PORT CLINTON, Pa. — The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, the Reading & Northern’s tourist rail operation based in Jim Thorpe, Pa., will once again offer its Bike Trains on selected weekends in May through September. The trains, part of the railroad’s schedule for more than a decade, carry passenger and their bicycles from Jim Thorpe […]
Colorado’s Royal Gorge Route Railroad has returned its F7A and F7B locomotives to service. With an impressive plume of smoke, F7A No. 403, built for the Chicago & North Western in 1949, and former Alaska Railroad F7B No. 1503 led a train out of Cañon City, Colo., on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. It was the […]
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Wilmington & Western Railroad will suspend operations for the 2025 season “to conduct important maintenance and repairs to our beloved equipment,” according to a statement posted on the railroad’s website on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. The statement from the board of directors for the railroad’s parent organization, Historic Red Clay Valley […]
WILMINGTON, Del. — Volunteers on the Wilmington & Western Railroad say railroad staff have notified them that operations on the long-time heritage railway are paused indefinitely. Volunteers seeking information about the railroad’s March schedule were notified of the decision in an email earlier this month. The railway depends on its all-volunteer crew to staff trains. […]
LEBANON, Ohio — Cincinnati Scenic Railway’s Ohio Rail Experience has announced its 2025 tour schedule, marking the return of a series of excursions last held in 2022. Trips — operated in partnership with local historical societies, the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad, and the Cincinnati Railway Co. — will run on six different routes are planned […]
STEARNS, Ky. — McCreary County Heritage Foundation officials, owners of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway right-of-way, have confirmed the Jan. 28 derailment of a locomotive was the result of a runaway incident. No one was injured in the incident on the 14-mile tourist railway [see “Big South Fork Scenic locomotive derails …,” Trains News […]
STEARNS, Ky. — A former Atlantic Coast Line EMD SW9 has been badly damaged in a light-engine derailment on Kentucky and Tennessee’s Big South Fork Scenic Railway. Aerial photos on the cover of the McCreary Journal, a southern Kentucky local newspaper, reveal a badly damaged EMD SW9 No. 106 derailed and resting against a mountainside […]
Growing up, the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City has been Braden Brickman’s avocation. It’s now his vocation as the 23-year-old is employed as the restoration specialist to not only oversee said restorations, but also the maintenance and operation of the museum’s railroad and historic equipment. How did you get involved in rail preservation? […]
CUMBERLAND, Md. — Public TV series Great Scenic Railway Journeys has joined with the restoration effort for Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 2-8-0 No. 734, launching a $10,000 donation-match program for the restoration project. The program is offering a dollar-for-dollar match up to $10,000 for the effort to return the locomotive to operating condition. The 2-8-0, […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, the organization that serves as the heritage rail line’s museum arm, has hired Rick Marsden as its new executive director. The Friends board announced the move Jan. 24. The hiring is effective Feb. 13. Marsden will replace Tim Tennant, retiring after 20 years […]
BOONTON, N.J. – Construction work in Amtrak’s East River Tunnels will indefinitely sideline the United Railroad Historical Society’s Hudson River Rail Excursions after trips scheduled for February and March with the group’s former New York Central lounge cars. The historical society will operate “Farewell (For Now) Excursions” from New York Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., […]
THOMASTON, Conn. — The Naugatuck Railroad has purchased three former Santa Fe Hi-Level railcars for its excursion operations, the short line has announced. The cars, two lounges and one coach, were acquired from the Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso, Mich., operator of Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225. The Institute acquired the cars in 2019 and […]
