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2014 Trains Photo Contest

Posted 9 years ago by Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

Thanks again for sending us nearly 350 images, depicting 123 sequences for our 2014 contest. The theme was "sequence." The challenge was to send a single two- or three-photo sequence in a theme of your choosing. Check out the winners below, and please let us know what you think in the comments section below. Grand prize: Robert P. Schmidt's three-photo sequence of an Erie Lackawanna switchman at Griffith, Ind., in 1971. First prize: Misko Kranjec's three-photo sequence of a couple reunit...

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Why Ferguson Should Worry Railfans

Posted 9 years ago by John Hankey

You may think that the events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, have little to do with being a casual railfan or serious historian. In my opinion, that would be unwise. Take away the violence, and there are disturbing parallels. Over a few decades of being a railfan and picture taker, I lost count of how many times I was told to a) leave railroad property, b) go get permission from someone, or c) just be careful. Once in a while, a railroad special agent would get a little brusque or choose not...

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A Community is Formed Aboard a Train

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

I have come to the end of the second transcontinental train trip produced by the nonprofit Millennial Trains Project (MTP), having just returned home to Washington, DC after sharing the final two days with the group in New York City, the journey's endpoint. MTP is an endeavor founded on the idea that people can change the world through intentional, shared experiences of travel, and that trains can carry and spread ideas as easily as they can grain or lumber, and with the intent of restoring fait...

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Is Echo, Utah, the best railfan rest stop in America?

Posted 9 years ago by Jim Wrinn

On the morning of July 31, we witness a westbound stack train glide through Echo Canyon a few hundred feet below the I-80 rest area. Perched high on a hillside on a lonely but breathtakingly beautiful stretch of Interstate 80 just outside of Echo, Utah, must be the best rest stop in America — for railfans. With a sweeping view of the rough red sandstone cliffs of Echo Canyon, frequent trains on Union Pacific’s original transcontinental railroad, and convenient benches under sun...

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A Fresh Model for Dining by Rail

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Part of the mission of the Millennial Trains Project is to inspire ideas for a prosperous and sustainable American future by connecting Millennials to America’s landscape and history through the experience of cross-country train travel. And nothing complements a train journey quite like good food. That is why MTP brought on board Christian Ortiz and Simone Carvalho, the husband and wife team behind New York City-based C.C.O. Consulting Group to prepare meals for the close to 40 p...

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Five items to look for in the upcoming Lac-Mégantic report

Posted 9 years ago by Justin Franz

More than a year after a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will release its final report of what happened on that summer night in 2013. The TSB will hold a news conference on Tuesday in Lac-Mégantic where the report will be made public. While the main story line of what happened on July 6 is known – an eastbound MM&A oil train was parked at a siding near Nantes when ...

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Millennials Bounce Ideas Off of Amtrak Official

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Because our private cars could not be parked in Milwaukee nor easily taken back there from Chicago to pick us up, the Millennial Trains Project (MTP) participants and crew traveled to Chicago this morning aboard a reserved Horizon coach car on Amtrak’s 8:05 AM Hiawatha departure from Milwaukee’s Intermodal Center. For the entirety of the nearly two-hour ride south to the nation’s rail hub, we were joined by Chicago-based Amtrak Government Affairs Specialist for the Midwest Regi...

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Milwaukee Has a Lot Going for It, But Something's Missing

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Having passed the halfway point in our transcontinental journey, the Millennial Trains Project participants arrived Tuesday in Milwaukee (whose metro area is home to Trains Magazine's offices). After departing St. Paul Union Depot three hours late, due to waiting over an hour for our cars to be commected to the eastbound Empire Builder and a brake test to be performed, we enjoyed the ride down the Mississippi River and across western Wisconsin farmland on a crystal clear, cool summer day. As we ...

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Making odds on the future of an iconic mountain grade: Rust in place Saluda

Posted 9 years ago by Jim Wrinn

I was going to write a sentimental post about Norfolk Southern’s sale of two lines out of Asheville, N.C., to Kansas-based shortline conglomerate Watco, which launched its brand new 91.8-mile Blue Ridge Southern on July 26. Both routes were once Southern Railway territory. One line was part of the rugged but scenic Murphy Branch and the other led to famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) Saluda grade, long known as the steepest mainline grade in North America (though the inactiv...

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The Twin Cities: United by Rail Transit (and a Shared Desire for its Expansion)

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

The Millennial Trains Project made its fourth stop of the 2014 journey in Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Monday, after the young innovators on board got the chance to take in the vastness of Montana and North Dakota on Sunday. The landscape, which featured broad rolling ranch lands and textured sandstone cliffs along the Missouri River valley, and on-board mentor David Bragdon (see previous post) shared Capt. Meriwether Lewis’s journal from his exploration, with Lt. William Clark, of the...

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West Virginia’s railroad coalfields take another blow: Alpha Natural Resources projects 1,100 layoffs at southern W.Va. mines this fall

Posted 9 years ago by Chase Gunnoe

In an announcement published on Thursday July 31, executives at Alpha Natural Resources, one of the nation’s largest coal producers said it expects to lay off 1,100 workers at approximately 11 southern West Virginia surface coal mines by mid-October, attributing the layoffs to dismal markets and rigorous federal regulations. Eastbound empties pass the eastbound absolute signal at W.E. MacCorkle Siding on CSX's Coal River Subdivision. The train is enroute to Danville area coal mine...

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Exceptional Foreign Students Share Perspectives on Train Travel

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

This year’s Millennial Trains Project (MTP) — whose inspiration comes from founder Patrick Dowd’s experience with a similar train journey of purpose for Millennials as a Fulbright scholar in India — is fortunate to have on board five Fulbright scholars representing five different countries, each of whom is a student at a US university who is traveling across America for the first time to pursue a self-guided project, as are the 25 American participants. The Fulbright prog...

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The First Maker Space on Rails

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

The second annual Millennial Trains Project transcontinental journey is fortunate to host the first ever mobile maker space on board the 1956 Budd-built dome-lounge Silver Splendor (originally the CB&Q’s Silver Buckle). Built as a dome-coach, the interior was converted so that one side of the dome has couches facing each other across the aisle, and the other side has tables seating four each. The dome has eight tables—four in the middle seating four each, and two on the ends of t...

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A Town, and a Park, Built By and Intertwined With the Railroad

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Any city or town of significant size in America’s interior that is not located on a navigable waterway was built by, and so located because of, the railroad. By and large, cities and towns located along linear pathways in the West and Midwest are arrayed along rail lines, either existing or former. And the railroad still provides an economic lifeline to many of these places, primarily through freight movement, but also—for those lucky enough to have Amtrak service—through passe...

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Train Travel and the (New) American Dream

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

The mentors and lecturers invited to speak to this year’s Millennial Trains Project (MTP) participants have begun to instigate discussions on redefining the American Dream, the central theme of this year’s journey. And the means by which MTP is moving across the country — the train itself — became a key part of this conversation. Well-known veteran travel writer Robert Reid, who is from New York City but now lives in Portland and covered last year’s inaugural...

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The dynamic duo

Posted 9 years ago by Samuel Phillips

This is about two beautiful heritage locomotives that were paired in Roanoke, Va., last month. The two have brought enjoyment to railfans across Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio for the last month. I know. I was one of them. For me, it started on July 15th as I began my day at home. I knew the night before that the Reading heritage unit, a model SD70ACe, was in South Yard at Roanoke. I tentatively planned to photograph it if it departed leading a Belews Creek coal train. I recei...

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The Attitude Shift Behind Portland's Leadership in Rail Transit Development

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Portland, Oregon is often described as the most European city in the US. One main reason is that it has embraced rail transit. The City of Roses boasts the densest network of modern light rail and streetcar lines (the oldest was built in 1986) of a city its size in the country. Five Tri-Met MAX light rail lines and two Portland Streetcar lines crisscross downtown, weaving along streets and cutting across the numerous plazas, parks and pedestrian malls that also give the city a continental feel. ...

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This map has no bars held

Posted 9 years ago by David Lassen

We’re deep into planning for 2015 at Trains. (Great stuff is on tap. Of course, I can’t tell you about any of it. This is in part because I barely know about it myself.) As part of the planning process, our Map of the Month designer, Bill Metzger, stopped by the office recently to pitch ideas for the year ahead. Since Your New Guy is going to be the primary editor for Map of the Month, I sat in on this meeting with great interest, if little input. I’m still very much in ...

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The Journey Begins in the City of Roses

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

I arrived in Portland without incident, tolerating air travel, as I do, always wishing I were on a train instead. But my United Airlines flights were auspicious in that I had a beautiful overview of my home city of Washington, DC, from the plane after taking off from National Airport, and had a spectacular look at Mount Hood on descent into Portland. I also got a free upgrade to an Economy Plus seat, and enjoyed access to the United Club thanks to my Select Plus status with Amtrak Guest Rewards....

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Telling Trans-Regional Stories Through Train Travel

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Margaret Kargbo in the Silver Lariat dome in eastern Utah, behind Amtrak's eastbound California Zephyr. Photo by Malcolm Kenton. Stories are the stuff of railroading, as they are the stuff of our lives and, indeed, the stuff of the universe. It is writers’ and journalists’ job to tell stories that inform and/or provoke thought. At Trains, we tell the stories of railroading’s past and present and speculate on its future, which we all are confident is bright. Likewise, the goal ...

2

Making rail history more accessible

Posted 9 years ago by Brian Schmidt

The railroad hobby seems to be filled with an almost endless array of niches. We have modelers and photographers and collectors and note-takers and videographers and audiophiles and preservations and the list goes on. It goes without saying the opportunity for crossover between niches is also quite broad. Thus we have the Milwaukee Light Engineering Society: part model railroad, part preservation, and part educational outreach. The group’s 7.5-inch gauge outdoor railroad boa...

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A Train Journey of Discovery, Innovation and Action

Posted 9 years ago by Malcolm Kenton

Picture yourself traversing the spectacular and storied Empire Builder and Lake Shore Limited routes, all the way from Portland, Ore., to New York City, in a Budd-built short dome car, originally part of the Rio Grande Zephyr fleet, and sleeping in a roomette or double bedroom on a vintage streamlined Pullman. Now imagine having 10 days to cross the continent, and being able to stop for at least 24 hours in five cities along the way, with your cars set off the train at each locale to serve as ...

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10 myths about visiting the Colorado narrow gauge

Posted 9 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 No. 482 climbs the hill at Hermosa, Colo. Jim Wrinn photo Is the Colorado narrow gauge on your bucket list? If not, it should be. It’s still the easiest way to experience 1920s steam railroading without having to invent a time machine. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are both remnants of the mountain meandering Rio Grande 3-foot gauge network that will delight and surprise you with their scenic beauty and ...

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Rochelle webcam puts you right in the action!

Posted 9 years ago by Brian Schmidt

Yes, I know, it took a while. Some even said we'd never get it done. But this month Trains Magazine's new and improved Rochelle Railroad Park webcam in Illinois is up and running. Yes, I said it: New and improved! The new Rochelle webcam provides a larger high-resolution image, centered right on the diamond so you won't miss a train. And boy are there still trains in Rochelle, up to 100 a day! And with the added audio you'll have an easier time finding trains on the webcam, too. Just don't for...

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Nine steamy things you can do this fall

Posted 9 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Looking for lots of steam? Head to the southwestern corner of Colorado and northern New Mexico. This is the Durango & Silverton roundhouse in Durango, Colo., at night. Jim Wrinn photo OK, so you had your heart set on riding or photographing Southern Railway 4501’s first excursions down south or catching a rare Spokane Seattle & Portland 700 excursion out west, but now neither one will happen this fall. Your other favorite locomotives, Southern Pacific 4449 and Union Pacific 844, a...

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Updated Trains Magazine photo submission guidelines

Posted 9 years ago by Brian Schmidt

Trains Magazine could not be the magazine that it is without the wonderful photo submissions we receive from readers. We have recently updated our online photo submission guidelines to better reflect the magazine's needs and workflow. There had been a growing number of inquiries about file formats and sizes that the old guidelines did not address due to their age. Our complete magazine submission guidelines can be found online at www.trainsmag.com. PHOTOGRAPHS Acceptable formats We rely hea...

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Facts & statistics on bringing night to day at the NCTM last month

Posted 9 years ago by Chase Gunnoe

After providing two night photo sessions at Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association’s annual Cass Railfan Weekend in early May, our volunteer photography work force reconvened in Spencer for the duration of the North Carolina Transportation Museum’s Streamliners at Spencer festivities over the week of May 29- June 1. In cooperation with Norfolk Southern, NCTM personnel, and other organizations, the historic gathering featured three different nights of unique pho...

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A couple of good reasons to visit Montana in winter

Posted 9 years ago by Tom Murray

For the past three years, my wife Marcia and I have spent a month each winter volunteering at Yellowstone National Park's Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner, Montana. Why do this in the winter, you ask? The short answer is: because that's when we can get housing there. The HRC is the repository for scientific and cultural resources at Yellowstone. You can find everything there from a bison skull or a volcanic rock to the copper plates that photographer F. Jay Haynes used to make the prin...

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Greetings from the Mojave Desert!

Posted 9 years ago by Chase Gunnoe

For the past several days, I have enjoyed visiting and photographing Southern California’s exciting railroad operations, ranging from the famous Tehachapi Loops, iconic Cajon Pass, and the sunny Amtrak Pacific Surfline. This is my third visit to California since 2012 and with each visit; I’ve found myself more enamored with the landscapes and photo opportunities. The terrain and climate of southern California is most certainly a striking contrast to that of my home state of West Vir...

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When the road meets the railroad

Posted 9 years ago by David Lester

NS 6169 led the Peach State Whistle Stop Safety Train, and we see it here after arrival in Dalton, Georgia. Look between the ditch lights, and you'll see the lens hood of the camera mounted on the front. All photos by David Lester. Growing up in Southern Railway country, I became aware of the Operation Lifesaver program very soon after I began studying the railroad industry, nearly 40 years ago. The Southern was a major participant in and promoter of this program, and stories about it app...

2014 Trains Photo Contest

Why Ferguson Should Worry Railfans

A Community is Formed Aboard a Train

Is Echo, Utah, the best railfan rest stop in America?

A Fresh Model for Dining by Rail

Five items to look for in the upcoming Lac-Mégantic report

Millennials Bounce Ideas Off of Amtrak Official

Milwaukee Has a Lot Going for It, But Something's Missing

Making odds on the future of an iconic mountain grade: Rust in place Saluda

The Twin Cities: United by Rail Transit (and a Shared Desire for its Expansion)

West Virginia’s railroad coalfields take another blow: Alpha Natural Resources projects 1,100 layoffs at southern W.Va. mines this fall

Exceptional Foreign Students Share Perspectives on Train Travel

The First Maker Space on Rails

A Town, and a Park, Built By and Intertwined With the Railroad

Train Travel and the (New) American Dream

The dynamic duo

The Attitude Shift Behind Portland's Leadership in Rail Transit Development

This map has no bars held

The Journey Begins in the City of Roses

Telling Trans-Regional Stories Through Train Travel

Making rail history more accessible

A Train Journey of Discovery, Innovation and Action

10 myths about visiting the Colorado narrow gauge

Rochelle webcam puts you right in the action!

Nine steamy things you can do this fall

Updated Trains Magazine photo submission guidelines

Facts & statistics on bringing night to day at the NCTM last month

A couple of good reasons to visit Montana in winter

Greetings from the Mojave Desert!

When the road meets the railroad

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