Action may be required on your Trains.com account in order to continue accessing content. Click here to learn more.
Burlington Route history begins with the Aurora Branch Railroad, chartered on Feb. 12, 1849, to build a line from Aurora, Ill., to a connection with the Galena & Chicago Union (forerunner of the Chicago & North Western) at Turner Junction (West Chicago). Service began with G&CU’s first locomotive, the Pioneer. In 1852 the road […]
OWOSSO, Mich. — The Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225 has been sidelined for the remainder of the organization’s North Pole Express excursion season, the organization has announced. The Lansing State Journal reports that the locomotive, built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1941, is not being run on the holiday excursions as […]
MADISON, Wis. — The state of Wisconsin has begun studying the possibility of adding a second daily round trip to the Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities Borealis service, WisBusiness.com reports. The train’s ridership has been exceeding projections by 10% to 15% each month since its May 21 launch, Lisa Stern, chief of railroads and harbors for the Wisconsin […]
Increasingly, the holiday season is also a team for brightly decorated trains on major commuter and transit systems. The New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas will all see such trains this year, including a new train on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro North Railroad, and Metra trains with more elaborate decorations. Here’s […]
CHESTERTON, Ind. — The completion of the South Shore Line’s new West Lake Corridor branch will depend on construction of an underpass beneath CSX Transportation tracks, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board was told this week. Lakeshore Public Media reports NICTD President Mike Noland said at a Monday, Nov. 25, board meeting that the […]
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — A century-old coaling tower built by the Michigan Central Railroad will be torn down next year, leading to a disruption of Amtrak service for up to two weeks, WCOE and WLOI radio report. The massive concrete structure straddling the Amtrak-owned trackage, a local landmark dating to 1923 (some sources say 1924), […]
In the January 2025 issue of Model Railroader magazine, Contributing Editor Lou Sassi paid a visit to the Youngstown Model Railroad Association, located in its namesake community in Ohio. The club, which has been around for 68 years, has layouts in O and HO scales. Lou’s article focuses on the latter, a 24 x 47-foot […]
In the January 2025 issue of Model Railroader magazine, Contributing Editor Lou Sassi paid a visit to the Youngstown Model Railroad Association, located in its namesake community in Ohio. The club, which has been around for 68 years, has layouts in O and HO scales. Lou’s article focuses on the latter, a 24 x 47-foot […]
An elderly man looks out from the concourse of recently completed Toledo Central Union Terminal. New York Central built the terminal during 1947–50; C&O, B&O, and Wabash trains also called here. Classic Trains coll. […]
SAGINAW, Mich. — Two locomotives and five cars of a train derailed on Lake State Railway trackage Sunday afternoon, Nov. 24, spilling corn into the Saginaw River, WWJ Radio reports. The incident occurred about 1:30 p.m. Images on the Detroit News website show one covered hopper ended up on its side at the edge of […]
Please enjoy this photo gallery of Illinois Terminal passenger trains, originally published online in April 2017. All through November 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of “The Traction.” […]
MANLY, Iowa — Construction has begun on the new Manly Junction Railroad Museum just north of the community of Manly. The $7 million museum, the brainchild of Iowa Northern Railway Chairman Dan Sabin, is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2025. The museum is designed to look like a railroad station and also […]
