CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has launched a fundraising campaign to return both its steam locomotives — 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 and 2-8-0 No. 734 — to operation, with No. 1309 newly sidelined after the discovery it needs its pistons and rods replaced. The former Cheaspeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 has been the heritage railroad’s […]
WASHINGTON — A pair of rail-related projects are among the 18 selected to receive grants totaling $645 million under the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program, announced Tuesday, Dec. 12, by the U.S. Department of Transportation. “Rural communities face some of the toughest transportation challenges, yet are often left out of major federal investments, a pattern […]
Western Maryland 2-10-0 1109 rounds famous Helmstetter’s Curve west of Cumberland, Md., with a westbound freight in May 1952. Unseen, two more Decapods at mid-train and a fourth on the rear help lift the train upgrade. Ed Theisinger photo […]
CROZET, Va. — “Surprise and delight” is language public-relations gurus routinely apply to whatever they are promoting, though you never know when it will actually occur while looking out the window of an Amtrak passenger train. Last Sunday, Dec. 3, it happened aboard the Chicago-bound Cardinal about 12 miles west of Charlottesville, Va., on the […]
In an early 20th century photo, a Camelback locomotive, probably a 2-8-0, crosses the Erie Railroad’s Starrucca Viaduct with a westbound freight. Completed in 1848 at Lanesboro, Pa., on the Erie’s main line west to Binghamton, N.Y., the 1,200-foot stone structure is still carrying trains in 2017. Erie photo […]
CASS, W.Va. — The Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association, founded in 1982, which played a key role in support of the Cass Scenic Railroad, will conclude operations, its president has announced. Association president Matt Wilson informed members in a Nov. 24 letter that the organization will become part another group, Friends of Cass […]
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — OmniTRAX will take over management of West Virginia’s South Branch Valley Railroad this Friday, Dec. 1, the company has announced. The transportation affiliate of The Broe Group said Wednesday that it had entered into “a definitive agreement with the West Virginia Deparment of Transportation to operate and grow” the 52.4-mile railroad, a […]
Well-tended Western Maryland 4-6-2 Pacific-type No. 153 stands beside the joint Chesapeake & Ohio-Western Maryland station at Durbin, W.Va., with train No. 53 from Elkins. The railroad had 19 such locomotives in the K-1 and K-2 classes, built by Baldwin between 1909 and 1912. Robert F. Collins photo […]
CSX Santa Train The CSX Santa Train, enjoying new life after a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, again delighted children and adults along its 110-mile former Clinchfield Railroad route between Shelby, Ky., and Kingsport, Tenn. This year’s train featured a new “Santa Car” rebuilt from a former Pan Am Railways office car, as well […]
KINGSPORT, Tenn. — “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” wrote American humorist Mark Twain in a letter to a news reporter who asked if news of his impending demise were true. The same can be said of the CSX Santa Train. Until Joe Hinrichs was hired by the CSX board of directors as CEO […]
Take a ride along the rails of Lou Sassi’s On30 Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes model railroad, as SR&L No. 15 shoves an extra train hauling a GoPro Hero 6 Black action-camera. To learn more about how Lou scratch built the camera car used to capture these stellar low-angle views, be sure to read the […]
Take a ride along the rails of Lou Sassi’s On30 Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes model railroad, as SR&L No. 15 shoves an extra train hauling a GoPro Hero 6 Black action-camera. To learn more about how Lou scratch built the camera car used to capture these stellar low-angle views, be sure to read the […]
