CHARLESTON, W.Va. — People are vacationing again, and travel spending is close to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This means as more Americans travel in 2022, tourist and heritage rail attractions can focus on what is normal: selling seats and injecting much-needed cashflow into tourist rail and preservation. This year is likely to be the first season […]
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DENVER — Some 30 miles of New York rail line formerly operated by the Saratoga & North Creek Railroad has been sold for $3.33 million to a couple whose company plans to ship titanium ore from a mine on the route. The Albany Times Union reports Doc N Duchess Rails LLC, owned by Carol and […]
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CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and Trains Magazine kicked off the 2022 steam season at the Cumberland, Md.-based tourist railroad with a three-day photo charter featuring former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309, the last Baldwin built for domestic service and now the world’s largest operating Mallet. Some 100 enthusiasts were on hand […]
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2022 steam locomotive list spring update: It’s time for the active steam list update. Since we debuted the list last fall, we’ve gotten great feedback, updates, and added to the list. New to the list is Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 154 at the East Tennessee tourist carrier, Three Rivers Rambler, a part of Gulf & […]
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SANTA FE, N.M. — Sky Railway, the tourist railroad between Santa Fe and Lamy, N.M., on the former Santa Fe Southern, is adding an original Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Super Chief lounge car for operations beginning this spring. The Acoma, which made its debut in 1937, is the last operating car from the original […]
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CHAMA, N.M. — After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns of 2020 and 2021, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad ridership rebounded to within 11% of 2019 ridership, railroad President Scott Gibbs tells Trains News Wire. With most restrictions lifted by July 1, 2021, the railroad carried 37,735 riders for the year versus 42,451 in 2019, Gibbs […]
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FOLSOM, Calif. — For the first time since a 1957 farewell excursion, a steam-powered locomotive will operate in the community of Folsom. The Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad, a non-profit organization based in Folsom, about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, Calif., plans to fire up Santa Cruz Portland Cement No. 2, an oil-burning 0-4-0T locomotive […]
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FILLMORE, Calif. – Former Fillmore & Western Alco S6 1059, a heavyweight passenger car, and a detrucked Pacific Fruit Express wood-sheathed refrigerator car left Fillmore on Tuesday by low-boy trucks for their new home at the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Virginia City, Nevada. The diesel, former Southern Pacific No. 1059, was numbered 1229 in […]
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CHAMA, N.M. — We may yet see a Rio Grande K-37 climb Cumbres Pass once more. On Saturday, the two-state commission that oversees the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad voted to restore a Rio Grande K-37 2-8-2, returning that model to the 64-mile narrow gauge railroad for the first time since 2002 when No. 497 […]
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CORINTH, N.Y. — The newly formed Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway has announced plans to begin tourist operations this spring. Trains will operate on more than 11 miles of the southern end of the former Delaware & Hudson Railway Adirondack Branch, between Corinth and Greenfield, N.Y., just north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The locomotive will […]
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CASS, W.Va. — Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad 2-8-0 No. 4, the last steam locomotive in revenue service on the fabled West Virginia short line, will steam again, thanks to a plan to obtain a new boiler for the Consolidation. John Smith, CEO of Cass Scenic Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad operator Durbin & […]
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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz City Council has voted unanimously to express opposition to a proposal that would lead to abandonment of the line connecting the city to the Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific tourist railroad. Lookout Santa Cruz reports the vote has no legal bearing on the proposal floated by the […]
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