Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

A Boston & Maine SW1 is en route to the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Conn., two years after it was saved by a grassroots preservation effort.

Built in 1953, locomotive 1127 was unique in that it was the only SW1 on the B&M roster outfitted with MU (multiple unit) control, which allowed it to be operated in tandem with other diesel locomotives. For years, the locomotive was assigned to branches in central New Hampshire. In 1996, it was sold to the Luzerne & Susquehanna in Pennsylvania.

In 2024, preservationists learned that the locomotive was going to be scrapped within days and launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised the $65,000 needed to buy and move the locomotive in a matter of days. The engine was then handed over to Danbury, which has been raising money to move it and ensure its continued preservation.

The engine is presently being moved from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. It is currently painted black and lettered for the B&M, but long-term plans call for painting it in the railroad’s classic maroon and gold livery.

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The South Shore Line’s first-ever expansion, a new 8-mile route between Hammond, Ind., and Munster/Dyer, will open on March 31. The new “Monon Corridor” follows the route of the original Monon Railroad that was abandoned in the 1980s. 

The new branch line was first proposed back in the 2000s, as the population of northwest Indiana grew. The project was funded by the federal government in 2019 and broke ground in 2020. During construction, the route was dubbed the West Lake Corridor, but with service now beginning, it is being renamed. 

“We are thrilled to open the long-awaited West Lake Corridor to the public. This new branch has been named the Monon Corridor in honor of the historic Monon Railroad, whose former right-of-way is used for the line. The Monon Corridor provides additional convenient service options to rapidly growing areas of Lake County, Indiana, and surrounding communities. The South Shore Line team stands eager and ready to serve passengers,” said Michael Noland, former South Shore Line president, who retired in March. 

—Justin Franz 

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The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has rejected a proposal by Metra to have the federal regulator resolve a dispute between the Chicagoland commuter operator and Union Pacific once and for all — at least for now. 

Metra assumed operating responsibilities on UP’s three Chicago-area commuter lines a year ago, but neither side has been able to agree on a price for what the commuter agency will pay for track access. Late last year, Metra went before the STB to ask if the federal regulator would negotiate and force an agreement between the two railroads. But in a March 13 decision, the STB said it was too early for such action. Instead, it told Metra and UP to keep trying for another two months. Only then would the agency consider stepping into the fray. 

UP had operated the lines to Waukegan, Harvard/McHenry and Elburn since 1995, when it assumed control of the Chicago & North Western. With the Metra takeover in 2025, only the BNSF Line service is directly operated by a freight railroad. 

—Justin Franz 

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Union Pacific announced that 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” 4014 would travel to Philadelphia to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

The tour will follow a trip to California this spring. The eastern leg will depart Cheyenne, Wyo., on May 25, and include display days in Omaha, Neb.; Chicago; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Scranton, Pa., before Big Boy’s arrival in Philadelphia for Independence Day. Additional display days are anticipated in Altoona, Pa., and St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., before the tour concludes July 29.

The trip will mark the first time a Big Boy — one of the largest and most powerful steam locomotives ever built — will operate in the Eastern United States. 

UP also announced the release of two new commemorative locomotives. The first is SD70M 1776, featuring the “America 250” logo on the standard UP ‘Building America’ livery introduced in 2001. The second is locomotive 4547, named for President Donald J. Trump, and the third in a series of units painted to honor presidents. Previous units paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln and George H.W. Bush. —Justin Franz 

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The last F40C locomotive on the Metra roster has been donated to Railroading Heritage of Midwest America in Silvis, Ill. RRHMA, which is assembling an impressive fleet of diesel locomotives along with two Union Pacific steam engines, said it plans to restore the rare six-axle passenger unit to operation. 

Metra 611 was spotted being moved around Chicago on March 18, and is now en route to Silvis. 

“Metra has a deep appreciation for its history, and we are grateful they have chosen RRHMA to receive this unique locomotive,” said RRHMA President Steve Sandberg in a press release. “Our collection includes Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261, along with several Milwaukee Road passenger cars, including a Skytop observation car, Super Dome, and sleeping car. Adding this locomotive — one that also once wore Milwaukee Road lettering — advances our mission of preserving significant artifacts of Midwest railroading.”

Last year, Meta’s other surviving F40C, No. 614, was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum. 

Metra 611 was built in April 1974 as Milwaukee Road 54. The F40C design was unique to the North Suburban and North West Suburban Mass Transit Districts, which supported commuter service over the Milwaukee Road lines north and west of Chicago to Fox Lake and Elgin. The F40C is a six-axle, six-motor locomotive with a “cowl” design intended purely for passenger service. The locomotives’ sides were largely covered in stainless steel to match the Milwaukee Road’s bi-level commuter coaches. They were also equipped with head-end power (HEP) as built. Only 15 F40C locomotives were built, all in 1974 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors at the EMD plant in McCook, Illinois.

Metra 611 was used in daily service on the Milwaukee Road North and West lines until 2004, when it was removed from active service. It and identical F40C 614 were returned to service in 2009. In 2012, Metra permanently retired both units and put them into storage at Western Avenue. 

RRHMA owns the former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad shop complex in Silvis and plans to turn it into the largest historic railroad equipment restoration facility in the country. The non-profit is presently restoring UP 4-6-6-4 3985 and 2-10-2 5511. 

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Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. plans to construct a 93-mile railroad from Mary River to Steensby Port, in remote Nunavut, Canada, to increase production and the lifespan of the Mary River ore mine, the company and local media report.

“This is a defining moment for the Mary River Project,” Jowdat Waheed, acting chief executive officer for Baffinland, said in a news release announcing that the proposed railroad can proceed and has received all key regulatory authorizations.

The railroad will allow Baffinland to increase iron ore production to 22 million tons per year from the current 4.2 million tons and extend the mine’s life until 2050 and beyond, Peter Akman, head of communications for Baffinland, told the Nunatsiaq News. It will also reduce truck traffic, dust, and emissions.

A railroad was part of Baffinland’s original site proposal for Mary River and was approved by the Canadian government in 2012. Baffinland initially abandoned its plans for the railway but dusted them off a decade later. Construction should start this year and take about three years.

The railway will include three mainline passing sidings, arrival and departure tracks at Steensby Port and the mine, two tunnels, 42 bridges, and at least 258 culverts, Baffinland said. Plans also include new locomotives and cars, maintenance buildings, and ore and freight loading/unloading facilities at the mine and port.

—M.T. Burkhart

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Last week, NJ Transit and Amtrak celebrated a major milestone with the opening of the first track on the new Portal North Bridge in Kearny, N.J. On March 12, the first press/ceremonial train loaded with area dignitaries traveled across the new structure. On Monday, March 16, one track officially went into service, the first operational step in transferring service away from the current 116-year-old swing bridge. 

The original Portal bridge has long been a source of delays thanks to issues with its movement and control systems. Located on the busiest segment of the Northeast Corridor between Newark and New York, the bridge sees more than 400 trains daily, representing about 200,000 weekday passengers on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. With the first track in service, there’s still construction that needs to occur before the second track enters service in the fall of 2027.

The new two-track, high-level, fixed-span Portal North Bridge will eliminate the maintenance headaches inherent in a 116-year-old movable bridge. The project spans 2.44 miles of the Northeast Corridor and includes construction of retaining walls, deep foundations, concrete piers, structural steel bridge spans and rail systems. Demolition of the original Portal Bridge will occur in 2027. 

—Bob Gallegos

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New York City investment firm Ridgewood Infrastructure has acquired a controlling interest in California shortline Sierra Railroad Co., the company announced this spring.

Sierra’s operating subsidiaries include Sierra Northern Railway, which owns and operates the freight rail business and provides switching, storage, and transloading services across approximately 130 miles of track, Ridgewood said in a news release. 

Sierra Northern interchanges with Union Pacific and BNSF Railway, providing customers with enhanced network redundancy, routing flexibility, and connectivity to national rail markets.

“This partnership with Ridgewood marks an important next step for Sierra,” Sierra Northern President and CEO Kennan H. Beard III said in the release.

The transaction also includes Sierra’s subsidiary Railpower, Inc., which owns and operates the only Federal Railroad Administration–approved hydrogen-powered locomotive in the United States, reflecting Sierra’s leadership in rail innovation and zero-emissions locomotive technology.

“Sierra is a high-quality shortline rail platform with strong fundamentals, a diversified customer base, and a strategic footprint in some of California’s most important industrial and agricultural corridors,” Ryan Stewart, partner at Ridgewood, said in the announcement. “Our team brings deep experience owning and operating shortline and other railroad businesses across the United States, and we see meaningful opportunities to build on Sierra’s strong foundation by driving additional freight volumes for both existing customers and new customers, expanding transload capabilities, and supporting innovation across the platform.”

—Michael T. Burkhart

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The Izaak Walton Inn, a historic railroad lodge at the edge of Glacier National Park in Montana, has been listed for $18 million. The sale comes just two weeks after it closed due to financial troubles.

The lodge is situated along BNSF Railway’s former Great Northern Railway main line through northwest Montana and has long been a favorite among railroad enthusiasts. The GN partnered with the Addison Miller Company to build the hotel in 1939 to accommodate the crews needed to keep its main line over Marias Pass open during winter. In recent years, the mountain hamlet has become a popular spot for cross-country skiers, although the railroad still housed crews at the inn to support winter operations. Along with the historic hotel, several cabooses and an EMD F45 have been converted into cabins on the grounds. Amtrak’s Empire Builder also stops near the inn.

LOGE Camps bought the inn in 2022, and it underwent a major renovation before reopening in late 2024. But earlier this year, it was revealed that LOGE Camps was experiencing “significant” financial issues and shuttering all of its operations, including the Izaak Walton. The inn and the almost 90 acres it sits on have been described as a “turnkey resort” to potential buyers.

—Justin Franz 

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When the federal government created Consolidated Rail Corporation in the mid-1970s, it set out to weld several bankrupt Northeastern railroads into one viable system. To railfans, “Conrail” became synonymous with the disappearance of storied and colorful names. To many communities that depended on those lines for employment and tax revenue, it meant the shutdown of local yards and car shops and the ripping up of underperforming branch lines. In different ways, both rail enthusiasts and the communities those railroads served experienced a sense of loss that went beyond balance sheets and timetables.

Little of this lends itself to the kind of endearing romance with which many of us regard earlier railroads. It may therefore seem odd to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Conrail’s creation. Yet the reality is this — without Conrail, there might not be a viable railway industry today.

The history of North American railroading is a lesson in overexpansion. For most of the 19th century, railways were seen by investors as a transformative enterprise that would make them rich. To small-town dreamers and big city boosters, this was a technology that would funnel trade and influence to their communities. To company executives, rapid growth was the key to dominance — claiming lucrative territory before the other guy did, or diverting traffic from whoever got there first. In the Northeast, the result was “irrational exuberance,” good money after bad, and too many places served by too many lines.

Such duplication could foster competition and lower rates for shippers, but it also rendered profit margins perilously thin. The rise of publicly funded highways beginning in the 1910s, followed by the growth of subsidized airports in the 1930s, further eroded railroads’ competitive position. By the mid-20th century, lines that had long been marginal were firmly in the red, and routes once justified as “loss leaders” were draining their parent companies dry. When Conrail took over on April 1, 1976, its broader mandate was to preserve rail service in the Northeast and Midwest — and, by extension, to stabilize the North American rail network itself.

Achieving that goal required what battlefield medics call “triage.” Conrail concentrated its limited resources on maintaining, repairing, and upgrading the strongest segments of the network, while allowing less economically viable facilities to close. While most jobs were protected under Conrail, drastic and often brutal cuts elsewhere were needed to make the new railroad competitive. Decisions made in the decades prior were influenced by investors looking for quick returns and a public that quickly turned to the auto and the airplane for their shipping and travel needs. Rationalization, alongside various forms of regulatory relief and government aid, allowed Conrail to reach profitability and return to the private sector in 1987.

What might the railway industry have looked like had Conrail never been created? One can imagine the eastern main lines parceled out to state governments or simply left to wither, industries relocating farther south and west, and a deindustrialized landscape more severe than even the bleakest Bruce Springsteen ballad.

Conrail was unsentimental, rationalizing the excesses of a romantic, yet often imprudent, past. But it was also a hopeful creation — one that halted a systemic collapse and preserved rail service in the most densely populated and industrialized region of the U.S. Conrail saved what it could. In doing so, it saved railroading in the East — and we are all better off for it.

—Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.

This article appeared in the April 2026 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Subscribe Today!

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by Tim Doherty/photos by the author

In 1976, everything about Conrail was big — biggest railroad employer, biggest passenger carrier, biggest railroad in terms of revenue, and along with it, big problems. Big Blue inherited the underinvested physical plant of its bankrupt predecessors as well as their service problems and a declining Northeast manufacturing base.

The former New York Central Boston & Albany route over the Berkshire Mountains gave Conrail a near monopoly on southern New England rail traffic, compared to the parallel Boston & Maine to the north. Renamed the Boston Line, it became the primary gateway rail route in and out of New England. By comparison, very little of the former New York, New Haven & Hartford to the south remained in Conrail by the 1990s.

Prior to World War II, rail traffic in New England was centered on the movement of high-value manufactured goods and passengers, both of which were disrupted by new highways being built in the 1950s and the flight of manufacturing to lower-cost locations. The prospects were bleak for the New Haven as the decimated railroad went into receivership for the last time in 1961.

ABOVE: In the early 1960s, New York Central launched “Super Van” service on the former Boston & Albany. Conrail later expanded the service to six intermodal pairs at its peak in the late 1990s. Eastbound TV-6 rounds the famed curve at East Chatham, N.Y., on February 7, 1999.

Facing challenges from declining market share, New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad agreed to merge in 1962 — a move regulators would approve only if the ailing New Haven was included. Despite its massive scale and apparent resources as the sixth-largest corporation in the U.S., Penn Central was doomed from the outset by hasty merger planning, poor implementation, and questionable investments. Internal conflicts led to operational disruptions that clogged terminals and resulted in lost shipments. Revenues collapsed, and the railroad declared bankruptcy in June 1970, less than two years after the merger was completed.

The collapse of Penn Central also pulled down connecting systems, and by the mid-1970s, the Northeastern rail network was in crisis. Conrail was created to provide “adequate and efficient rail service” at the lowest cost to taxpayers. To do this, thousands of miles of excess track and facilities would be eliminated as a stronger, unified system would emerge from the ashes. Conrail’s success as planned by its creators was “heavily dependent on future projections of uncertain events.” Service would improve and traffic would return as Conrail’s track and facilities were rehabilitated. Further, and likely more problematic, was that the plan for Conrail was developed in the middle of the energy crisis where embargoes by foreign oil producers caused massive shortages and drove up prices. Planners expected new traffic to emerge as oil-fired power plants converted to coal, which at the time was less expensive.

ABOVE: At Selkirk Yard’s east end, the Boston Line to New England diverges from the River Line to New Jersey. On May 28, 1999, SEAL (Selkirk, N.Y.–Allentown, Pa.) departs with Worcester TrailVans lifted from westbound TV-7. At Kearny, N.J., the cars would connect with TV-213 for Norfolk Southern at Lynchburg, Va., and Atlanta.

By 1977, the coal conversion did not materialize as oil prices stabilized, and Conrail had a massive hole in its expected bottom line. Despite the thorough analysis of freight traffic and projections for the future, the resulting system included too much track for the business that Conrail had by the late 1970s. New England already had twice as much track as the national average. Thanks to legislation passed in the early 1980s, Conrail began a further round of rationalization, handed off its passenger operations to the states paying for the trains, and began to use the tools of deregulation to reach profitability relatively quickly.

New England was the birthplace of American heavy manufacturing in the 19th century, and to serve these new industries, some of the earliest railroads in America were chartered between 1832 and 1833. Running southwest from Boston, the New Haven — often in fiscally dubious fashion — acquired nearly every line in southern New England by the beginning of the 20th century, creating a dense web of main lines and branches. North of Boston, Boston & Maine and Maine Central operated routes into New Hampshire and Maine, as well as a western gateway to Albany, N.Y., that included the 4.75-mile-long Hoosac Tunnel. Guilford Transportation Industries consolidated these two lines into a single system in 1983.

ABOVE: Conrail NESE bursts from State Line Tunnel at Canaan, N.Y., on May 28, 1999, three days before takeover by CSX, led by four 3,000-hp B30-7As. These unique 12-cylinder GE units were prized for fuel efficiency.

Positioned between these two systems, Boston & Albany Railroad was built due west from Boston, linking the three largest cities in Massachusetts with the Hudson River. Its route and construction reflected the combined business and political ambitions of Massachusetts interests seeking a direct western outlet to the interior of the U.S. that bypassed New York City. Built and operated initially as two separate railroads, the Boston–Worcester, Mass., line opened in 1835, followed by Western Railroad from Worcester to the Hudson River opposite Albany in 1841. The two lines did not initially connect at Worcester, nor did they get along well, frequently disputing rate divisions.

Construction of the Western posed a far greater engineering challenge, requiring the railroad to cross two summits at Charlton and Washington, Mass. Fewer than eight miles of the route were level, and deep rock cuts were blasted to climb from 72.5 feet above sea level at Springfield, Mass., to a summit of 1,460 feet at Washington, just 38 miles to the west. The ruling grades lie between mileposts 128 and 138, where the railroad ascends 1,000 feet while crossing the Westfield River 15 times on a succession of sharp curves.

ABOVE: Conrail’s Lawrence to Selkirk freight LASE passes the shuttered GE complex in Pittsfield, Mass., on Feburary 13, 1999. With traffic off of Guilford from Eastern New England this train was one of two originating on Guilford (B&M) and handed off to Conrail at Worcester.

Leased to New York Central in 1900 — which served as its principal connection in Albany — B&A provided the longest single line route to New England. Early entrance into industrialization did not provide a lasting benefit. As early as the 1910s and 1920s, the textile industry shifted production to less expensive locations in the southern and western U.S. The precision manufacturing industry that developed surrounding Springfield in the Connecticut River Valley faced competitive challenges in the 1950s and 1960s, and it also relocated to reduce labor costs. Newer, less rail-dependent technology and scientific industries emerged in New England. The silver lining in this economic transition was that the workers in and around this growing sector would become consumers of automobiles and other goods.

In the 1970s, the freight arriving by rail in New England included perishable and non-perishable food, beer, newsprint, paperboard, tissue, flour, animal feed, fertilizer, plastics, cement, structural steel, plywood, building products, auto parts, and finished automobiles. Conrail inherited widely scattered customers located on different lines that required costly switching for limited carloads. Conrail served multiple grocery distributors, printing plants, and the few heavy manufacturers that continued to hang on. The initial freight schedules reflected the need to serve all these customers with small local yards across southern New England…

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by Victor Hand/photos by the author, courtesy Center for Railroad Photography & Art

The railroad crisis that engulfed the Northeast in the late 1960s and early 1970s was the culmination of decades of postwar economic policy that left railroads struggling with declining revenues, shifting traffic patterns, and mounting competition from government-funded highways, waterways, and aviation. In response, many carriers turned to mergers as a last-ditch solution to avoid bankruptcy. When New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad combined in 1968 (followed by the addition of the New Haven in 1969), the resulting Penn Central instantly became one of the largest corporations in America.

Yet the 20,000-mile behemoth was fundamentally unsound, taking its first steps already off-balance. Its collapse into bankruptcy in 1970 sent shock waves throughout the region, pulling down connecting carriers and pushing the entire Northeastern rail network to the brink of shutdown. Faced with the very real prospect of losing essential rail service as the national economy entered a recession, the federal government stepped in. Congress passed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act in late 1973, and President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1974. The “3R Act” created the United States Railway Association (USRA), charged with studying the bankrupt carriers and developing a viable plan for reorganization that would ultimately form the blueprint for Conrail.

ABOVE: Six months into Conrail, Penn Central units still powered many trains. An eastbound freight crosses the Niagara River on the Michigan Central arch bridge at Suspension Bridge Station in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on October 3, 1976. The train is TV-16 from Kalamazoo, Mich., to North Bergen, N.J., combined with Train MC-4, which operated from Detroit to Selkirk (N.Y.) Yard. The MC bridge was abandoned in 2001, but the Canadian National span to the right is still used by Amtrak trains today.

Once the Final System Plan was submitted to Congress on July 26, 1975, USRA turned its attention to the property conveyance process that would be required to transfer ownership of the designated assets to Conrail and other parties. In a traditional real estate transaction, a deed is prepared describing the property to be conveyed, sometimes accompanied by a map. USRA had nine months to prepare the deeds for what was about to be one of the most complicated real estate transactions in U.S. history. The staff had assured the board of directors that there would be no “map job”; someone would look at every location out in the field where lines were being severed, and at each parcel of property that the bankruptcy trustees claimed as not “used or useful in rail transportation.”

The job seemed impossible. A proposal was made to structure the real estate transfers as a “negative conveyance.” All of the property of a transferor railroad within a given jurisdiction would be conveyed, and property to be left with the bankrupt estates would be excepted from the transfer by describing it and marking it on valuation maps. The lawyers, of course, objected that this had never been done before. After much argument, the USRA president decided that a negative conveyance was the only viable option.

Working alongside a talented group of colleagues, I was directly involved in managing the real estate conveyance process for USRA. What follows is an overview of how that work came together.

ABOVE: A westbound freight behind two E-44 electric units passes Gwynn tower in Baltimore on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor on October 15, 1978. Conrail would end electric freight operations in 1981.

First, the bankrupt estates were asked to submit valuation maps marked with properties that they contended were not “used or useful in rail transportation,” and should not be conveyed. Valuation maps were detailed maps of railroad property and facilities that were prepared by all the steam railroads in the U.S., pursuant to the Valuation Act of 1913. Congress was considering placing a cap on railroad profits calculated as a return on invested capital. Unfortunately, there had been such financial chaos in the building of the railroad system during the 19th century that no one knew what the invested capital was. Ten years and many millions of dollars were spent in preparing these maps and cataloging and photographing railroad facilities. The process was never completed, but the maps became the basis of the property and engineering records of the railroads, and for the most part, were kept up to date as changes were made to facilities and property. These maps were invaluable in carrying out the conveyance process.

There were more than 1,250 “line cuts” where lines were being severed from the system, and more than 8,000 individual parcels of property claimed by the trustees. The USRA operating staff became property inspectors who examined all the property involved and made recommendations that were sent to USRA headquarters. The inspectors were accompanied by operating officials of the involved railroads, and often were joined by representatives of local government, major shippers, and commuter agencies.

ABOVE: lue Conrail units are eastbound at Bethlehem, Pa., with Train ALOI (Allentown, Pa. –Oak Island Yard, Newark, N.J.) on October 30, 1983. In the background is Bethlehem Steel’s massive Bethlehem Works, which closed in 1995.

Each Monday, the inspectors would come to the Washington headquarters to report their findings, and to receive packages of maps for the next week’s inspections. Based on the inspector’s recommendations, the trustee’s valuation maps were either accepted, rejected, or modified. USRA had four lawyers writing deed language, four draftsmen modifying maps, and an army of clerks to keep track of all the paper.

The Penn Central trustees retained Victor Palmieri & Company, a large real estate firm, to help them with the preparation of the valuation maps, while most of the smaller estates did the work with their own real estate staff. As an aside, Palmieri had previous involvement with the company as PC quickly sold off its real estate investment subsidiary Great Southwest Corporation in 1970 when it was revealed that top executives were benefiting from fraudulent transactions and insider information (which also contributed to PC’s bankruptcy). Palmieri later became a director of Pennsylvania Company (which was owned by PC and controlled all the non-rail properties) in an effort to untangle the railroad’s obligations from its real estate holdings.

I saved a few of the more interesting field inspection trips for myself. I spent two days traveling in a hi-rail truck with Lehigh Valley’s director of real estate and operating officials. We traveled from Jersey City, N.J., to Buffalo, N.Y., inspecting properties along the way. I also performed inspections on various Erie Lackawanna and Penn Central lines.

ABOVE: Train TV-1 (Kearny, N.J., to Chicago) is westbound at South Fork, Pa., on October 29, 1985. The tracks on the right lead to South Fork Yard and the South Fork Secondary Track.

Based on the results of the inspections, deeds were prepared for each transferor and transferee in each county. There were more than 480 deeds required to carry out all the real estate transfers. The transfers of rolling stock, shop and office equipment, and inventory also required the preparation of voluminous documents. I was busy with the real estate transfers, and did not participate in this work.

For each of the more than 1,250 “line cuts” where lines were being severed, a detailed description of the exact location of the cut was required. For example, the Final System Plan might have designated the “X Branch” between milepost 0 and mile 1.2 be conveyed to Conrail. The exact location of the line cut might read “1,200 feet west of the west abutment of the bridge over Noname Creek.” This is where the field inspections proved useful, to not only determine these physical locations, but to also make sure they actually existed as they were indicated on the maps. A determination of Conrail’s need for each of the more than 8,000 individual parcels of property claimed by the trustees was made, based on the recommendations of the field inspectors and railroad operating staff. A bit of “horse trading” went on, but not much…

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The Station Inn, a fan-favorite bed and breakfast just steps away from Norfolk Southern’s busy former Pennsylvania Railroad main line in Cresson, Pa., has reopened its popular basement bar after a 20-year hiatus. 

The Station Inn was founded in 1993 by Tom Davis, who purchased a former railroad hotel built in 1866 and converted it into a bed-and-breakfast for rail enthusiasts. Besides offering visiting enthusiasts a place to recharge after a long day trackside, it’s possible to watch trains right from the front porch. The Lang family purchased the Inn in 2022.

A bar had operated in the hotel’s basement as early as 1904. Later, it became a pizza place. Not long after Davis purchased the hotel, he reopened the basement as a bar and ran it until about 2005, when he closed it to focus on the rest of the operation. Owner J. Alex Lang said that, after buying the hotel in 2022 and reestablishing it, one of his next goals was to reopen the bar. That happened earlier this winter, and it’s since become a popular watering hole for railfans and locals alike. The bar offers a variety of small plates and snacks, a cocktail menu, and local beers and wines. It’s presently open Thursday through Saturday, from 5 to 10 p.m. For more information, visit yardofficelounge.com.

—Justin Franz

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New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington Cog Railway has received the first of two new boilers that will allow the mountain-climbing railroad to continue running steam for years to come. 

From 1869 until 2008, steam ruled the west slope of Mt. Washington. Constructed in the 1860s, the Mount Washington Cog Railway was the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railroad. However, in the late 2000s, diesel locomotives began to replace most steam locomotives. For a few years, only the first run of the day up the hill featured steam. In recent years, the railroad has offered a handful of trips to the summit behind steam, as well as a Mid Mountain Steam Special that travels about halfway up the hill. Presently, there are two steam engines on the active roster: Locomotive 2 Ammonoosuc, built in 1875, and 9 Waumbek, built in 1908. Both locomotives were constructed by the Manchester Locomotive Works, which later became part of the American Locomotive Company.

The new boilers are being built by Maine Locomotive & Machine Works in Alna, Maine. The first boiler is being used on locomotive 9, and officials said they hope to have the engine reassembled and in service this year.

—Justin Franz 

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The Illinois Railway Museum has completed construction of its fifteenth equipment storage barn. On February 27, the museum received its occupancy permit for the new building, allowing volunteers to quickly begin moving equipment into the four-track structure. The new Barn 15, completed ten years to the month after Barns 13 and 14, adds an additional 2,000 feet of indoor storage space for the museum, allowing the protection of dozens of locomotives and cars. 

IRM, located in Union, Ill., has one of the largest collections of historic railroad equipment in the United States and was founded in 1953.

—Justin Franz 

 

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The Dollywood theme park in Tennessee is converting two of its former White Pass & Yukon steam locomotives from coal to oil burners this year. The amusement park railroad is just the latest in a long line of operators who have adopted oil firing to ensure that steam can still operate amid drier summers and rising fire danger in forested areas. 

While in some cases — such as on the Durango & Silverton or with Reading Company 4-8-4 2100 — where the conversions involved engines that had always burned coal, the Dollywood conversion is actually a switch back to oil. Although 2-8-2s 70 and 192 were originally built to burn coal, the WP&Y actually converted them to oil in the early 1950s. After being retired in the early 1960s, the locomotives were sold and later converted back to coal burners. 

So far, the conversion of locomotive 70 has been completed, and Dollywood officials said engine 192 should be finished this year. The amusement park sought help from the Durango & Silverton after that railroad changed all of its operating former Rio Grande 2-8-2s from coal to oil.

Dollywood features a 2.5-mile loop-to-loop track that was first constructed in the 1960s and was originally called Rebel Railroad. Later, it was renamed Gold Rush Junction and then Silver Dollar City Tennessee. In 1986, country music legend Dolly Parton became a part-owner of the park, and it was renamed Dollywood. The train is known as the Dollywood Express. The park owns three former WP&Y locomotives, two of which are operational (70 and 192), and a third that is stored (71). It also has the frame and running gear of a fourth WP&Y locomotive, 72, which was damaged in a roundhouse fire in Skagway in 1969.

—Justin Franz 

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An Amtrak F40PH, or at least what remains of it, has been donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, south of Las Vegas. Amtrak 315 was donated by its previous owner, Western Rail near Spokane, Wash., to the museum in March. The locomotive, which no longer has a prime mover, will be moved to Nevada in the coming months. 

The timing of the donation is good: March marks the 50th anniversary of the first F40PH locomotive being delivered to Amtrak. The engines were essentially a passenger version of EMD’s popular GP40 freight locomotive, and became synonymous with passenger railroading in North America during the final decades of the 20th century. 

The museum said it plans on putting the locomotive on display and using the interior as a display space for an exhibit about the F40PHs and Amtrak in Nevada. 

—Justin Franz 

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A group of rebuilt F40PH locomotives is entering service on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Commuter Rail, part of a new fleet of lease units owned by Rolling Stock Solutions. 

The average age of commuter rail locomotives in the U.S is 28 years, according to Rolling Stock Solutions CEO Phil Puccia, and many agencies are looking to upgrade their fleets. But acquiring and building new locomotives can take years, so RSS purchased a small fleet of former Amtrak F40PH locomotives (12 in total) and has been rebuilding them at Metro East Industries in East St. Louis, Ill.

“The F40PH was probably one of the most widely used locomotives in the country, and so we wanted to be able to provide a locomotive that the mechanical and operations people already knew,” Puccia told Railway Age. “The F40PH is basically the Toyota Camry of locomotives.”

The first unit went into service on MBTA earlier this year, and Puccia said additional units will be entering service in the coming weeks and months. Other transit agencies have also expressed interest in RSS’ locomotives. 

—Justin Franz 

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The Center for Railroad Photography & Art‘s annual conference visits Indianapolis from April 24 to 26, featuring yet another great lineup of railroad image makers to headline one of the hobby’s marquee events. Festivities kick off on Friday evening with a ride aboard the Nickel Plate Express in nearby Noblesville, which will feature appetizers, drinks, and a photo runby at the halfway point. Then on Saturday and Sunday, the event moves to a beautiful new conference space at the Indiana History Center in Indianapolis. For more information and to register for the event, visit the conference page on CRP&A’s website. The event is filling up quickly, so register today. In the meantime, enjoy a preview of Conversations 2026 courtesy of CRP&A and Railfan & Railroad…

 

Darryl Bond: Five Passes – Better Living Through Rail Photography Darryl Bond will share five life lessons he learned while photographing trains from five mountain passes in California, New Zealand, China, Switzerland, and Chile. In his presentation, “Five Passes: Better Living Through Rail Photography,” he’ll show that photographing trains isn’t just about recording slices of history… It’s a hobby, a passion, a creative outlet, and even an addiction. Born in New Zealand, Bond has been taking pictures of trains since he was 11. He spent most of his career working for an American software company, spending twenty years in Australia, the US, and Europe before returning home ten years ago. Since starting a New Zealand railway magazine in 2020 as a pandemic lockdown project, he has made zero progress on restoring his 1955 six-axle diesel-electric. Jeff Mast: Working with Difficult or Lacking Lighting Jeff Mast of Canton, Michigan, has been actively photographing for nearly 55 years. His presentation, “Working with difficult or lacking lighting,” will examine his love of sunrise, sunset, and blue-hour lighting conditions, as well as available low-light, time-exposure, and flashbulb opportunities. He’ll share a look at his early film work, evolving through the changes and creativity available following his switch to digital cameras in 2005. Mast retired from municipal engineering in 2012, and again from an engineering consulting firm in 2024. He has written numerous published articles; his images have won numerous awards and populate many books. He enjoys all aspects of photography, however low, interesting lighting, steam and great lakes boats and lighthouses hold a large part of his interest. David R. Busse: Let Me Tell You a Story After four decades in the television news business, David R. Busse discovered there’s always a good story to go with an image, whether a still photo or video. His presentation, “Let Me Tell You a Story,” highlights a career of telling stories to a variety of audiences, mixing pictures, words, and sounds with a lifelong interest in trains. Busse grew up in suburban St. Louis and earned his first photographic credit in Trains magazine as a high school senior; he’s contributed to many railroad publications and video programs over the years. Professionally, he spent four decades of “boots on the ground” local and network broadcast journalism covering everything from Olympics and politics to natural disasters, war, civil unrest, and big court cases. He lives in Northwest Montana and maintains a winter home in Southern California. Jennifer Al-Beik: Making My Track

Jennifer Al-Beik will present “Making My Track…”, discussing her progress as a photographer and sharing photographs she has taken during her railfanning experiences—including favorite shots as well as those that document the progress of the Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway, where she volunteers. Al-Beik has been an artist nearly all of her life, and a railfan/railroad photographer for about seven of those years; as a doctor of veterinary medicine, she builds resilience by exercising her creativity. She’s also a mom to a ten-year old who is a soccer player, offering her another photographic subject along with trains, animals, planes, and nature. “The world around me is indeed my inspiration,” she writes. “To take photos of what is here now … as someday it will not be.”

Robert West: Passion Born in Great Falls, Montana, Robert West is a full-time railroad artist and author who has dedicated 47 years to painting vivid, highly detailed portraits of North American railroading. As a direct descendant of Pullman Porters and “Gandy Dancers,” he brings a deep understanding of railroading and the hardworking individuals who built its legacy to his art and lectures. In his presentation, “Passion,” Robert will explain the technical aspects of his paintings, shedding light on the creative and metaphorical significance embedded in his works. His approach is designed to provide audiences with a deeper understanding of both his art and the stories behind railroading.

 

David P. Oroszi’s Photo Collections 

In “Dave Oroszi’s Photo Collections,” David P. Oroszi will highlight images from many of his thirty-plus railroad photography collections, most of which have come from friends who’ve passed away. In choosing images, he has narrowed his presentation to draw from twenty collections from some of his closest friends. Born in 1948, Dave resides in Dayton, Ohio, and has always liked trains. He has co-authored nearly fifteen books on railroads, served as news editor of CTC Board magazine, and he’s run the annual Summerail photography event since 1996. He is the co-chairman of the Rail Festival at the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton since 2005, and he’s working with the park’s staff to restore a building that will house his collection, as well as the Dayton History collection.

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A cosmetic restoration of a Northern Pacific S-4 class 4-6-0 is underway in Missoula, Mont. Locomotive 1356 has been on display next to the former NP (now BNSF Railway) yard near downtown Missoula since the 1950s, and now a local group is spearheading an effort to freshen the locomotive up. 

Locomotive 1356 was one of 40 S-4 class 4-6-0s that the NP purchased in 1902 from Baldwin. The engine was assigned to the Rocky Mountain Division and worked everything from express passenger trains to log trains. The engine was also used to rescue people during the infamous Big Burn of 1910, a wildfire that tore through eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, scorching 4,700 square miles and killing at least 87 people. 

The locomotive was retired in June 1954, after working as a helper over Evaro Hill west of Missoula. The engine was later sent to Tacoma, Wash., where it was nearly scrapped before being selected to be put on display in Missoula. Local railroaders tasked with finding a locomotive for the city were quick to select 1356, and one of them, roundhouse forman Harry Larson, later recalled that the 4-6-0 was the “best doggone engine for her size that ever worked out of Missoula.”

Over the years, the engine had received some cosmetic work to maintain its appearance. But a few years ago, a local group called Friends of the 1356 was organized to help protect the engine for the future. Presently, the group is working towards rebuilding the locomotive’s cab and making repairs to the tender. Eventually, they would like to have an informational kiosk and allow visitors to look into the cab (the engine is presently gated off). For more information, visit missoula1356.org. 

Locomotive 1356 is not the only one of her class that is receiving attention this year. Last month, the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum in Toppenish, Wash., fired up sister locomotive 1364 for the first time in 73 years. 

—Justin Franz 

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