SILVIS, Ill. — More than 70 years ago, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific worked from a 45-stall roundhouse located on its 90-acre facility in western Illinois. That building has long since been demolished. Now, Railroading Heritage of Midwest America has broken ground to install a 135-foot turntable and build a six-stall roundhouse on the […]
In September 1955, workers at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Renovo (Pa.) engine terminal prepare L1s 2-8-2 No. 8426 for service as a stationary steam supply at the road’s giant Sunnyside Yard in New York City. The Mike has been converted to oil-firing for this duty, most likely its last assignment. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
A scant three years after Alco introduced the Mallet to America (with the delivery of B&O’s sole 0-6-6-0 in 1904), the Erie took delivery of three camelback 0-8-8-0 Mallets – the first eight-coupled Mallets, also built by Alco – and put them to work as helpers on Gulf Summit in New York state. In 1909, […]
New York Central class J-1e 4-6-4 No. 5344 received sheet-metal shrouding in 1934, making it the first streamlined steam locomotive in America. Carl F. Kantola of NYC’s equipment engineering department created the design. The Hudson was named Commodore Vanderbilt after the NYC’s famous early leader, but initially displayed no road number. Glenn Grabill photo […]
Laura (Schlabach) Jacobson, co-founder of the Jerry and Laura Jacobson Foundation, which established the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio, died on Nov. 18, 2025, the museum announced in a statement today. Jacobson remained on the museum’s board of directors until her death. She was active in the organization’s leadership, helping ensure a […]
In 1928, the Northern Pacific went shopping for a locomotive that could eliminate doubleheading on the eastern end of its Yellowstone Division between Mandan, N.Dak., and Glendive, Mont. NP’s line through the Badlands had a series of long grades in both directions that made helpers impracticable and had long been one of the railroad’s operational […]
The concrete west portal of Erie’s Otisville (N.Y.) tunnel — from which a Berkshire-powered freight emerges — is fairly simple, but with pilasters and the inscription “19–OTISVILLE–08” in embossed lettering overhead. Note the early installation of welded rail on the eastward track. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
PRR T1 4-4-4-4 No. 5507 clatters through 21st Street interlocking in Chicago with the Broadway Limited for New York. A T1 on the Broadway is relatively rare, as dieselization of PRR’s top trains came soon after the giant duplexes arrived. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
WASILLA, Alaska — After more than 500,000 volunteer working hours, the 557 Restoration Co. successfully fired the last Alaska Railroad steam locomotive on Nov. 8, 2025. The rebuild is now 95% complete, “ … with all the expensive and labor intensive stuff behind us,” says Patrick Durand, 557 Restoration Co. president. The locomotive was pulled […]
An SD40 and GP9 hold back a westbound freight as they descend Sand Patch Grade a couple of miles west of Sand Patch, Pa., on the former Baltimore & Ohio. The bridge overhead carried the Western Maryland main line, which was rendered redundant when B&O and WM came under common Chessie System control. David Dudjak […]
Canadian National 2-8-0 No. 2444, assigned as the switcher in Chipman, N.B., negotiates the steep grade and tight curves at the town’s brickyard on a gray day in November 1953. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
BALTIMORE — The B&O Railroad Museum announced today that CSX CEO Steve Angel will co-chair the museum’s $38 million capital campaign to transform its campus in preparation for the 200th anniversary of American railroading in 2027. Angel replaces former CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs in this role. Hinrichs left CSX in September 2025. Angel joins Benjamin […]
