Civil trial against Durango & Silverton is delayed

Steam locomotive leads train onto dirt street

DURANGO, Colo. — A trial in which more than 30 property owners and businesses are seeking damages from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad over a 2018 wildfire has been delayed, the Durango Herald reports. The civil lawsuit was delayed by 6th Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson to Aug. 29 because of ongoing negotiations […]

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Norfolk & Western Railway freight trains

Diesel locomotives with coal train on steel viaduct

Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, heritage, and style of the Norfolk & Western Railway all through January 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Norfolk & Western freight trains selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The Norfolk & Western was a coal-oriented road linking Cincinnati and Columbus with […]

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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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Two ‘Cardinal’ veterans look back at rewarding careers

Woman Amtrak employee works to make up bedsheets in sleeping car

First of two parts. For decades, two Amtrak employees developed mutual respect for their work ethic among regular or occasional passengers, fellow employees, and each other. Janice Adams joined Amtrak as a train attendant in 1984. Leonard Claytor started with the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1969 and was promoted to a conductor in 1975 when […]

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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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Friends of the 261/Railroading Heritage of Midwest America to expand to Silvis shop complex

Aerial view of shop complex with dozens of locomotives in many paint schemes

SILVIS, Ill. — In one of the largest expansions in railroad preservation in recent decades, Minneapolis-based Railroading Heritage of Midwest America/The Friends of the 261 will expand operations into the former National Railway Equipment (NRE) shop complex in the Quad Cities community of Silvis. The 90-acre facility was once the main shop of the Chicago, […]

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Reading museum receives $100,000 state grant

HAMBURG, Pa. — The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum has received a $100,000 state grant to be used for outdoor upgrades at the facility, the Reading Eagle reports. The funds will be used to buy ties for the construction of tracks into the museum’s recently completed railcar protection building; materials for construction of a small replica […]

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Norfolk & Western Railway history remembered

Steam locomotive with coal train among trees

Norfolk & Western Railway history has two distinct phases. Before 1964, it was a coal hauler controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It even looked like the Pennsy in places: Tuscan Red coaches, position-light signals, and a short electrified district — but no Belpaire fireboxes. In 1964, possibly as a reaction to the proposed merger of […]

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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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News Wire Top 10 Stories of 2021: The runners-up

Steam locomotive at speed with freight train while another train waits in the distance.

What has been railroading’s top story in 2021? Today, we begin the process of answering that question, as determined in balloting by the Trains editorial staff, Classic Trains editor Brian Schmidt (who spent most of the year on our staff), and key News Wire contributors. Balloting concluded on Dec. 10. We’ll be recapping stories each […]

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Major private collection of steam locomotives is sold to Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (updated)

Line of steam locomotives in disrepair

MERRILL, Ore. — What is perhaps the single largest private collection of steam locomotives, mostly from the western U.S., has been sold and will soon be dispersed following the death of its long-time owner. The Fred M. Kepner collection of 14 steam locomotives and other railroad equipment has been purchased by the Oregon Coast Scenic […]

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