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Durango & Silverton on steam, diesels, and the future

Posted 5 days ago by Jim Wrinn

Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is arguably one of the best and highest profile steam tourist railroads in the country. The remnant of the Rio Grande’s famed Silverton Branch through the spectacular Animas River Canyon. It’s a railroad in the process of making major changes to its locomotive fleet, converting some locomotives to oil firing and buying diesels. To learn more about the railroad’s motive power, we posed 17 questions by email to Genera...

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Why Norfolk & Western Y6 No. 2156 should stay in Roanoke

Posted 12 days ago by Jim Wrinn

I can remember buying one of the bumper stickers as a teenager on a late 1970s visit to what was then called the Roanoke Transportation Museum. I didn’t fully understand it, but I got the joke. It said, “Free the Y6A, more than 7,000 days in captivity.” The sticker was the sentiment of N&W fans and an eye poke at what was then called the St. Louis Transportation Museum, now the Museum of Transport for not returning the last of the Norfolk & Western’s Big Three mag...

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What we lost with the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad

Posted 13 days ago by Jim Wrinn

The news that American Heritage Railroads is closing permanently the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad is a tragedy on numerous levels. It’s an incredibly beautiful railroad in the Pacific Northwest with deep forests, beautiful steams, and plentiful wildlife. The railroad has some fantastic bridges curved wooden bridges as well as a long deck girder bridge across the Nisqually River. Add to that steep grades, sharp curves, and Milwaukee Road heritage, and you get it. It was a great show. &n...

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Two undeniable truths about Coronavirus and railway preservation

Posted 15 days ago by Jim Wrinn

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a nationwide shut down of tourist railroads and museums, I rarely have a conversation with friends in railway preservation that does not include two troubling questions. Everyone wants to know what the new normal will look like — what will preservation railroads have to do to reopen and draw the crowds they need to survive. What will the physical act of being open and relevant to the public look and feel like. Relatively speaking, that&rsquo...

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Downgrading Norfolk Southern's Asheville line: This time it's personal

Posted 27 days ago by Jim Wrinn

Most of you know that North Carolina is my home state. Most of you know that I was blessed to grow up in the western part of the state, where mountains touch the sky and railroads follow. Railroading there has been an art form for 141 years, since the first railroad arrived in Asheville. The names and places are legendary: Saluda, Murphy Branch, Clinchfield Loops. Many of you know I have a special affinity for the Loops near Old Fort, N.C. This is a love letter to that line at a critical point...

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We're starting to see what the reality of preservation railroading will look like with COVID-19 lingering

Posted one month ago by Jim Wrinn

We’re starting to see what U.S. preservation railroading is looking like with COVID-19 lingering in the land. It’s not a pretty picture. With some states beginning to open (my dog can get a haircut; I on the other hand cannot), with federal health officials warning that sports may be on hold for this year, and with airlines not selling middle seats, it’s a mess out there. I’d say this is the toughest environment that modern railway preservation has dealt with. ...

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Coronavirus vs. tourist railroads and museums: What will recovery look like?

Posted one month ago by Jim Wrinn

As a nation, we’re starting to talk about flattening curves, fewer hospitalizations, and declining fatalities from Coronavirus-19. We’re talking about reopening slowly, carefully, thoughtfully. That is good news. We all want to get back to normal, whatever that looks like. But we’re nowhere near being ready to reopen the country full throttle. In the halls of railway preservation, the talk is still about cutting staffs, digging into reserves, and trying to keep vandals from c...

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Coronavirus vs. NYC: Acela as an ambulance?

Posted one month ago by Jim Wrinn

It’s apparent that New York City’s hospital system has been overrun by COVID-19. State and federal officials are converting a convention center and a U.S. Navy hospital ship into overflow beds. New York is also one of the few major cities in the nation that is well connected to the region with high-speed trains. I’d like to think that it’s time to put some of those trains to work to move stabilized patients to other cities and other hospitals that are under less stress. ...

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Railroad photography: Keeping the faith - indoors

Posted 2 months ago by Brian Schmidt

You may have run into some roadblocks in your pursuit of railroad photography in the past month. Many of us have. Here are a few ideas to keep your creative juices flowing while you wait to get back outside: In response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Madison, Wis.-based Center for Railroad Photography & Art has moved its fantastic "Conversations" photography and art conference online. Best of all, it's now free. The event will take place Saturday, April 18 on a computer near yo...

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