Close encounter with the B&OCT

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B&OCT 0-8-0 1703 hauls a string of cars from Grand Central Station, Chicago, to B&O’s Robey Street coachyard. Robert A. Caflisch In 1957 I was a 14-year-old, dismayed by the disappearance the previous year of the remaining Pacifics from commuter service on the Chicago & North Western through my hometown, Des Plaines, Ill. I knew […]

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Last ride north from Xenia

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PRR passenger service from Xenia north to Springfield, Ohio, — protected by an old gas-electric motor car — ended on July 21, 1953.  Harry V. Noble Xenia, my hometown in southwestern Ohio, was on the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis main line 16 miles east of Dayton. Xenia was also the base of a branch line north […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 24 – Florida East Coast revisited

A red-and-yellow-painted Florida East Coast locomotive passes through green vegetation under cloudy skies.

Winter can take its toll on even a hardy soul like MRVP host Drew Halverson. But that’s not the only reason he returned to Florida in January! Drew, along with Mike and Tom Danneman, headed to the Sunshine State’s eastern coastline to explore the Florida East Coast Railway and track down their newest diesels, GE […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 24 – Florida East Coast revisited

A red-and-yellow-painted Florida East Coast locomotive passes through green vegetation under cloudy skies.

Winter can take its toll on even a hardy soul like MRVP host Drew Halverson. But that’s not the only reason he returned to Florida in January! Drew, along with Mike and Tom Danneman, headed to the Sunshine State’s eastern coastline to explore the Florida East Coast Railway and track down their newest diesels, GE […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 25 – Quarry tour along the CN main

Close-up view of a rock-carrying conveyor belt in a rail-served quarry.

Through special arrangements with Lannon Stone Products, Inc., a rail-served rock quarry along the Canadian National main line, host Drew Halverson and the MRVP video crew follow knowledgeable employees through the Sussex, Wisconsin, operation. In this industrial-sized adventure, you’ll enjoy seeing unique footage of rock blasting, crushing, processing, loading, and hauling, plus plenty of modeling […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 25 – Quarry tour along the CN main

Close-up view of a rock-carrying conveyor belt in a rail-served quarry.

Through special arrangements with Lannon Stone Products, Inc., a rail-served rock quarry along the Canadian National main line, host Drew Halverson and the MRVP video crew follow knowledgeable employees through the Sussex, Wisconsin, operation. In this industrial-sized adventure, you’ll enjoy seeing unique footage of rock blasting, crushing, processing, loading, and hauling, plus plenty of modeling […]

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Get well soon

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Southern SD45 3134 leaves a pall of smoke over the depot area at Salisbury, N.C., July 17, 1977. Mike Small Growing up in close proximity to a main line, I’ve always valued speed and power in railroading. We lived about a mile south of Jamestown, N.C., where Southern Railway’s Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Ga., route […]

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