Small O and S gauge layouts have always been part of the hobby

Marx Christmas layout

Small O and S gauge layouts are how the hobby began. To demonstrate the wonders of layouts designed to fit into small spaces, let’s travel back to when most current enthusiasts were youngsters. This most likely means we’re talking about the 25 years immediately following World War II. These men and women can trace their […]

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Five receive R&LHS Railroad History honors

Logo of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society

The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society has announced pandemic-delayed winners of  its Railroad History awards for 2020, as well as one award for 2019. The awards recognize senior achievement, photography, and book and magazine authors. Winners for 2020 are John P. Hankey of Omaha, Neb., Gerald M. Best Senior Achievement Award; Brian Solomon of Center […]

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News photo: Demolition of Deshler, Ohio, station begins

Heavy machinery knocking down brick building

DESHLER, Ohio — After years of neglect, the former Baltimore & Ohio railroad station in Deshler, the community known as “Crossroads of the B&O,” is coming down. The building last saw a passenger train in 1971, has been closed since the 1990s, and was damaged by a coal hopper in an April 2002 derailment. The […]

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Five receive R&LHS scholarships

Logo of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society

Five students have received scholarship awards for 2022 from the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. The awards, to graduate or upper-level graduate students studying railroad history, engineering, or operations, are each worth $3,000. They are given in the name of railroad historians who endowed the awards: Professor George W. Hilton, Edward T. Myers, and Bruce […]

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Port Huron & Detroit Historical Society creates heritage fund to receive its assets

Logo of Port Huron & Detroit Historical Society

PORT HURON, Mich. — The Port Huron & Detroit Railroad Historical Society, which has dissolved its non-profit organization and is ending operations, has created a heritage organization to receive its remaining assets of more than $85,000. WGRT radio reports the society has created the Tunnel City Railway and Transportation Fund, a collaboration with the Community […]

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Steam Railroading Institute launches campaign for C&NW 175

Steam locomotive on turntable with large group of railroaders

OWOSSO, Mich. — The Steam Railroading Institute (SRI) has launched a fundraising campaign for the restoration of Chicago & North Western R-1 class 4-6-0 No. 175, which the museum acquired in 2018 from the Mineral Range Railroad in Ishpeming, Mich. Built in 1908 by American Locomotive Co. at its Schenectady Works, the 175 was one […]

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William F. Howes Jr., railroad official, R&LHS president, author, dies at 83

Man speaking at microphone

William F. Howes, Jr., a longtime Baltimore & Ohio, Chessie System and CSX official, author, and president of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society from 1994 to 2003, died in Jacksonville, Fla., on July 30 at the age of 83. In his career with B&O and Chessie System, he enjoyed a front-row seat at one […]

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Hays Watkins, key figure in CSX merger, dies at 96 (updated)

Black and white portrait of man in coat and die

Hays T. Watkins Jr., a soft-spoken Kentuckian who made the CSX merger a classic success, is dead at the age of 96. Watkins died Friday after complications from a fall, his son Tom Watkins has reported. “Hays Watkins without a doubt was and to this day remains the person with the highest degrees of integrity […]

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News photos: Reading & Northern excursion travels rare mileage

Rail Diesel Cars pass builing

READING, Pa. — In a trip featuring the first appearance by a passenger train in Tremont, Pa., in at least 30 years, the Reading & Northern hosted the National Museum of Industrial History’s Anthracite Railroad Ramble on Friday, July 29. The trip, featuring Reading & Northern’s Budd Rail Diesel Cars, originated at the Reading Outer Station, […]

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Metra begins rehab project at Blue Island station

Commuter train at aging brick station

BLUE ISLAND, Ill. — Metra has broken ground on a $3.8 million rehabilitation of the Vermont Avenue station in Blue Island, a structure dating to 1868 on Metra’s Rock Island District. A Thursday, July 28, ceremony including Metra CEO Jim Derwinski and other state and local officials marked the start of a project including a […]

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Groups seek to buy Saluda Grade for conversion to rail trail

Green and white diesels at crest of mountain pass

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Three non-profit groups say they have made an offer to Norfolk Southern buy the right-of-way of the inactive Saluda Grade — when active, the steepest main line in America, averaging a 4.7% incline with a brief stretch of 5.1% grade — with plans to turn it into a 31-mile rail trail. The […]

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Officials approve $1.5 million for Tampa Union Station rehab

Brick building with arched windows

TAMPA, Fla. — City of Tampa officials have voted to spend $1.5 million to refurbish Tampa Union Station, a 1912 structure which remains in use for Amtrak service. WTSP-TV reports the funds will go for updating restrooms, repairing windows and doors, and replacing the intricate façade. Once those repairs are complete, the city plans to […]

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