron Rails, Spring, Episode 3

American’s Western frontier is where Tom Danneman goes to renew and recharge his spirit every springtime. Settle back and allow his captivating video explorations along meandering rail lines, rolling rivers, and blossoming mountain valley meadows to help you emerge from your own hibernation. Big Skies & Iron Rails. Season 1, Episode 3, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]

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Big Skies & Iron Rails, Spring, Episode 3

American’s Western frontier is where Tom Danneman goes to renew and recharge his spirit every springtime. Settle back and allow his captivating video explorations along meandering rail lines, rolling rivers, and blossoming mountain valley meadows to help you emerge from your own hibernation. Big Skies & Iron Rails. Season 1, Episode 3, playing exclusively on Trains.com! […]

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Two railfan friends take a great F-unit safari

Five road-switcher and one streamlined diesel locomotives on freight train

  By the mid-1960s, the appearance of F units on freights along Union Pacific’s main line through southern Wyoming was rare to nonexistent at best. All of the road’s F3s and F7s had been traded to EMD by the end of 1964 for replacement units in the form of GP30s, GP35s, and DD35s. However, there […]

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Digest: Work in progress to fix N&W No 611’s stoker

Virginia Musem of Transportation logo

Work under way to repair N&W No. 611 for trip to Strasburg The Virginia Museum of Transportation reported late last week that work was under way to identify and repair the problem with the stoker of N&W No. 611, an issue which has delayed the Class J’s planned trip to the Strasburg Rail Road. To […]

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Doug Harrop’s Utah

Sun highlight diesel locomotive exhaust of train in curve

Doug Harrop retired from Union Pacific in 2003. He hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1967 in Arizona. He left the management ranks a decade later to return to Utah to enter engine service out of Ogden. Known for his photographic coverage of Utah, Harrop’s enthusiasm for railroads took him across the continent. He […]

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Railfanning Chicago: BNSF’s shoofly (updated)

Amtrak passenger train passes Metra commuter train in view from bridge across tracks.

Trains Senior Editor David Lassen spends much of his free time in the Chicago area. This is the first in a series of Trains.com articles on his favorite rail photography locations. UPDATED Dec. 15, 2021, with removal of shoofly. BNSF Railway’s celebrated “racetrack” — the triple-track mainline of the Chicago Division between downtown Chicago and […]

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Minnesota group unveils repainted Milwaukee Road E9

Maroon and orange diesel locomotive

MINNEAPOLIS — The Friends of the 261 has unveiled a new “retro” paint scheme for Milwaukee Road E9A 32A. The E unit, acquired by the Friends in 2019, is painted orange and maroon to fit with the majority of the Friends passenger fleet. Since Milwaukee Road E9s were only painted Union Pacific yellow, the group […]

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How to visit the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

Visiting the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Chama, New Mexico, might be some of the most sacred ground for 1920s railroad and steam locomotive enthusiasts. That’s the western end of the mighty Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, and it’s the site of an authentic shop, yard, and depot. It’s the start of the dramatic eastbound climb across […]

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