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6

Railroading at 15,000 feet and other true tales from South America: Trains’ Peru tour, part 2

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Henry Posner warned me before we left. Climbing the Andes on Peru’s FCCA railroad would tax one adjective more than any other to the point of becoming a cliché before the day was out: Amazing. That word, however, does not do justice to this king of mountain railroads that challenges railroaders with an unrelenting barrage: 4.2 percent grades, dozens of tunnels, sharp curves, and one of the highest altitudes of any railroad in the world at 15,000 feet. It is beyond surrea...

4

Conrail lives and other true stories from South America: Trains’ Peru tour, day 1

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

LIMA, Peru – On a dusty hillside in the Chosica section east of Lima, we stood on the platform of a two-story wooden station befitting the classic station in Thurmond, W.Va., and celebrated a railroad more than 4,000 miles away and that has been gone 18 years: Conrail. The occasion was the dedication of a former Conrail C39-8, No. 1030, still resplendent in Conrail blue and named in appreciation of James A. Hagen, the Conrail Chairman (1989 to 1996) who agreed to lend his and his compan...

4

Trains tours: Next stops, Peru, India, Mid-Atlantic states, Switzerland

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

I got my love of travel from my dad and Aunt Jenny. They both loved to go. Dad got an all-expense-paid trip to the Philippines at the close of World War II. Aunt Jenny traveled to the UK, Alaska, and, I’m sure other places, as well. Last week, I was delighted to note that friends were in Hawaii (getting married, no less! Yay!), England, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, China, and a few more places if I looked close enough. That is a delight for me. I love to see my friends out there explori...

9

Jerry Joe Jacobson, 1957, and paying it forward

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Once in a while, someone does something insignificant at the time but that later on blooms into something magnificent. In the case of Jerry Joe Jacobson, the steam-loving shortline entrepreneur who passed away Wednesday at age 74, that moment came on the evening of June 20, 1957. A Baltimore & Ohio crew let a 13-year-old Jerry handle the throttle while their Mikado was in a siding setting off a hotbox car. Because of this Jerry got home late, he was grounded for weeks, and, much to the ben...

14

Looking for railroading in the cornfields: Beatrice, Nebraska

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

One of the joys of being an avid railroad explorer is finding locomotives, trains, or rolling stock or at least an appreciation for our mutual obsession in unexpected places. We all know what we’ll get when we venture to the main line. But it’s when you find railroading where you least expect it that it becomes a truly sweet thing. That happened to me last week on a family trip that took us to Beatrice, Neb., south of Lincoln, a place not far from the Kansas border. We got a th...

31

Mainline steam – Will it play in Peoria?

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

An eastbound Toledo, Peoria & Western freight approaches Sheldon, Ind., in August 2015. Could this be the next great home for mainline steam in the U.S.? Photo by Brian Schmidt What if there was a place where mainline steam locomotives could roam, where railfans could come to see the majesty and might of the rails? While I don't buy into the lore of steam, I do see a need for a spot, a petting zoo of sorts, where mainline steam can congregate, and maybe someone can make a few bucks off it...

9

The vacation, part 2: On the trail of the Great Locomotive Chase

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

My wife, Cate, and I didn’t plan to go looking for signs of the Great Locomotive Chase of Civil War fame, but during a couple of days on our recent vacation down south we found ourselves between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The important trappings of the chase were all around us. We basically just fell into it. The initial inspiration wasn’t difficult. We were in Atlanta to see friends. Our first stop was the Atlanta History Center, where my good friend, Jackson McQuigg, oversees cap...

7

The vacation, part 1: Kentucky's Mammoth Cave and its railroad

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

My wife and I took a vacation recently. To be completely honest, it wasn’t a true vacation. We spent a lot of time with friends and family we’d not seen in a while, did some family business, and participated in some non-profit work. I sneaked in a tiny bit of work. But we did relax for a few days, and that was a good thing. Along the way there were some railroad sites and experiences, and I’d like to share a few of them with you … a “How I spent my summer vacation&...

9

Loose brains derail trains

Posted 6 years ago by Steve Sweeney

News this week that Al Qaeda terrorists are promoting would-be followers to make and employ do-it-yourself concrete derails is — unsurprising. The awesome mass and speed of most trains is enough to do great damage when they derail by accident in lonely locales — let alone on purpose in populated places. We expect that people who want to do us harm in North American and Europe would do almost anything to achieve their aims. And yet, because so much focus has been on airplanes and pas...

8

Don't get eclipsed by a lack of info on Aug. 21

Posted 6 years ago by Steve Sweeney

Ben Cooper photo, via Astronomy Magazine A total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 will be visible for much of the United States including at least one subdivision on every Class I railroad. It's the first total solar eclipse to cross this much of the country since 1918 — meaning most people who are alive today haven't witnessed what's coming. If it's clear trackside on Aug. 21, plenty of railfans are going to want to experience the moment, so we asked for top viewing tips from Astrono...

39

Should our images represent reality or the way we want it to be?

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

When we choose a Trains cover should we select an image of the way we want things to be or the as they are, even if a portion of the shot depicts something that’s not 100 percent right? That’s the question I asked myself after the feedback we received about our August issue and readers were critical of our cover image showing the last Ringling circus train crossing a bridge in West Virginia. It’s a great picture, and it accomplishes something that’s a difficult task: It ...

5

Q&A with owners of a West Virginia railfan inn

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

One of the good things about editing Trains magazine is the travel. We get to visit a lot of places. The biggest problem is that some of the most interesting places are what I call “one and done” – we don’t get back to them for long periods of time – or ever. One such place is Norfolk Southern’s main line in West Virginia, which I first encountered in January 1985. I was on the way home from chasing Chesapeake & Ohio 4-8-4 No. 614 in the snow, and friends ...

14

For better or worse, 2017 is the year of the Nickel Plate Road

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

It's not often that the legacy of a fallen flag, now gone almost 53 years, is so readily apparent. And yet, here in 2017, the late, lamented Nickel Plate Road is front and center in railroad news. As an Ohio native, I'm taking some extra interest in these developments. FOR THE BETTER: Former Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 624 will move from its longtime home of Hammond, Ind., across the state to join 2-8-4 No. 765 at the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. Prep work is complete and the loco...

10

Murphy Branch memories: A Norfolk Southern train departs Andrews, N.C., July 1986

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Like you, I love contemporary railroad action, and my favorite photo or riding expedition is the next one ahead of me. But I am developing a great affinity for some of the images I made earlier in my life. This picture is one of them. It depicts an eastbound freight on Norfolk Southern’s scenic and celebrated Murphy Branch. The train has just left Andrews, N.C., where it tied up the night before on a turn out of Waynesville. There was no more traffic west of Andrews, so it was the Murphy B...

20

End of an Erie

Posted 6 years ago by Steve Sweeney

The headline is an intended pun, but a sad one. In case you didn't know or hadn't heard, GE will end locomotive production in Erie, Pa., by the end of 2018. As railfans and rail industry observers, we always kinda knew that was going to happen. I wrote about it four years ago on this blog. As an Erie-built myself (St. Vincent Hospital - 1981) I feel pride in Erie and locomotives, but I've become numb to the ups and downs in GE employment. In talking to people who still live in t...

10

Cat got your train? In the UK, Felix does at Huddersfield

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

It’s time to let you all in on a secret. Railroaders are into cats. Yes, this predominantly male occupation and avocation is full of feline fans. I have several friends in the business and on the edges who adore cats and have agreed to be owned by them (those who’ve been there or who are there now will understand the phrasing of this). Adoration for Chessie, Peak, and their clan has not diminished through the years since Chesapeake & Ohio employed the cat to sell its passenger se...

15

'Selling Sunshine' is almost ready. What would you like to see next?

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Last week we put the final touches on Rich Luckin’s latest documentary video for Trains. “Selling Sunshine, the Florida Trains,” will be available next month available directly from us (see the link at ww.TrainsMag.com) and also coming to a PBS station near you. The video is a great tribute to the Florida railroads that built the Sunshine state and continue to influence its growth and development. Fans of Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, Seaboard Coast Line, Florida East...

8

'What are the odds?!' Two office car specials in one day!

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Do we have any odds makers out there? If so, read on. We’re feeling lucky. On Tuesday, not one but two office car specials visited the Milwaukee area on two different Class I railroads. One office car special in town is a rare event, but two? That’s unheard of. As my wife, Cate, likes to say when describing a rare event, “What are the odds?!” Here’s the story. Union Pacific was first. It ran an 8-car engineering department inspection train from Chicago to St. Paul...

8

Locomotives in print, on video, and one of EMD's best alive and well

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Locomotives are on my mind. It’s not that they aren’t normally too far from my thinking, but in this case, they’re even closer to the forefront than usual. The reason is that on Monday, we’ll be meeting with Greg McDonnell, editor of our annual publication, Locomotive, to review the feature story layouts that you’ll soon find in the 2017 edition. I got a sneak peek last week: The graphic artists we work with post their completed layouts, and I found a delightful mix...

8

Flashback from 1987: Rainy morning at the Spencer roundhouse

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Some pictures that I took early on still make me smile more so than others. This one, from a rain drenched Labor Day weekend 1987, is one of them. It’s the memory of a turning point. The Kodachrome slide depicts 1926 Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 No. 4, one of the early 1960s last regular steam stars, in drag as “Southern Railway No. 604” building pressure just outside the Spencer roundhouse for the first scheduled on-site train ride in the history of the N.C. Transportatio...

17

Heritage units five years after the big party

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

Where were you five years ago this coming Monday and Tuesday? For 4,000 of you, you were with me, sweltering in the heat at the Norfolk Southern heritage unit event at Spencer, N.C., on July 3 and 4, 2012, and delighted with the amazing never-to-be-repeated show of new diesel power in retro colors. We were watching an ES44 / SD70 ACe kaleidoscope, desperate for shade, and giddy with our good fortune. We measured walks to the viewing area known as Heritage Hill in how many bottles of water the t...

42

On Wick Moorman leaving Amtrak ... we didn't have you there long enough

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

It was only a few minutes after I’d gotten a “heads up” message from Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari about a new CEO announcement this morning that Wick Moorman was on the phone to speak a good word for his freshly named successor, Richard Anderson. Anderson is known for being former CEO of Delta and Northwest airlines. I’d no more than dashed off a note to columnists Fred Frailey, Bob Johnston, and Don Phillips and given Associate Editor Steve Sweeney, who handles our on...

4

Three weeks to better railroad photography

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

Sometimes you get lucky, but most of the time you've got to work for it. That's how life goes, and railroad photography is no different. I got a catalog in the mail today, highlighting the continuing education classes available at my local community college. There are two photography classes listed for the fall, a three-week basic digital photography course for $43 and a five-week travel photography course for $100. Both meet one day a week and offer help with basic photography skills and cam...

9

I found the silver bullet at WRI

Posted 6 years ago by Steve Sweeney

We’re on the verge of something big. Until just this morning, when I paused to reflect on the 23rd Wheel Rail Interaction conference from Montreal in early June, I thought there was no silver bullet out there for railroading to cure all real and perceived problems; no steam-to-diesel-like transition waiting in the wings.I was wrong.Data from more machines and sensing devices will drive railroading changes fast enough to make heads spin — just as in nearly every other industry. My evi...

40

Train delays: So what?

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

Help me out, folks. I see railroad discussion forums overrun these days with inquiries about late trains, and I don't know why. "48(31) lost 13 minutes between Buffalo and Erie. Why?" Why indeed. Years ago, I rode the Silver Star from Hollywood to Jacksonville where some friends were to pick me up. The train was, to little surprise, running late. Maybe it was the crowds of people boarding in Tampa, pictured here, that put us behind. Maybe it was bad dispatching. Maybe it was the lack of a pr...

12

Get lost in your photography, or not

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

There's something to be said for riding a train and getting lost in the moment. To not have a care other than to gaze out the window and watch the miles go by. Unfortunately, if you're taking photos on that journey, it still pays dividends to keep track of where you are. I learned this upon my return from the 2016 Trains Magazine tour of Ireland, England, and France. A number of factors contributed to my disorientation on this trip. First, I was with a tour group, so I had done virtually no p...

14

A Prayer for Railroaders

Posted 6 years ago by Steve Sweeney

In the past couple of years, I've read plenty of comments on Facebook and heard stories over beers from train crews and dispatchers about mergers, layoffs, and work policies they disagree with. Or that day they remember when they hit a trespasser. Or the way the schedule works, they'll be away from home for awhile — but at least they're making a trainload of money. Ha. Long story short, I asked a railfan pal, Michael Murray, if he would conjure or cajole a kind of prayer for today's railr...

5

Portland’s nod to its railroad past

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

Northern Pacific F units gather near the Hoyt Street Roundhouse in Portland's River District in 1964. The present-day Tanner Springs Park would be at the far left, where the passenger cars rest. Photo by J.W. Swanberg How do you tell the tale of railroading to a reluctant public? True railfans will, of course, endure countless eccentricities to learn more about their interest. Hot days at the museum looking over rusty machines and esoteric artifacts. But John Q. Public isn’t so hardy. T...

5

A glimpse of the industrial past in Portland

Posted 6 years ago by Brian Schmidt

I had the opportunity to explore Portland, Ore., earlier this year on my trip to attend Winterail 2017 in Corvallis. I spent one rainy day exploring the city, doing my best to be on some form of rail transit during the heaviest downpours. During a break from the precipitation, I found myself on the edge of the Pearl District, northeast of downtown hard along Interstate 405. There I stumbled onto one of the last remnants of Portland's one-time extensive industrial switching districts in NW 15th A...

8

Of Big Steam, a 2-10-4, video, and Baldwin diesels

Posted 6 years ago by Jim Wrinn

I’ve been away for a few more days than I anticipated, so I want to catch up on a few housekeeping notes. First, our new 90-minute video, Big Steam is Back, has returned from the replicator, which gives me great joy, having just taken a ride and done some chasing with Norfolk & Western No. 611 earlier this month. I’m excited about this video project because it captures all of the big locomotives out there running today and gives a preview of many of the projects that are in the ...

Railroading at 15,000 feet and other true tales from South America: Trains’ Peru tour, part 2

Conrail lives and other true stories from South America: Trains’ Peru tour, day 1

Trains tours: Next stops, Peru, India, Mid-Atlantic states, Switzerland

Jerry Joe Jacobson, 1957, and paying it forward

Looking for railroading in the cornfields: Beatrice, Nebraska

Mainline steam – Will it play in Peoria?

The vacation, part 2: On the trail of the Great Locomotive Chase

The vacation, part 1: Kentucky's Mammoth Cave and its railroad

Loose brains derail trains

Don't get eclipsed by a lack of info on Aug. 21

Should our images represent reality or the way we want it to be?

Q&A with owners of a West Virginia railfan inn

For better or worse, 2017 is the year of the Nickel Plate Road

Murphy Branch memories: A Norfolk Southern train departs Andrews, N.C., July 1986

End of an Erie

Cat got your train? In the UK, Felix does at Huddersfield

'Selling Sunshine' is almost ready. What would you like to see next?

'What are the odds?!' Two office car specials in one day!

Locomotives in print, on video, and one of EMD's best alive and well

Flashback from 1987: Rainy morning at the Spencer roundhouse

Heritage units five years after the big party

On Wick Moorman leaving Amtrak ... we didn't have you there long enough

Three weeks to better railroad photography

I found the silver bullet at WRI

Train delays: So what?

Get lost in your photography, or not

A Prayer for Railroaders

Portland’s nod to its railroad past

A glimpse of the industrial past in Portland

Of Big Steam, a 2-10-4, video, and Baldwin diesels

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