Big Boy No. 4014 restoration update

Man with hardhat looking to interviewer in large industrial workshop.

Trains visits Union Pacific’s steam shop in Cheyenne, Wyo., for an update on the restoration of Big Boy No. 4014. Join us on a tour of the shop and hear Ed Dickens, senior manager of heritage operations, describe the project’s status and the effort to have the engine back in steam in 2019! Be sure […]

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Taking Care of Business: Copper Basin Railway, Part 1

Two diesel locomotives appear backlit in a rail yard with sunlight glinting off from a low angle.

With Charlie Conway behind the cameras, discover what makes the Copper Basin Railway shine brightly in the Arizona desert. In part 1 of 2, you’ll make a mine run with the crew in the cab of a Geep, take a hammer to hard iron rails, and then get to know president “Jake” Jacobson, right along […]

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‘X’ locomotive number

TRNAT0216_01

Southern Pacific cab-forward 4-8-8-2 No. 4219 leads an extra train at Dunsmuir, Calif., in August 1948. Guy L. Dunscomb, Martin E. Hansen collection Q On some early Union Pacific and Southern Pacific steam and diesel locomotives there is an “X” in front of the number. Why is this done? – Leon Bassik, Langhorne, Pa. A […]

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Trains Presents: ‘Ferdinand Magellan’ Presidential railcar

Ferdinand Magellan railcar

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami holds one of the nation’s most famous passenger cars, the Ferdinand Magellan. The official private car of Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower was a rolling White House for these leaders. Step inside this unique car to learn more about how it was used and how it was specially […]

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Polishing the rails for General Electric

nyc9363

New York Central S3 No. 9363 stands on the West Side line in Manhattan in 1967. Thirteen years earlier and 150 miles to the north, the road used another Alco switcher in a novel attempt to capture special-train business. Elliot Kahn, Louis A. Marre coll. In a lifetime of reading about railroading, I’ve seen the […]

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Different paths, same destination

CumminsQSK95testlocomotive1919

Cummins QSK95 test locomotive No. 1919 uses Selective Catalytic Reduction aftertreatment of its exhaust. The system is located in the wing overhang; a urea and water solution tank is inside the forward portion of the fuel tank below the forward air reservoir. Chris Guss With Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 emission regulations in effect for […]

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