50 years ago in Trains: Bombarding Beaumont in 1948 WHAT a grand and extraordinary depiction this photograph is of Standard Railroading in full and final flower! For the flagship of Southern Pacific’s New Orleans-Los Angeles Sunset Route the Sunset Limited, which is destined to become the last of America’s great passenger trains to be dieselized […]
In its heyday as “The Standard Railroad of the World,” the Pennsylvania Railroad had thousands of trackside industries systemwide to service. Each needed regular switching, and many were located in industrial complexes with tight clearances and sharp curves. The PRR developed the 0-6-0 switcher, or as they called it, a “shifter.” The first model B6 […]
John G. Kneiling, by profession a consulting engineer, wrote Trains Magazine’s Professional Iconoclast column for many years. His column called out perceived problems with the rail industry and suggested new ways of thinking about solutions. Fifty years ago, in the September 1975 issue, Kneiling took aim at the government-supported Conrail, then newly created from several […]
SCRANTON, Pa. — The Lackawanna Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society has donated $10,000 to the Iron Horse Society for restoration of a World War II troop sleeper built by Pullman. The Iron Horse Society is the non-profit organization supporting Steamtown National Historic Site, where Delaware, Lackawanna & Western car No. 3621 — […]
Fun and fancy fill Lionel 2025 Catalog Volume 1. What am I writing here? You will recall that I recently explored for Trains.com the latest additions to the roster of O gauge sets, locomotives, and rolling stock presented in Lionel’s brand-new catalog. There, I focused on a handful of great trains that impressed me because […]
BALTIMORE — The Railway Supply Institute has joined the B&O Railroad Museum as a partner in plans to mark the bicentennial of American railroading in 2027, the RSI and museum have announced. The RSI is the leading organization representing the rail supply industry, from small component manufacturers to locomotive and railcar builders and lessors. The […]
The history of the tank car dates back more than 150 years. Coworker Carl Swanson from Trains Magazine wrote an article about their history if you’d like to learn more. This car is a single-domed version, lettered for the East Broad Top Railroad (No. RMT-96899-12). I was surprised to learn that the EBT owned one […]
“TlMBER!” It was that cry ringing across West Virginia’s Appalachian slopes that put loads on the flat cars of the Cherry River Boom & Lumber Company’s Railroad, and cash in the company coffers. Once the Cherry River trundled 100 million board feet of lumber a year down to the mill at Richwood. But timber grows […]
Roanoke, Va., headquarters of the former Norfolk & Western Railway and once known as the “Alamo for Steam,” is home to the renowned East End Shops. This facility, still standing today, was where the bulk of the railroad’s steam fleet was built. Among these were three locomotive classes from the 1940s-50s, known as the “Big […]
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — After an engaged community discussion, the city council voted Aug. 26, to retain Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 202, rejecting a proposal to donate the locomotive to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The debate drew lines in the Western Maryland community over the cost of restoration and responsibility for care versus seeing the […]
Thirty years after its grand opening as a unit of the National Park Service, Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa., is at a crossroads. Whether you admire or disdain it, know nothing about it, or simply hope for its survival, it remains a significant railroad preservation effort. Steamtown has the potential to expand the […]
In the 1910s, Lawson Billinton of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway was tasked with designing a successor to the E1 Class 0-6-0T steam locomotives, designed by William Stroudley in 1874. The “answer” became the E2 Class 0-6-0T that would go on to have a complicated legacy during its flawed career and after its […]
