CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 took one final ride on UP’s turntable at Cheyenne on Tuesday, as the locomotive prepares for its move to Silvis, Ill., in a trip beginning later this week. The locomotive is paired with the original tender for Big Boy No. 4014, since No. 4014 has been using […]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Railway Museum, which had faced relocation, will be able to remain at the city’s Union Station. The museum has signed a 25-year lease with VIA Rail Canada to remain at the downtown building, the Winnipeg Free Press reports, as long as it addresses fire code issues in its portion of […]
SHIRLEYSBURG, Pa. — A new generation of facilities is planned for next summer at East Broad Top Railroad’s time-honored Colgate Grove picnic area, the line’s historic tourist-era turnaround point. Sometime during the coming season, the EBT Foundation Inc. will open two small pavilions and restrooms, along with something that the location never had before, a […]
What was your first byline in Trains? I had a news photo of brand-new Southern Railway GE U30Cs in the April 1968 issue, but my first feature story, “Yes, I DID Want to Run a Railroad” appeared in the July 1978 issue. It was a completely unsolicited manuscript with no photos. I wanted to describe my […]
STEILACOOM, Wash. — Efforts to save Steilacoom’s 1914 Northern Pacific depot, which remains largely intact though closed since 1972, are being revived, KIRO Radio reports, after having been dormant since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Current owner BNSF Railway has been prepared to donate the building for several years, says Gus Melonas, a retired BNSF […]
WASHINGTON — Five classic railroad stations will be featured on a series of postage stamps issued in 2023 by the U.S. Postal Service. Stations included in the series are the Art Deco landmark Cincinnati Union Terminal, which opened in 1933; the Victorian structure at Point of Rocks, Md., completed in 1876; Richmond, Va., Main Street […]
Hot Water Gingerbread Muffins Classic Trains Editor Brian Schmidt loaned me some old railroad cookbooks recently, and the recipe for “Hot Water Gingerbread” caught my eye. According to the book, this dessert was a favorite on the Sunset Limited in the 1950s and 60s. How would it taste today? With a few tweaks, I made […]
I never met David “Dave” A. Fink, but I felt his presence for a while in the late 1990s. The pugnacious president of Guilford Transportation Industries had a reputation for being difficult with journalists, but long about 1997 I decided Trains absolutely had to have a profile of his railroad, no matter what. Fink proved […]
ANDOVER, Mass. — The Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts organization is seeking applicants for the 2023 edition of its grant programs, the H. Albert Webb Memorial Railroad Preservation Award and the Mass Bay RRE Railroad Preservation Fund. Applications and instructions for the awards are available here. The H. Albert Webb Award is an annual grant of […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific has announced plans for its “Heritage Donation Special,” moving two steam locomotives, its Centennial diesel, and other equipment, from Cheyenne to the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America facility in Silvis, Ill., Nov. 11-19. The schedule was announced in an email to UP Steam Club members. The train will include Challenger […]
Soldiers transfer from a Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis troop train to trucks at the Army’s Camp Forrest near Tullahoma, Tenn., in 1942. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo […]
Most users of Milwaukee’s Oak Leaf Trail running from the Lake Michigan shoreline in downtown Milwaukee northwest through the city are aware, or could easily guess, they are using an old railroad right of way. Few realize this was once the route of one of the fastest long-distance passenger trains in the world — the […]
