Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765's recent outings at the Hoosier Valley Railroad in Indiana and its planned appearance at Train Festival 2009 in Michigan in July got me onto a subject that was disturbing to one who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s halcyon days of mainline steam excursion: How many mainline steam locomotives are really out there in the United States today? The best answer I could come up with is, sad to say, seven. First off, some criteria. When I say "mainline" I mean a locomotive ...

It's not often you hear the word free, and there are no strings attached. Here is a link to a free train simulator game you can download: openbve.trainsimcentral.co.uk/ This Web site has user information, a forum to pose questions, and a blog by the developer. No, I haven't tried it. Come on, people, I have work to do! We do receive rail simulator games for review on occasion for the Products section of Trains magazine. I'm not a gamer myself, but others have told me the...