Digest: Maine’s WW&F cancels Spring Work Weekend

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Maine’s WW&F museum cancels Spring Work Weekend The WW&F Railway Museum in Alna, Maine, has cancelled its annual Spring Work Weekend due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum’s Board of Directors took the action at its monthly meeting on Feb. 13. The three-day work weekend typically brings 80 or more volunteers together to build track, […]

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Digest: Union City, Ind., launches effort to save interlocking tower

Abandoned brick interlocking tower

Additional Tuesday morning rail news: Fundraising effort begins to save Union City, Ind., tower A fundraising effort has launched to save a former CSX interlocking tower in Union City, Ind., which is scheduled for demolition. The Winchester News Gazette reports the “Save the Rail Tower” effort seeks to raise $50,000 by March 25 for funds to […]

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Digest: CP sets January grain record

Canadian Pacific beaver logo

Monday afternoon rail news: CP sets January record for Canadian grain movement Canadian Pacific set a record for Canadian grain movement in January, transporting 2.22 million metric tons to better the record set a year earlier by 6%. The railroad has now shipped 16 million metric tons so far in the 2020-21 grain season, an […]

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Digest: East Broad Top work uncovers decayed dynamite

East Broad Top logo

Friday afternoon rail news: Work at East Broad Top uncovers, removes decayed dynamite Stabilization work on a building at the East Broad Top Railroad took an unexpected turn this week with the discovery of five cases of material labeled as explosives. After work halted, analysis determined the material was probably decayed dynamite, estimated to be […]

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Oregon Rail Heritage Center seeks funds to complete turntable project

Turntable frame under tent for sandblasting

PORTLAND, Ore.  — The Oregon Rail Heritage Center, home of three significant steam locomotives, is seeking funding to complete restoration of the nearly century-old Brooklyn Turntable, rescued from the former Brooklyn yard in southeast Portland. The roundhouse at that yard was the home of the center’s locomotives — Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449, the former […]

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Washington project rebuilding GN caboose from the frame up

Gray wooden caboose under restoration

TENINO, Wash. — Over the last year, the residents of the small western Washington town of Tenino have become accustomed to the sounds of saws and hammers coming from 1920s-era Great Northern caboose X549. The caboose restoration is a joint venture between the town of Tenino and the Tenino Historical Depot. The caboose was purchased […]

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East Broad Top sets ‘Winter Spectacular’ for Feb. 20

Green motorcar on turntable

ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad has announced details for a one-day revival of its “Winter Spectacular” on Saturday, Feb. 20. The Winter Spectacular was an annual railfan event in south-central Pennsylvania from 1966 to 1981, held each President’s Day weekend. It started with the 1927 gas-electric car No. M-1 […]

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Digest: Oregon commuter rail operation costs $108 per passenger, news report says

White multiple unit diesel passenger train on curve

Still more Tuesday morning rail news: News report says Oregon’s WES commuter rail now costs $108 per passenger to operate Portland, Ore.,-area commuter rail operation Westside Express Service, with already low ridership hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, now costs nearly $108 per passenger to operate — more than 10 times the figures for transit […]

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B&O Museum celebrates restoration of first Electro-Motive streamliner

Streamlined gray and blue diesel locomotive

BALTIMORE, Md. — Baltimore & Ohio Railroad No. 51, the first Electro-Motive Corp. streamlined diesel locomotive, was placed on display in the B&O Museum’s historic roundhouse on Jan. 29 following completion of the locomotive’s restoration. The 1937 EA model set the standard for art deco locomotive design by EMC, which later became the Electro-Motive Division […]

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Digest: New agreement allows BNSF Bismarck bridge project to move forward

Train coming off bridge on broad curve

Still more Monday morning rail news:   New agreement allows BNSF Bismarck bridge project to move forward without final decision on current bridge BNSF Railway’s long-running effort to replace its 138-year-old Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge over the Missouri River can continue to move forward after a new agreement between the railroad, the U.S. Coast Guard, and […]

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Monticello, Ill., museum offers throttle time on rare RS1325 (corrected link)

Orange diesel locomotives on freight train

MONTICELLO, Ill. — The Monticello Railway Museum is offering aa chance to operate its recently acquired former Chicago & Illinois Midland RS1325 No. 31, one of just two such locomotives built. The museum is selling tickets for an hour of throttle time, with participants running the locomotive under direction of a museum locomotive engineer. Those […]

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Rio Grande Southern steam locomotive returned to service in Colorado

Steam locomotive moves out of a roundhouse.

  Follow along with Trains Editor Jim Wrinn as he gets a close look at Rio Grande Southern No. 20 — a newly restored narrow-gauge 4-6-0 steam locomotive now homed at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colo.  Before 2020, No. 20 had not steamed since the 1950s and required more than a decade of […]

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