The Kettle Valley Steam Railway operates over the only preserved portion of the famed Kettle Valley Railway, which was completed in 1915. Passengers can enjoy the rural landscapes of Summerland’s Prairie Valley, and take in the mountains and views of Okanagan Lake from the Trout Creek Bridge, a major feature of the original line. Choices […]
The Alberni Pacific offers passengers a chance to visit the former McLean Paper Mill, 6 miles east of Port Alberni over the former Canadian Pacific Railway Port Alberni Subdivision. The mill is a National Historic Site that commemorates the history of logging and milling in British Columbia. Choices Trains to the mill are pulled by […]
VIA Jasper-Prince Rupert Route between Jasper, Alberta, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is one of the scenic highlights of any trip to western Canada. The 2-day, 725-mile trip, which includes an overnight stop in Prince George, takes you from the Rocky Mountains in Jasper National Park to the Pacific coast. Choices On the VIA Jasper-Prince […]
Discover what life was like in the Canadian West between 1864 and 1914 by visiting this re-created village framed by the Rockies. More than 150 exhibits, including many buildings transplanted from Calgary and other locations throughout Alberta, bring the past to the present. Choices The park includes a roundhouse and turntable with 30 locomotives and […]
The Hawaiian Railway Society operates the only active train on the island of Oahu. It offers regularly scheduled 90-minute, fully narrated rides over 6.5 miles of track. Along the way, you’ll pass a variety of interesting and historical sites, including Fort Barrette. The train stops at Kahe Point, so you can take in the extraordinary […]
Chris Montagna of the Chris’s Trains and Things YouTube channel is a contributing editor to Classic Toy Trains. He has done numerous reviews and how-to articles for Trains.com and the magazine. We asked him a few questions. My first train set (or locomotive) was…? My first locomotive was a Lionel Reading 4-6-2 (No. 6-18004) in […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern and the 12 unions that represent the railroad’s employees have agreed to work more closely together to improve safety. “Today, national labor leaders and Norfolk Southern management are committing to work together to enhance rail safety for our people and the communities we serve,” they announced in a letter to employees […]
Abandoned routes It can be disheartening to study a railroad atlas and come across abandoned routes. Nobody wants to realize a line is gone, especially if we had previously witnessed it as an active transportation entity. Well, let’s take a pen and cross off that line. No! It’s rare that the remnants of an abandoned […]
SANDPOINT, Idaho — With BNSF Railway and Montana Rail Link trains now using the new 4,873-foot long Lake Pend Oreille bridge opened in late November 2022 outside Sandpoint, Idaho, the adjacent bridge opened by Northern Pacific in 1904 is undergoing reconstruction. BNSF says the work involves “replacing all 59 of the remaining original 1904 bridge […]
Railroaders, and railfans, are always talking about engines: How many engines were on that train? Don’t those new engines look good (or bad)? Did you get the number of that engine? So, what’s the difference between a locomotive and an engine? We use both terms to describe the most compelling element of railroading: the machines […]
Diesel locomotives today generally have either two- or three-axle trucks, a wheel arrangement called B-B and C-C. The B-B wheel arrangement indicates a two-axle truck with both axles powered, while C-C means a truck with three powered axles. This naming convention uses letters for powered axles and numerals for non-powered “idler” axles — found on older […]
AEI data tags and readers enable rail cars to be tracked as they move across the North American rail system. The AEI (Automatic Equipment Identification) system consists of passive tags mounted on each side of rolling stock and active trackside readers. The system uses radio frequency and replaces an unsuccessful older optically-based car tracking system […]
