Western Maryland Scenic 1309 receives FRA approval

steam locomotive outside shop

RIDGELEY, W.Va. — The Federal Railroad Administration Thursday approved Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 for service, officials of the Cumberland, Md.-based tourist railroad tell Trains News Wire. The last Baldwin built for domestic service in 1949 immediately becomes the world’s largest operating Mallet on a 17-mile mountain railroad that was once the Western […]

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Minnesota museum saves Soo Line caboose

red caboose resting inactive

MINNEAPOLIS – The Iron Horse Central Railroad Museum has acquired a 110-year-old Soo Line caboose that has been a landmark in Minneapolis for 46 years. The caboose was owned by the Broadway Bar Pizza Restaurant, and has stood at the intersection at Broadway Avenue and East River Road since 1975. In 2020, the pizza shop’s […]

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New England Museum offering autism-friendly holiday train excursion

White and red locomotive pulling holiday decorated train

THOMASTON, Conn. – For the sixth consecutive year, the Railroad Museum of New England and the Naugatuck Railroad are teaming up with Watertown, Conn.-based nonprofit Sun, Moon & Stars to offer a holiday train ride designed for children on the autism spectrum. Naugatuck Railroad is the operational branch of the Railroad Museum of New England, founded […]

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Friends of the 261 acquires private car ‘Caritas’

rear of train with orange passenger car with people seated on the rear

MINNEAPOLIS – The Friends of the 261, the nonprofit organization that owns and operates Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261, has purchased well-known private car Caritas, Friends of the 261 President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg tells Trains “News Wire.” Sandberg says the group acquired the car in a bankruptcy auction from the bankruptcy court […]

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Winnipeg rail museum faces closure, relocation

Entry of Winnipeg Union Station

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Railway Museum, which has displayed a collection including a landmark steam locomotive at the city’s Union Station for 30 years, is facing closure and relocation from its longtime home. The CBC reports the museum has been told its location at the 110-year-old station requires significant work to be brought up […]

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Skip Lichter, steam locomotive owner, dies

Man sitting next to steam locomotive

GARIBALDI, Ore. — One of private preservation’s most effective individuals, steam locomotive owner Roland “Skip” Lichter, has died. The owner of Polson Lumber Co. 2-8-2 No. 2, long based in Wisconsin and relocated to Oregon in 2017, died Wednesday. Lichter bought the locomotive in 1982 and ran it at Wisconsin’s Mid-Continent Railway Museum until it […]

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Trains Photo Contest 2022: Still Soldiering On

steam train in distance coming at you with signal in foreground

Trains is happy to announce its partnership with the National Railway Historical Society for the 2022 photo contest. The NRHS is a nonprofit that promotes the interest and study of the railroad industry, a mission the Trains brand shares. The NRHS, which was established in 1935, is a perfect match for a magazine that’s been […]

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