Locomotive profile: 4-8-8-4 Big Boy type steam locomotive

Smoking steam locomotive with freight train in shallow cut

Union Pacific Big Boy type steam locomotive No. 4011 ross west at Granite, Wyoming, in 1956. Jim Ehernberger 4-8-8-4 •YEARS BUILT: 1941 to 1944 •MANUFACTURER: Alco •OPERATED ON: Union Pacific •NAME: Big Boy •QUANTITY: 25 •BOILER PRESSURE: 300 psi •KNOWN FOR: Among the heaviest and most powerful reciprocating-piston steam locomotives ever built •STATUS: Eight preserved: […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 42 St. Louis Gateway City

The eagerly anticipated warm-weather exploration of the rails in, around, and even under the Gateway to the West is set to rekindle Trackside Adventures! Catch up with host Drew Halverson, along with Kent Johnson, Charlie Conway, and Sherpa Allan Dahncke, as they make their way to ideal hotspots for capturing Amtrak, BNSF, NS, TRRA, UP, […]

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Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 42 St. Louis Gateway City

The eagerly anticipated warm-weather exploration of the rails in, around, and even under the Gateway to the West is set to rekindle Trackside Adventures! Catch up with host Drew Halverson, along with Kent Johnson, Charlie Conway, and Sherpa Allan Dahncke, as they make their way to ideal hotspots for capturing Amtrak, BNSF, NS, TRRA, UP, […]

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Locomotive profile: 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotive

RIO GRANDE SCENIC NO. 1744 AT LAVETA PASS, COLO., IN 2007.

Rio Grande Scenic 2-6-0 No. 1744 at Laveta Pass, Colorado, in 2002. Jim Wrinn 2-6-0 •YEARS BUILT: 1852-1929 •MANUFACTURERS: Lima, Southern Pacific, Baldwin, Pennsylvania Railroad, others •OPERATED ON: Chicago & Western Indiana, Baltimore & Ohio, Green Bay & Western, Boston & Maine, Southern Pacific, Canadian National, short lines •NAMES: Mogul, Valley Mallet •QUANTITY: 8,000; Canadian […]

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East Broad Top Railroad profile and history

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado-type 2-8-2 locomotives Nos. 12 and 15 appear at the Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, station as part of a nighttime photo shoot in October 2011.

East Broad Top Railroad Mikado-type 2-8-2 locomotives Nos. 12 and 15 appear at the Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, station as part of a nighttime photo shoot in October 2011. Alex Mayes East Broad Top Railroad map The East Broad Top was the last narrow gauge common carrier in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. It was […]

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33 railroad places you need to visit in the East

A Florida East Coast train.

A Florida East Coast train. TRAINS: Tom Danneman A version of this list was previously published in the November 2015 issue of Trains Magazine. 1 RAHWAY, N.J. Google Image search Six tracks abreast proclaim speed and intensity on the Northeast Corridor. 2 THURMOND, W.VA. Trip Advisor entry Classic 20th century coal and railroad town deep in the […]

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A young railfan’s “lucky mistake”

NYC4208

Not a Berkshire, but not bad: New York Central PA diesel No. 4208 and an unidentified PB hurry through Willoughby, Ohio, on Dec. 19, 1954. J. W. Swanberg I grew up in Connecticut, but my parents came from Minnesota, so all our relatives were there. Dad drove us to the Twin Cities at least once a […]

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17 railroad places you need to visit in the Central U.S. or Midwest

An unusual, short, BNSF Railway train heads south on the Joint Line between Denver and Pueblo, Colo.

An unusual, short, BNSF Railway train heads south on the Joint Line between Denver and Pueblo, Colo. Trains Staff A version of this article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of Trains. 1 NORTH PLATTE, NEB. The world’s largest yard merits a spike-shaped observation tower. It covers more than 2,800 acres of land. 2 […]

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Steam 101

UP4455

Grubby but still working, former Union Pacific 0-6-0 4455 waits for its next move at the Monolith cement plant near Laramie, Wyoming, in September 1967. A. J. Wolff When I began my freshman year at the University of Wyoming in Laramie in 1963, I was vaguely aware that steam locomotives possibly were still being used […]

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Amtrak offers ‘surprise and delight’ gift box for railfans; appears sold out in hours NEWSWIRE

Surprise

Amtrak Store website screen image WASHINGTON — You might be too late to grab a “Surprise and Delight” railfan gift box Amtrak offered for sale on Monday. A National Railroad Passenger Corp. representative confirmed to Trains on Monday afternoon that the railroad’s online store offered a limited set of 50 surprise boxes to customers — announcing […]

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