The story of Mad Dog and the volcano starts on March 20, 1980. At 3:47 p.m. on that day, Mount St. Helens rumbled to life with an earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale. It was mostly unnoticed. Earthquakes often occur in Washington State, most are light enough not to be felt. Within a week […]
SACRAMENTO — California legislators have agreed to a deal that would provide more than $3 billion to aid state transit agencies such as Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit that say they are facing a “fiscal cliff”as a result of low ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The deal would […]
ORANGE, Calif. — The Orange County Transportation Authority board has declared an emergency as a result of ongoing landslide issues in San Clemente, Calif., a move the board says will allow agency CEO Darrell E. Johnson to take steps to protect the rail line below the unstable hillside. That will likely mean design and construction […]
Helper locomotives Helper locomotives are an essential part of modern railroading. It is an additional locomotive (or locomotives) added to a train in order to provide sufficient horsepower when the train is working through steep inclines (or grades), or must keep up a specific speed. Many routes with stiff grades will have specifically designated “helper […]
WILLIAMS, Ariz. — Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel’s 2-8-2 No. 4960 led a charter train on June 10, one week after its scheduled “First Saturday” excursion. The Williams-Grand Canyon National Park trip was part of the itinerary for last week’s National Model Railroad Association’s PSR Grand Canyon Special Convention, hosted by the Arizona Division. With […]
From the ground up The roots of railroad videography can be traced back to the late 19th century when French brothers, Louis and Auguste Lumière released Arrivée d’un train (à la Ciotat) as a marketing tool for their developing Cinématographe. While not being fully restricted to many, filming [later video recording] trains was approached for […]
Harold Borovec, a significant figure in steam preservation in the Pacific Northwest, died June 10 at age 96. Borovec, born in 1927 in Chehalis, Wash., served as an engineer and mechanical officer for several steam tourist operations in Washington state, including the Puget Sound & Snoqualmie Railroad, the Camp 6 logging exhibit in Tacoma, the […]
Visit the Golden Spike National Historic Site where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed with the driving of a golden spike on May 10, 1869. Promontory Summit has been preserved by the National Park Service much as it existed over 150 years ago and includes a visitors’ center, several miles of preserved right-of-way, and two full-size, […]
On the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, three-foot-gauge trains, pulled by original Baldwin steam locomotives, operate through mountains and deserts over tracks laid down in the 1880s. This 64-mile line, once part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, is America’s longest and highest narrow-gauge railroad and features steep grades and magnificent vistas of western […]
Steam, diesel, and electric power from rail lines across the Midwest operate side-by-side at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill., which is located 90 minutes northwest of Chicago along a former interurban line, the Elgin & Belvidere. The campus is home to over 450 pieces of railroad equipment and includes 27 steam locomotives, 50 […]
The Big Boy Men William M. Jeffers, Union Pacific Railroad president, and Otto Jabelmann, vice president — research and mechanical standards, began their careers in the lowest ranking positions. Both men were known for their tempers and a belief that the only way to get a job done was to do it with their own […]
The museum recreates the experience of Midwest branch line railroading as it existed decades ago. Visitors first take a train ride aboard restored 1915 steel passenger cars pulled by a diesel locomotive over the former Chicago & North Western “Rattlesnake Line.” Afterward, there are numerous indoor and outdoor exhibits to discover on the spacious museum […]
