Horseshoe Curve diesel receives new paint

Freshly painted dark green locomotive with gold lettering

A repainting of the Pennsylvania Railroad GP9 diesel locomotive on display at Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark near Altoona, Pa., headlines several developments at the historic site where Norfolk Southern’s former-PRR Pittsburgh Line climbs the Allegheny Mountains. A final detail — applying yellow safety paint to the handrails — took place this week on the […]

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News Photos: Nevada Northern diesel begins journey

Orange locomotive above many-wheeled transport trailer

The return of Kennecott Copper RSD4 No. 201 to its former home at the Nevada Northern Railway has begun. On Nov. 4, the diesel was lifted onto heavy-duty transport equipment to begin the 900-mile, three-week journey from its longtime home at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Wash. The locomotive is scheduled to depart Snoqualmie […]

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News Photos: Wisconsin station relocated

Station building being moved on street

A Brookfield, Wis., railroading landmark has been relocated. Thursday night into Friday morning, the town’s former Milwaukee Road station was moved from its location along the current Canadian Pacific right-of-way to a new spot about 350 feet away [see “Brookfield, Wis., depot prepared for move,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 29, 2021]. Estimates are that at […]

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Dad was a closet railfan

Black-and-white photo of front end of steam locomotive emerging from enginehouse doorway

My father was a closet railfan. He didn’t hang around the tracks or take pictures of trains. On the other hand, he was always more than happy to take us kids to almost any railroad yard or station if we asked. And he never told us to stay away from the tracks, perhaps swayed by […]

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Milwaukee Road history

Color three-quarter-angle photo of streamlined steam locomotive with passenger train

Milwaukee Road history Milwaukee Road history begins with the Milwaukee & Waukesha Rail Road, which was chartered in 1847. Even before it laid its first rails in 1850, its name was changed to the Milwaukee & Mississippi. In 1851 it reached Waukesha, Wis., 20 miles west of Milwaukee. Its rails reached Madison in 1854 and […]

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Union Pacific on Cajon Pass in the 1940s

Two steam locomotives power a heavyweight passenger train

Union Pacific on Cajon Pass in the 1940s: Union Pacific operates on Cajon Pass in Southern California as the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. It uses Santa Fe trackage on a rental basis from Daggett, 8 miles east of Barstow, to Riverside, 9 miles south of San Bernardino. This arrangement has been in effect […]

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81 for 81: Celebrating Trains Magazine and a Nevada Northern 2-8-0

Steam locomotive at speed with tall plume of smoke.

ELY, Nev. — Consolidations, the everyday freight workhorse of the steam era, garner little love. They’re not sleek or refined like the rare Pacific passenger locomotive still found in service in the 21st century. They’re not as muscular as the Mikados that surpassed them with greater fireboxes, a trailing truck, and powerful muscularity in eight […]

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Remembering Reading Company locomotives

Black-and-white three-quarter angle photo of 4-8-4 steam locomotive in action

All through October, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the gritty, coal-hauling, Pennsylvania-based Reading Company railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Reading freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Reading Company, as a railroad, disappeared into Conrail more than 40 years ago. But it is still possible to […]

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Norfolk Southern to donate Southern Railway archives

Logo of Southern Railway, with "Look Ahead — Look South" slogan

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern is donating the archives of predecessor Southern Railway to the Atlanta History Center as NS prepares to mark the opening of its new Atlanta headquarters. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the archives include hundreds of thousands of pages of correspondence, more than 20,000 photographs, reports, plans, and minute books. The donation […]

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