Google joins Michigan Central Station project

MichiganCentralStation1940

DETROIT — Google is joining Ford Motor Co.’s effort to transform the landmark Michigan Central Station into a hub of technology and innovation. The news site mlive.com reports Google will be a “founding member” of the Michigan Central Innovation District, a 30-acre campus being developed by Ford at the long-neglected station. “This is not going […]

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East Broad Top announces Winter Spectacular schedule

Railcar and caboose in front of station building

ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The EBT Foundation has released the list of activities for its East Broad Top Railroad Winter Spectacular, to be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19. This is the second Spectacular to be held since the Foundation acquired the historic narrow gauge railroad, a National Historic Landmark, in 2020. Last year’s event […]

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Sierra Railroad acquires former Fillmore & Western equipment

F unit and road-switchers parked next to station

FILLMORE, Calif. — Sierra Railroad of Davis, Calif., announced today it has purchased the majority of the remaining locomotives, rolling stock and other assets from the former Fillmore & Western Railroad operation in Ventura County. The Montalvo-to-Piru line, owned by the Ventura County Transportation Commission, has been operated by Sierra Railroad’s Sierra Northern Ventura Division […]

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Group forms to save Bakersfield, Calif., station

Black and white photo of train station

  BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A group has formed to try to save a 133-year-old former Southern Pacific railroad station in Bakersfield, and is asking the public’s help in convincing the city to extend a lease on the structure while it mounts its preservation efforts. The Bakersfield Californian reports the Save the Sumner Station Working Group […]

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Trains Magazine event features U.S. Sugar steam operation

Train with steam locomotive crosses wooden bridge

CLEWISTON, Fla. — Trains Magazine, U.S. Sugar, and FMW Solutions partnered Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 29-30, to provide an unforgettable experience for 60 enthusiasts who enjoyed the sights and sounds of U.S. Sugar’s restored 1920 Alco 4-6-2 No. 148 on both a replica cane train and a passenger train. The event was the second public […]

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Rebuilt Reading & Northern 4-8-4 to debut on freight trains

Three-quarters view of steam locomotive in shop building

PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Reading & Northern 4-8-4 No. 2102 will mark its return to service following a six-year, $1.45 million rebuild by pulling freight, according to railroad owner and CEO Andrew M. Muller Jr. Muller told Trains News Wire that he expects the engine to break in on R&N freight trains in mid-March. Four […]

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Legislator seeks state status for Virginia Museum of Transportation

Logo of the Virginia Museum of Transportation

ROANOKE, Va. — A state legislator is seeking to gain status as a state agency for the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which would make the Roanoke attraction eligible for state funding. The website Cardinal News reports the museum is already recognized as the commonwealth’s official transportation museum, but that distinction carries no legal status that […]

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NS, museum team up to save Southern Railway Kentucky storehouse

LUDLOW, Ky. – Norfolk Southern and the Ludlow Heritage Museum have signed a lease agreement to preserve the NS-owned former Southern Railway Ludlow Yard Store House building, the last remaining original structure in Ludlow used by the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway, which was leased to Southern in 1894. The agreement allows museum […]

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Abilene & Smoky Valley launches maintenance initiative

Logo of Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad

ABILENE, Kan. — The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad is launching a fundraising campaign to upgrade its former Rock Island track between Abilene and Enterprise, Kan. Abilene & Smoky Valley, organized in 1993, purchased the right-of-way from Union Pacific and has been operating excursion trains on the Abilene-Enterprise route since 1994. The railroad is best […]

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Steam photographer Mike Eagleson dies

three men standing and posing with tracks in background

GLEN RIDGE, N.J. – Famed steam photographer Michael A. Eagleson, who traveled the world in search of steam power as it retreated from service, died of complications of COVID-19 Jan. 6. He was in his late 70s. Eagleson was famous in the railway and steam locomotive enthusiast community, having traveled worldwide to witness and photograph […]

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Cleburne, Texas, set to open expanded rail museum

Logo of the Cleburne Railroad Museum

CLEBURNE, Texas — The remodeled and expanded Cleburne Railroad Museum is set to open Jan. 13, the Cleburne Times-Review reports. The museum traces a railroading history that dates to 1881 and includes more than a century when the Santa Fe Railway was the community’s largest employer, thanks to a major shop facility. The expanded museum […]

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