] Workers repair a wood passenger car at the Furka Pass shop in Aarau, Switzerland. Jim Wrinn photo The boilers and frames for the Furka Pass 0-8-0s rest in the shop at Chur. Jim Wrinn photo The boilers and frames for the Furka Pass 0-8-0s rest...

I am on the way to the world’s largest railroad trade and technology show, InnoTrans, held every other year in Berlin. I am taking the long way to the show, via one of Europe’s most spectacular steam-powered tourist railroads and some incredible...

Oil remains the stand-alone star for railcar loadings, according to monthly figures released Friday by the Association of American Railroads. At 54,755 total U.S. carloads in August, shipments of “petroleum & petroleum products” represent...

Once in a while, an incident gets your attention in unsettling ways. That happened the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 21, when a CSX coal train derailed in Ellicott City, Md. Two young women lost their lives. They were just days from returning to college, one...

Rust marks the curve in Vaughan, Miss., where Casey plowed into a freight train on April 30, 1900. Photo by Kevin P. Keefe The plan for the end of a recent vacation was simple. After a few days in the Florida Panhandle, my wife, Alison, and I would overnight...

Photo by Jim Wrinn. ROANOKE, Va. – Let the record show that on June 24, 2012, at approximately 4:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings time, an operating mainline steam locomotive rolled into the city once known as the Alamo of Steam. Over a radio...

Norfolk Southern’s first heritage unit, ES44AC No. 8098, proudly wears Conrail’s blue paint and trademark “wheels-on rails” logo. Photo by Norfolk Southern It’s June 1, 2012, and 13 years ago to this day, Conrail was dissolved...

For this year's photo contest, we were looking for creative use of light and shadow. Overall, the quality of photos submitted was very high, making the task of choosing the winners even harder than usual. Take a look at the winners below and please...

The Southern Pacific Brooklyn Roundhouse in its last days in May 2012. Jim Wrinn photo PORTLAND, Ore. – Few historic locomotive shops in American railway preservation have earned icon status. The Brooklyn Roundhouse in Portland, Ore., is one...

All four operating Mount Rainier Scenic steam locomotives running together make for a fine sight at the railroad’s shops in Mineral, Wash., on May 4. Jim Wrinn photo MINERAL, Wash. – I spent last Friday and all of Saturday at Washington state’s...

I'm spending this week in Chicago with some dear old friends, and a whole lot of wonderful new ones at the Wheel/Rail Interaction Seminar in Chicago. It's Trains ' new publisher Diane Bacha's first industry event, and I'm really enjoying...

"If you want to see the last Interstate unit to leave Andover, you'd better get up here!" The voice on the other end of the phone was Sonny Burchfield, an operator for the Southern at the newly combined Interstate-Southern yard at Andover...

I'm in Philadelphia this week for the Joint Rail Conference, in which professionals and engineering students present papers on their research into or application of new railroad technology. The primary reason I'm here is to find ideas for our...

Since Norfolk Southern made a big splash with the announcement of heritage paint schemes, I thought it might be time for BNSF to do the same. Norfolk Southern joined the ranks of railroads like Union Pacific, Amtrak, Iowa Interstate, and others who are...

Eastbound Norfolk Southern train 38Q passes through serene countryside at Atkins, Va., on March 23, 2012 with Southern Railway heritage unit No. 8099 on its maiden run in revenue service leading the train. Jonathan McCoy photo OK, first a confession...

Riders enjoy their trip on Amtrak’s Piedmont as part of a daylong event in Greensboro, N.C., devoted to passenger rail, cosponsored by Trains magazine. Matt Van Hattem photo Here’s a great idea to promote more interest and awareness...

This has been a sad week in the Milwaukee area, especially in regard to trains. Last Friday a man died when he drove his pickup into the path of a Wisconsin & Southern train in Hartford, Wis. Clearly, the investigation is still in its early phases...

The Transportation Research Board is holding its 91st Annual Meeting this week in Washington, D.C., and I’m here looking for ideas for technology columns, seeing old friends, and meeting new contacts who can help bring the latest in the rail industry...

The staff met for Trains’ annual planning retreat earlier this week, and we talked about the use of great photography in our print edition as well as on our website. Great imagery certainly abounds out there today, thanks partly to the widespread...

Trains’ favorite number is out once again on a new locomotive Norfolk Southen's new SD70ACe No. 1027 gleams in the sun at Chattanooga, Tenn., in December 2011 when brand new. Scott Coffey photo The same until, earlier this week, on...

An X2000 train operated by SJ (Statens Järnvägar [Swedish State Railways]) crosses the Northern railway bridge as it departs Stockholm Central Station. During the summer of 2011, my wife Marcia and I spent ten weeks in Europe. In three...

‘Hell on Wheels’ failed on the most important prop in the story of the first transcontinental railroad: the train Neither black nor dingy like the engine seen in AMC's new television show, "Hell on Wheels," 4-4-0 Leviathan...

1385 Project Manager Mike Wahl and volunteer Mike Deetz remove the locomotive's sand dome on Dec. 23, 2011. Jim Wrinn photo. A forktruck moves in to pick off parts from the top of the boiler on C&NW 1385 at Mid-Continent Railway Museum. Jim...

Docent Bob Ross describes the route of the Rio Grande San Juan Extension. Ross is one of the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec who gives his time to the railroad. Jim Wrinn photo Sublette, New Mexico's buildings and sign shine because of...

Montana Rail Link's Harrison Local rolls across a trestle between Sappington and Harrison, Montana. I'll be sharing at least one photo of my trip every week until I head out to Montana once again. I guess I look at it like my way of holding...