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3

Swiss adventure, Part 1: Do you know the way to St. Moritz?

Posted one year ago by David Lassen

On a normal Friday, I would have turned left out of my apartment parking garage and headed to the Trains magazine. This day was anything but normal: I turned right and headed to Switzerland. OK, so the right turn actually sent my on my way to Chicago and O’Hare airport, where I would catch my flight to Zurich. But there was no mistaking it for a normal day. Having handed off our upcoming special issue “Chicago: America’s Railroad Capital” to the art departme...

4

You gotta know the (home) territory

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern SD40-2 No. 6454 leads an eastbound Canadian Pacific freight through Pewaukee, Wis., on June 12. Early in the summer, I made an effort to spend more time around Pewaukee than previous years. Photo by Brian Schmidt I was a bad railfan this summer. We all have our home territory. For me that was once northern Ohio and Indiana. I knew when all the locals went on duty, I knew all the shortline radio frequencies, and I knew when all the special moves were coming. W...

6

Why there's no picture with this post

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Usually, I start out a blog post with a photo that I took in the field. Sadly, this is a post without a picture. Here’s why. I figured the Labor Day holiday plus the diminished traffic levels of recent months would turn a Tuesday drive along U.S. 30 in eastern Iowa into a boring trip. Ever the optimist, I got off I-80 at Iowa City, ducked into my favorite Subway for a six-inch BMT on wheat only to find a busload of college kids so that was a no-go, and picked up 30 along the UP (Chi...

5

Paying it forward: A short story about the next generation of railroaders

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Sometimes the good you do is repaid many times over, but it takes a while to find out. Some times you know about it. Sometimes you don't. This tale comes to me from my good friend and our ad sales guy, Mike Yuhas. I'll let Mike take it from here. "On the trade show floor at the American Railway Engineering Maintenance of Way Association in Orlando earlier this week, I heard a voice call 'Hello Mr. Yuhas.' I turned and smiled at the gentleman who said it, trying to put a name to the familiar fac...

8

Summer 2016 reading challenge recap

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

I must confess, I didn't take a terribly difficult route with this project. Chalk it up to the travel – on the road three of four weekends in the month. But, I believe, that I still made progress, and pushed myself to do a little more reading. While I was sifting through my home library for something to read, I stumbled on the books I purchased last summer in Colorado, had shipped home, and never really looked at again. Shame on me. So, this month, I made a effort to go through each bo...

27

When transportation works, it's a wonderful thing

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

The eastbound Lake Shore Limited rolls through Rochester, N.Y., in December 2011. Photo by Brian Schmidt I walked in to the Trains Magazine offices in suburban Milwaukee about 1 p.m. today. Many people would think that's grounds for dismissal, until they learned that I woke up the same morning somewhere between Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio. I was returning from a long weekend in Rochester, N.Y., on the Lake Shore Limited. Upon my arrival at Chicago Union Station, I was able to make a hasty t...

16

Good advice across 126 years went into picking Wick Moorman as Amtrak's new president

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Amtrak, for once, was right on time. The passenger carrier today named its replacement for President Joe Boardman, selecting former Norfolk Southern Chairman Wick Moorman to start Sept. 1. Boardman plans to retire at the end of September after serving since November 2008. A lot of observers had bet on others to lead the company. Moorman is a surprising choice, given that he’d said that he’d promised his family that he wouldn’t take another full-time job after leaving NS earlie...

4

Donner Pass and the snowsheds that have faded away

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

I can remember as a child reading about this place. The Southern Pacific’s Donner Pass crossing of the Sierras in northern California near the Nevada line held almost mythical qualities — dazzling cliffs, deep tunnels, miles of snow sheds. In the 1960s, it was the land of scarlet and gray F units, funky German hydraulics, and growing ranks of six-axle diesels. This was the Southern Pacific’s mightiest mountain crossing, where the ghosts of 256 Cab forward 4-8-8-2s, the last o...

1

Messing with success – and winning

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

I'll just come out and say it: I'm glad railfan multimedia show Summerail moved to Marion, Ohio, and I wouldn't be sad one bit if it stayed there. The new venue is, in a word, great. The theater is spacious and comfortable. The theater doors don't cast light on the screen when opened, so attendees can sneak in late to a presentation. There were even food trucks out front so we didn't have to drive across town for lunch. The famous Marion Union Station museum complex is just down the street, w...

5

Trains' 2016 Preservation Award, and how you can help save railroad history for $3 a day

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

We announced the availability of our annual Trains Preservation Award earlier this week. It goes to a worthy non-profit for restoration or preservation of a locomotive, rolling stock, or structure, or for an archive. This will be the 17th year for the $10,000 award, so with it, we’ll crest $170,000 spent on railway preservation. You can look back on previous award winners and their projects here: http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2015/03/trains-preservation-award. The 2015 winner, Chesa...

18

Turns out, digital isn't always easier

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

Railfans peer out the windows while locomotive No. 071 shoves its excursion train around the connection at Limerick Junction, Ireland, in May 2016. From here, the train will head straight out across the diamond for Dublin Connolly. Photo by Brian Schmidt You know, I've been home from the Trains Magazine tour of Europe for more than two months, but have barely started on editing the hundreds of photos that I returned with. A decade ago, we were sold on convenience of digital photography. In...

4

Shays in the Sierras: Riding the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

I make no secret about being a fan of geared steam locomotives, and a recent visit to California’s Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad got me back in touch with a Shay superstar, former West Side Lumber Co. No. 10, the largest narrow gauge Shay built. I was surprised to find the 84-ton superheated engine sitting under steam, ready to pull the 12:30 p.m. train without the diamond stack that’s been on it since soon after it left West Side in 1967 and started pulling tourist trains...

5

A visit to a California roundhouse: Is there a more captivating place?

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Is there, a more beautiful venue in which to repair, display, and view steam locomotives than a roundhouse? The reason I ask that that while on vacation in California earlier this month, I dropped by the state park service’s Railtown 1897 historic site in Jamestown for a brief glimpse inside the 1910 roundhouse. The former Sierra Railway wood roundhouse, clad in red-brown-painted corrugated metal and expanded in 1922, is a circular cradle for a host of engines. Standing in a convenient ind...

4

Interview with Kevin P. Keefe about his new book, "Twelve Twenty-Five"

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Former Trains Editor Kevin P. Keefe is the author of a new book, “Twelve Twenty-Five, the life and times of a steam locomotive,” now available from Michigan State University Press. The book is the history of Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225, the Berkshire made famous through its mainline excursions and as the model for the steam locomotive in the blockbuster movie, “Polar Express.” The locomotive is the centerpiece of the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Mich. Kevin ...

7

Leaving a mark for the future

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

A westbound Conrail freight crosses the Norfolk Southern diamond at CP 317, between Delta and Wauseon, Ohio. Bjorklund labeled the slide as Delta, which is nearby, but not the clearest explanation for future generations. John F. Bjorlund photo, Center for Railroad Photography & Art collection It feels good to help out. I was recently reminded of that when Scott Lothes from the Center for Railroad Photography & Art recently asked for some help in identifying photo locations in the grou...

10

Trains' summer 2016 reading challenge

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

Reading is FUNdamental, I've heard. In that spirit, I'm going to challenge our readership for August: read more. Read a chapter a day in a heavy history, or read a feature story in your favorite railroad magazine. Pick 20 pages to cover in a photo-heavy "color" book, or read a favorite book from the past. Just read more. To play along as home, all you need to do is try to read just a little more about trains and railroading than you normally do. You can do it in the air conditioning, you can d...

14

Goodbye high short hoods: Norfolk Southern's former Southern GP38-2 roster dwindles

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

I wasn’t surprised last week when Blackmon Auctions announced it is selling off 50 Norfolk Southern high short hood GP38-2s built in the early 1970s. They’re great, versatile locomotives; they’ve been well maintained; and they’re valuable in today’s shortline and regional railroad market as those railroads snap up good power. The earliest of the units were built 44 years ago, and that’s plenty of time for NS to get its money’s worth for them. NS, which...

5

11 reasons to go to Summerail 2016

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

Thinking about going to the 2016 Summerail multimedia show and swap meet in Marion, Ohio, on Aug. 13? Here are a few reasons that you may not have considered... 11. Tickets are still available. If you can still get a ticket, why wouldn’t you go! 10. Three words: Marion Power Shovel. Yes, this city built the equipment that built America – and the huge crawlers that transported the space shuttles around Kennedy Space Center! 9. Northern Ohio is full of train-watching fun that you ...

3

Colorado Railroads, yes, there is an app for that

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

We were pretty tickled earlier this this spring when we debuted our Colorado Railroads 104-page special magazine and hour-long companion DVD. But we wanted to do more about Colorado for you our customers. So, we took a lot of the info found in both the magazine and the DVD and put them into a new mobile app. If you’re looking for info about where to find railroad activity in Colorado, we’ve packed this app contains more than 260 locations You’ll find info about mainlin...

14

Twenty-four minutes in Naperville

Posted one year ago by David Lassen

I spent most of this weekend in the Chicago area, working on an upcoming Trains project. As part of that, I needed some video footage of an Amtrak train in Naperville, Ill. So, on Saturday, I drove out to Naperville, planning to catch the both westbound California Zephyr (scheduled to arrive in Naperville at 2:35 p.m.) and the its eastbound counterpart (running not quite an hour late and due at 2:50 p.m., according to the "Check Train Status" feature on Amtrak's website). On...

13

Welcome back Great Smoky Mountains 1702. Remember that time we went west across the mountain?

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

World War II Army Consolidations rarely get much love, but one back home in North Carolina is attracting a lot of attention. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad No. 1702 is set to return to service Friday after 12 years of inactivity. An agreement with Swain County to devote a portion of its hotel / motel occupancy tax funded the restoration project, which also includes installation of a turntable in Bryson City, N.C. American Heritage Railways, which also owns the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gaug...

24

How about a new idea for two Class I routes in North Carolina?

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

We’ve been told that both Norfolk Southern and CSX are busy planning their futures by focusing on the heaviest trafficked mainlines and downgrading lightly used coal routes or selling or leasing them to other operators. I am particularly curious about the fate of one of NS’s secondary lines, the S-line from Salisbury, N.C., to Knoxville, Tenn., via Asheville and the famous Loops near Old Fort. The loops, as you’ll recall, consists of a 13-mile section of track that twists and t...

3

Surprises can still happen, if you let them

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

A few weeks ago I was out on the MARC station platform at Perryville, Md., with Trains Magazine contributor George Hamlin. We were relaxing in the shade, waiting for the next scheduled Amtrak train to pass when we heard an unexpected horn at the north end of the Susquehanna River bridge. We jumped up and ran to the edge of the platform – staying behind the yellow line! – and saw a northbound train approaching on the bridge. It was a late-running Carolinian, which we had not thought...

9

Will Union Pacific No. 844 run next week?

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Standing on the Business I-25 bridge overlooking the Union Pacific steam shop last Wednesday, I witnessed a beautiful sight below: 4-8-4 No. 844 in steam, glistening in a fresh coat of black paint, her 80-inch drivers seemingly poised to roll. A six-axle diesel coupled up, obviously in a test of some sort. Eventually, the rebuilt Northern uncoupled, whistled off, and eased back into the shop. I would have loved to have seen her up close or on the main line, but it was no...

8

Meanderings in Cheyenne, Wyo., where Union Pacific hits the Rockies

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

I spent a few days in and around Cheyenne, Wyo., last week. It ranks up there with those railroad cities that you have to see for yourself like Altoona, Pa., and Roanoke, Va. Most of us know these places for their legendary roles in the days of steam and for their continued prominence as busy hubs of American railroading. Cheyenne was home to Big Boys, gas turbines, and DDA40Xs. It’s the place where the UP wisely chose to cross the Rockies at an amazingly low point. But it’s st...

10

Two-thirds of a reboot

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Found on Union Pacific's Greeley Subdivision near Greeley, Colorado. Is the next station called Delete? Yell when you get it, and have a great day! - Jim ...

6

Sunday fun day

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

I have been busy traveling this spring, so much that I've neglected my railfan responsibilities in my home area. I was able to rectify that to some degree with a long holiday weekend trackside around Chicago, hitting up a number of the popular train-watching locations with my friend Duane. We visited Naperville, West Chicago, Blue Island, Dolton, and other locations throughout the weekend. Sunday, July 3 was particularly fortunate: Soon after arriving in Dolton late morning I photographed t...

7

Making the most of Colorado

Posted one year ago by Brian Schmidt

A year ago I had the privilege of hosting one of three Trains Magazine 75th anniversary tours of Colorado. It was my first visit to each of the attractions on the itinerary, and I came away with a new appreciation for railroading in the Centennial State. In no particular order, here are three favorite destinations from that trip: CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is one of Colorado's classic narrow gauge attractions. The scenery is ever changing, f...

2

Coming attractions: The second half of 2016

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

Last January, I made a calendar as far into 2016 as I could see, consisting of events that had my interest. I figure that it’s time for an update, and maybe even a look into 2017. A lot has happened, and there’s a lot more to go. As always, we’ll be updating these stores on News Wire at www.TrainsMag.com and in the pages of our magazine. If you want to catch news live, check out our noon Central Time every Friday video review of the week’s events. July 19-24 National Ra...

8

I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places: Gum Curve and the Jukes tree

Posted one year ago by Jim Wrinn

I had the good fortune recently to be at two sacred places in railway preservation within 10 days time. I was in Cass, W.Va., at the preserved logging railroad, and the following week found me in Chama, N.M., on the remnant of the Rio Grande’s San Juan extension. The juxtaposition of these two visits reminded me that some places on the railroad seem to never change while others may be fleeting. At Cass Scenic Railroad, I was leading Trains first photo charter when we had the oppor...

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