CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Cheyenne City Council has voiced support for a rail-oriented tourist attraction that will initially include a series of historic railcars and could expand to include Union Pacific’s roundhouse and the Big Boy locomotive currently on display elsewhere in the city. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports the council last month approved a […]
Train Topic: History
Mark Twain Zephyr mural takes shape
HANNIBAL, Mo. — While the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad is home of the under-restoration Mark Twain Zephyr, the city of Hannibal, Mo., is getting its own version of the streamliner — a 60-foot-by-14-foot mural. For a couple of weeks, muralist Ray Harvey of surburban St. Louis has been perched on a manlift above the corner of […]
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum celebrates 60 years
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—One of the senior organizations in American railway preservation, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, is celebrating its 60th anniversary the weekends of Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 23-24. Plans include rides featuring the museum’s two operational steam engines, as well as steam- and diesel-themed night photo sessions, as the non-profit looks ahead with […]
Bruce Sterzing, legendary D&H president, dies at 88
Of all the colorful stories that emerged in the 1970s from the tangle of Northeast railroading after Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, perhaps none is more intriguing than the Delaware & Hudson’s battle to maintain its independence, a fight led by its president, Carl B. “Bruce” Sterzing Jr. A lawyer by training, Sterzing became president of […]
Reading Company freight trains photo gallery
Reading Company freight trains are Classic Trains editors’ focus in this photo gallery. 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, […]
Friends of East Broad Top wraps up Rockhill shops work, looks south
SALTILLO, Pa. – The Friends of the East Broad Top, an auxiliary group whose membership has exploded since the rebirth of the narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad starting in 2020, announced over the weekend that it is moving forward to help the railroad’s owner, the EBT Foundation, reopen its main line south 20 miles […]
East Broad Top fully reopens tourist-era line in time for Friends Reunion
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – East Broad Top Railroad staff and volunteers went the extra mile – literally – to fully reopen the company’s line from here to its tourist-era (1961-2011) wye and picnic area at Colgate Grove, just in time for this past weekend’s Friends of The East Broad Top annual reunion. Since 2020, when […]
Reading Company: A railroad history
Reading Company, as a railroad, disappeared into Conrail more than 40 years ago. But it is still possible to “take a ride on the Reading.” This can be done when playing the board game Monopoly, or (more literally) by boarding a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority commuter train in the Philadelphia area. Today, the Reading (pronounced […]
Mark Twain Zephyr work continues with dining-car project (with video)
TREGO, Wis. — The interior of another car has been completed as the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad continues its work to return one of the first diesel-powered streamlined passenger trains to operation. Trains News Wire’s latest visit to northwest Wisconsin to check on restoration of the Mark Twain Zephyr, the articulated trainset built by Philadelphia’s […]
B&O Museum launches new website
BALTIMORE — The B&O Railroad Museum has launched a new website, borail.org, giving the Baltimore museum the first update of its online presence in more than a decade. Designed in conjunction with marketing firm Mission, the new site offers highlights from the museum’s collection, access to its digital archives, virtual tours, and other features. “The […]
Lima-Hamilton Locomotives: Diesels that didn’t
Lima-Hamilton locomotives history Lima-Hamilton locomotives were built out of Lima, the youngest and smallest of the Big Three steam builders. The Ohio manufacturer was synonymous with steam at its best, and it upheld the steam standard to the bitter end. Even as legions of diesels were rolling off the erecting floors of competitors, Lima Locomotive […]
Sherman Hill: the first Rocky Mountain railroad pass
Sherman Hill is one of the landmarks on the transcontinental railroad. It was the first major obstacle for the railroad as it headed west. It’s the highest point on the first transcontinental railroad with the original summit topping out at 8,247 feet above sea level. A 1901 line change shaved over 200 feet off the […]
