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Where do you find inspiration?

Posted one month ago by Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

Here in Dairyland in January, it’s cold, the days are too short, the snow is an inconvenience (although sometimes beautiful, but it overstays its welcome), and the pandemic continues to harsh one’s buzz. So, how do you stay inspired? Do you read the latest railroad book? Do you work on your model railroad? Do you organize your photo collection? Do you share photos online? Do you bundle up and head out for a few hours trackside? For me, it’s still worth it, even if ...

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'Big Projects' arrives, with stories both timely and timeless

Posted 3 months ago by David Lassen

Our latest special issue, “Big Projects: Tracks, Trestles & Tunnels,” will soon be on its way to those who’ve made advance purchases, and will be showing up at newsstands, hobby shops, and other sales locations on Dec. 1. As the issue's editor, I like to think Big Projects is a Big Deal. It’s a 92-page collection of some of our best infrastructure articles from the last decade, along with new articles addressing our enduring fascination with big things th...

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Trains magazine celebrates its 80th year with Soo Line No. 1003

Posted 4 months ago by Angela Pusztai-Pasternak

Trains is turning 80 in November and what better way to celebrate than with a steam engine near and dear to Wisconsin’s heart. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic quashing the plans for our evening soirée (stay tuned to next year for that), our celebration remains with 50 lucky registered folks who will enjoy a day with Soo Line No. 1003 on Nov. 15. Editor Jim Wrinn has hosted several photo charters across the U.S. in recent years. These events are complicated on so many levels, not just...

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When railroads changed the world — looking for stories

Posted 5 months ago by Steve Sweeney

We know railroads have changed the course of history.From making frequent, long-distance travel practical and affordable to lowering the transportation costs of heavy or distant goods, railroads have done their bit. Away from obvious, well-documented stories such as those about the Transcontinental Railroad and New York's legendary subway system, are quips and tales, anecdotes on the edges of memory — all-true — of when railroads made THE difference.But unfortunately, these sto...

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Steaming the Last Baldwin, 1309: With these rings, I thee steam

Posted 5 months ago by Jim Wrinn

I touched base Friday with the team working on Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 2-6-6-2 No. 1309. They are busy at the shop in Ridgeley, W.Va., working on multiple fronts at one time, in an effort to complete Baldwin’s last domestic product for all of us to enjoy in steam once more. While work on the brake rigging, main rod brass, and the stoker are paramount in the effort to complete the massive engine, I was curious about some of the last parts from outside to arrive. Among thes...

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Steam the Last Baldwin: 1309 work progresses thanks to your donations

Posted 6 months ago by Jim Wrinn

If you have been involved in the restoration of a full-sized steam locomotive you know there are long periods of time between the big events that mark progress. There’s the hydrostatic test of the boiler, which isn’t much visually but is critical to success. Without it, there’s no heart of the locomotive. There’s the steam test. There’s the setting the locomotive on its wheels. Test running. Lots of major milestones, and a million and one details in between that c...

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CSX at 40: A visit to Cowan, Tenn., where helpers still rule

Posted 6 months ago by Jim Wrinn

We put together a special issue called CSX at 40 to mark the four decades of this Eastern giant. In editing that special issue (available here https://bit.ly/3lk12G4), I kept looking at one great image after another in the stories about CSX’s vaunted triangle – the Chicago-Florida, Florida-New England, New England-Chicago corridors that the railroad considers its core franchise. Scott Hartley wrote about the I-95 corridor along the Atlantic seaboard. I know it well, having...

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Rebuilding a railroad above the clouds: Pikes Peak's cog

Posted 6 months ago by Jim Wrinn

PIKES PEAK, Colo. — We have driven in a pickup up the dirt road that for 128 years has been The Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We have reached a spot approximately 11,000 feet above sea level. The spot is below Windy Point, just below milepost 6. Here, the road ends and construction crews are rebuilding the cog railroad on the original right of way in a $100 million project that is designed to keep the cog, a Colorado landmark and a national treasure in extreme rai...

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First impressions of scrappy Rio Grande Southern 20 at the Colorado Railroad Museum

Posted 7 months ago by Jim Wrinn

GOLDEN, Colo. — Since my first visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum in 1987, I have walked by the stuffed and mounted Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 No. 20 and admired the displayed locomotive many times. When it left for restoration in 2004, I was as surprised as anyone that the engine would return to steam. Last weekend, I met No. 20 on its inaugural weekend, and I am glad to say that the engine met all my expectations. No. 20 was loud with a commanding bark and an exhaust befitti...

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It's time to Steam the Last Baldwin: A final push!

Posted 7 months ago by Jim Wrinn

For the last six months, dear readers, you’ve patiently endured my calls to support the Steam the Last Baldwin campaign, the effort to restore the 1949 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 at the non-profit Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. It’s an expensive engine, but the payoff is incredible. We can steam the last locomotive constructed for domestic service of more than 60,000 that the iconic builder made in Pennsylvania. We can see it perform on 17 miles of the former Western Maryland Railway...

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An open letter to the Forest Service about the Durango & Silverton

Posted 7 months ago by Jim Wrinn

U.S. Forest Service San Juan National Forest Headquarters15 Burnett CourtDurango, CO 81301 Attn: Supervisor Kara Chadwick Dear Ms. Chadwick: You and I have never met, but I hope you will allow me to speak frankly about an issue dear to my heart and the hearts of the 80,000-plus readers of Trains magazine and the quarter million who use our web site. I would like to express my concern for how your office treats the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Of recent issue is th...

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Rio Grande Southern 20: An iconic photo, a careful restoration

Posted 8 months ago by Jim Wrinn

There are iconic American steam locomotives that appropriately have national and even worldwide followings. Most are big mainline rigs that exude personality and charisma as they blast down the mainline. But not all of them are giants. This is the story about a narrow gauge engine with a lot of charm. This is the story of a photograph that made it a cult hero. And it’s a story about how life comes full circle in ways that make you feel like an unseen hand must be guiding things somewhere...

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Railroading is everywhere, just look around!

Posted 8 months ago by Jim Wrinn

A quick note from me to remind you to look for railroading all around you as you are out and about this summer. You never know when some slice of railroading will present itself. I was reminded of this last weekend when my family and I were taking a socially distanced day trip along Lake Michigan. We arrived in Manitowoc, Wis., and drove toward the docks just in time for me to spot a familiar silhouette, the former Chesapeake & Ohio carferry Badger coming into port. Now set up t...

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Two yanks in Montreal (in 2017) in pictures

Posted 8 months ago by Steve Sweeney

Your humble correspondent once had high-minded aspirations and sincere intentions of saying something appropriately meaningful about a 2017 visit to Montreal as a part-work trip part-vacation visit coinciding with the annual Wheel-Rail Interaction conference. Having spent three years waiting for an inspiring muse, I gave up. Here are fun pictures and some captions. ...

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Signaling complicates positive train control

Posted 8 months ago by Steve Sweeney

Let's talk about signals. Why do railroads even have them? Why are they different? And what does that mean for positive train control? For starters ... signals control trains. You knew that, of course. So let's state the obvious: A railroad with only one train, like many small shortline or industrial railroads (or the typical toy train under a Christmas tree), does not need signals.When signals come in handy is when railroads want to run two or more trains along one stretch of track. Tra...

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