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Rob Himoto’s Santa Maria Valley Railroad is the quintessential short line success story. His family bought the struggling 13.72-mile independent short line in 2006. Through hard work, they’ve been able to quadruple annual carloadings, diversify the railroad’s traffic base, and improve its track. Himoto is understandably proud of the turnaround and the role the railroad […]
WASHINGTON — Ryan Risdon will become manager, program support, at the Short Line Safety Institute, a new position supporting the institute’s safety culture and hazardous materials training programs. Risdon brings more than 25 years of experience in railroad safety administration, compliance, and emergency response management to the institute, an educational, training, and research center for […]
Great American Steam Locomotives: Articulateds DVD | 16126 The Articulateds are the largest steam locomotives ever built. Starting as slow speed monsters hauling heavy trains over mountain ridges, they became a regular feature of many of the largest Class 1 railroads, handling everything from slow drag freights, to fast time freights, and even were able […]
A ghost from the past is staging to return! In the spring of 2023, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad announced that No. 722 would be going into the shops for a return to operational service. Let’s take a look back to see how this historic Southern Railway 2-8-0 steam locomotive arrived at this point. […]
Steam trains have been running at Durbin, W.Va., for the past 20 years. But if you look closely, this video captures double-headed Shay steam locomotives working up from Cass, W.Va., for the first time since 1985! Hop aboard for the sights and sounds on this special, restored route along the Greenbrier River. Want to see […]
ALEXANDER, W.Va. — The Carter-Roag Coal Co. plans to close its Morgan Camp mine, the last coal mine in Randolph County, W.Va., as well as the Star Bridge coal preparation plant, likely spelling the end of the company’s Beech Mountain Railroad. Local news reports say Carter-Roag, a subsidiary of United Coal Co., announced last week […]
Our host proves that you don’t have to focus on just one thing for great lengths to find the fun in this hobby! This time out, he’s got a paint stripping project to tackle, retaining walls to install, and a tunnel to daylight a tad more. And if that’s not enough, David even discovers a […]
WASHINGTON – Shortline holding company Rio Grande Pacific will add a fifth railroad to its stable: Bogalusa & Northern Railway in Louisiana. Bogalusa & Northern will acquire trackage rights over a mile of Canadian National’s Bogalusa Subdivision in Bogalusa and Leescreek, La., according to a regulatory filing. Watco’s Bogalusa Bayou Railroad currently holds the trackage […]
The Lionel Legacy H-15-44 accurately captures in O gauge a transitional model for the locomotive builder. With help from industrial designer Raymond Loewy of Pennsylvania Railroad S1 and GG1 acclaim, Fairbanks-Morse built a road switcher that could, for a time, be found pulling passenger trains. The Wisconsin-based company would continue with this same profile through […]
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana short line is suing a utility company over a November 2021 wildfire that caused significant damage to the railroad. Central Montana Rail, an 84-mile railroad based in Denton, Mont., is suing NorthWestern Energy over damage from a fire that largely destroyed the town of Denton, as well as a […]
COOS BAY, Ore. – Coos Bay Rail Line has completed construction of a new bridge over Coalbank Slough and has opened it to rail traffic. The project included the dismantling and disposal of the old bridge structure and replacing it with a new fixed span bridge. The former bridge structure was a non-operating deck-plate girder, […]
In this episode, our host intentionally works his way between a rock and a hard place! The tough stuff starts when he discovers a flaw in his operating scheme. With a remedy in place, David starts into the scenery. As he shares here, installing the foreground rock wall scenery is an easy lift when using […]
