Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

The Flying Yankee Association, the non-profit restoring the Boston & Maine streamliner, is hoping to raise $30,000 to rebuild the train’s traction motors. The model GE 721 traction motors are attached to the first two axles of the train and are considerably smaller than the ones traditionally found on a locomotive. 

The Flying Yankee was built by the Budd Company in 1935 and ran in New England for 22 years until it was retired in 1957. It was privately owned and displayed at the Edaville Railroad for 40 years until it was acquired by New Hampshire in 1997. Since then, a non-profit group has been trying to restore the train, first at the Claremont & Concord and most recently at the Hobo Railroad. However, in recent years, those efforts have collapsed and little has happened with the train, only the third of its type built in North America. 

Starting in the spring of 2021, volunteers updated and filed all the required state and federal documents to bring the group back into good standing and established a new name, the Flying Yankee Association. Along with that came a brand new board of directors, including several members with business and management experience. The train has since been sold to the non-profit. The Flying Yankee is presently in a “partially restored state” on the Conway Scenic Railroad. 

The Flying Yankee Association is presently looking at constructing a facility to restore, maintain and store the streamliner. In the meantime, the restoration will focus on parts of the train that can be sent out to various shops in the area. For more information, visit FlyingYankee.org. —Justin Franz 

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Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is expanding the schedule of its popular “Highline Express” trains this summer. The evening excursion between Durango and Rockwood, Colo., gives passengers a taste of the iconic scenery along the former Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge route without having to dedicate an entire day to riding the 45-mile line.

The D&SNG first introduced the “Highline Express” in 2024. This year, it will run on 19 dates in June and July (daily June 30 to July 9 and then every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the rest of July). The train departs Durango at 4:30 p.m. and returns at 8:10 p.m. Last year, it was introduced in response to passenger feedback asking for more flexible travel options, especially for families with young children. For tickets, visit the railroad’s website. 

The D&SNG’s summer excursion season begins May 3 and lasts through November 1. —Justin Franz 

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The Mid-Continent Railway Museum’s decades-long effort to restore Chicago & North Western R-1 Class 4-6-0 1385 to service is in the home stretch. Mid-Continent recently announced it was raising money to move the locomotive from the private shop where it was rebuilt at to its museum in North Freedom, Wis. Upon arrival at the museum, the locomotive will undergo a hydro test and steam test before hopefully being put back into regular service in 2026. 

Locomotive 1385 was built in March 1907 by the American Locomotive Company as one of 325 R-1 class 4-6-0s owned by the C&NW. The R-1s were used in fast freight service and secondary passenger service. The ten-wheelers were the largest single class of steam locomotives the C&NW ever owned. Locomotive 1385 was retired in 1956 and then purchased by Mid-Continent members in 1961 for $2,600. The locomotive ran at Mid-Continent and across the Midwest (including a stint leading the Circus World Museum train) until it was taken out of service in 1998. 

  Project Manager Micheal Wahl said a number of issues were discovered with the locomotive in the years after it was taken out of service, and at times, the restoration was put on the back burner. In 2011, however, a $250,000 challenge grant from the Wagner Foundation kicked the restoration back into high gear. In the years since, a new boiler has been built for it, and the locomotive’s original tender has been rebuilt.

  “This has been a ground-up restoration,” Wahl said. 

  The locomotive is at a private shop about 40 miles away from North Freedom (the shop is not open to the public). Due to a low bridge on the route between the contractor and the museum, the locomotive will need to be trucked to a Wisconsin & Southern siding, loaded onto a flatcar and then moved by rail for the final part of the journey to North Freedom. The move is expected to cost $80,000. Donations can be made either online or be mailed to P.O. Box 358, E8948 Museum Road, North Freedom, WI 53951 (Please write “Bring the 1385 Home Fund” in the memo line).

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The Revelstoke Railway Museum of British Columbia is raising money to restore the very first SD40 locomotive built in Canada. Locomotive 5500 was built by General Motors Diesel, the Canadian subsidiary of Electro-Motive Diesel, in 1966 for Canadian Pacific. The locomotive was the first hundreds of SD40s owned by CP, some of which continue to earn their keep on CPKC. 

CP 5500 has been at the Revelstoke museum for over a decade and is now in need of a fresh coat of paint. The museum plans on restoring it to CP’s iconic action red colors. The museum needs to raise $250,000 to complete the restoration and build a structure around the locomotive to protect it. For more information, visit revelstokerailwaymuseum.org.

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The Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad announced in January that it had named Rick Marsden its new executive director effective February 13. Marsden will replace Tim Tennant, who is retiring after 20 years as the leader of the Albuquerque-based non-profit established to support the narrow gauge railroad owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico. 

Marsden has been a group member for over a decade and has previously worked as a photo archivist for the organization. He was also a past vice president of the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society, the group that owns and operates Santa Fe 4-8-4 2926. 

Marsden will oversee the Friends’ office staff and help coordinate the organization’s numerous volunteer activities, most of which are conducted along the railroad. Work ranges from restoring wooden freight cars and structures at sites along the railroad to researching archival photos. Members also served as on-board docents on the railroad’s trains operating near-daily from late spring into late fall. —Justin Franz 

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The photography collection of Michael A. Eagleson, a well-known photographer and former columnist for Railfan & Railroad in the late 1970s, has been preserved by the Industrial Archives & Library in Bethlehem, Pa.

Eagleson was born in New Jersey in 1943 and was taking railroad photos by the time he was 11. He was fascinated by steam locomotives and after the fires were dropped in North America, he would spend years tracking it down around the globe, eventually venturing to at least 77 different countries in his search. He chronicled it all in a column called In Search of Steam, first in Railroad and later in Railfan & Railroad.

Professionally, Eagleson was a trained graphic designer and owned a design firm. He also worked as an agent on the Erie Lackawanna and a fireman on the Central Railroad of New Jersey when he was in college. Eagleson died in 2022. He is survived by his wife Florence, and his daughter, Catherine.

“It is through their generosity and desire to share his works with researchers and historians that this one-of-a-kind collection now has a permanent home here in Bethlehem, Pa.,” said Stephen G. Donches, President & CEO of the Industrial Archives & Library. “We are very

honored to care for this incredible collection and to be able to preserve the amazing visual legacy of Mike Eagleson for future generations.”

The Industrial Archives & Library was founded in 2015. Current holdings include records relating to banking, slate quarrying, coal mining, silk and textiles, steel, shipbuilding, transportation and railroads. Officials said they expect it to take a few years to fully process Eagleson’s collections. —Justin Franz 

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The Rockhill Trolley Museum added two historic Pennsylvania trolley cars to its collection in January. The cars were donated by the family of the late Wendell Dillinger, founder of the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad, who passed away in 2023. 

Lewistown & Reedsville car 23 once operated less than 35 miles from the Rockhill. It was built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1914 and operated in Lewistown until 1933. The car was then sold and turned into a summer home. The museum plans to restore the car to operation. 

The other car was built by the J.G. Brill Company in 1924 as York Railways 162. The car ran until 1939 when it was sold and also turned into a camp. The Rockhill museum also owns and operates York Railways 163, so it plans to restore 162 to how it might have looked when it was a summer home. Officials said that restoration will give visitors an idea of what happened to many trolleys in the mid-20th century. 

For more information, visit RockhillTrolley.org. —Justin Franz 

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New York’s Catskill Mountain Railroad saw its ridership increase by 17.5 percent last year for a total of 60,653 passengers in 2024.

Launched in 1982 to lease and operate a 38-mile former New York Central branch line, Catskill Mountain Railroad currently operates a five-mile route based out of Kingston, N.Y.

The increase in ridership comes as the tourist railroad faces a new threat to its existence. Recently, two area groups, the Woodstock Land Conservancy and Friends of the Catskill Mountain Rail Trail, began advocating to replace the county-owned rail line with a trail. For many years, the tourist railroad has fought efforts to turn the former NYC route into a trail. While in recent years, the railroad has been able to work with different trail groups and the county successfully, this new effort is marked by a desire to remove the rail line completely. —Justin Franz

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Western Maryland Scenic is partnering with the PBS program Great Scenic Railway Journeys to raise money to restore 2-8-0 locomotive 734, which last operated on the Maryland-based tourist railroad in 2016.

Baldwin Locomotive Works built the 2-8-0 type locomotive in 1916 for the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad, an iron ore-hauling road in Michigan. The locomotive was used until the 1960s when it was sold to a tourist railroad and eventually to the Illinois Railway Museum. In 1992, WMSR acquired it and restored it to resemble a Western Maryland H-class locomotive. 

The locomotive will be restored to service on WMSR’s route between Cumberland and Frostburg, Md. The locomotive will join WMSR’s other steam engine, the former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 1309. 

The railroad has not set a timeline for locomotive 734’s completion. As of this month, it is currently indoors at WMSR’s shop in Ridgeley, W.Va., where it will be prepared for a running gear evaluation, ultrasound mapping, and more. To help fund the restoration, Great Scenic Railway Journeys announced on February 1 that it would match every donation made to the effort up to $10,000. 

“I have been continually impressed with the work done by the new management and staff at WMSR,” said creator and producer Robert Van Camp. “Their vision for the railroad and infusion of fresh ideas, such as new venues and experiences, truly capture the essence of railroading’s glory days. It’s inspiring to see how they’re bringing new life to the railroad and making it an unforgettable experience for riders of all ages. I am proud to be a part of their mission to help preserve and present some of this nation’s historical railroad rolling stock and look forward to seeing the matching funds pledged by their fan base.”

For additional information, visit the restoration’s website at MountainThunder734.org. —Justin Franz 

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Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation announced that Joseph Darby has assumed the role of president, succeeding founding president Chris Campbell.

Darby has previously served as Vice President of Operations for Kentucky Steam. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and has worked as a mechanical project engineer for General Motors. In a press release, Darby thanked Campbell for his efforts to launch the ongoing restoration of Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 2716 in Irvine, Kentucky. 

“We are grateful for Chris’s dedication and visionary leadership,” said Darby. “I am honored to continue building upon the strong foundation he has established and to lead KSHC into its next chapter.” —Justin Franz

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Story and Photos by Daniel Smutek

Norfolk & Western 429 — a popular subject of O. Winston Link’s photography — appeared alive and well six decades after being scrapped in January 2025 during an event hosted at the Strasburg Rail Road. Its resurrection came through the cosmetic alteration of its living sister, Strasburg Railroad 475, a 1906 Baldwin 4-8-0 built for mixed service. The locomotive starred in a night photo charter dedicated to recreating some of Link’s work. Dynamo Productions and the O. Winston Link Museum coordinated the event and invited photographers and videographers to shoot 429 pulling a mixed consist. The train posed for long exposures and performed run-bys at several locations along the Strasburg meant to represent sites found along N&W lines in southwestern Virginia and North Carolina.

Despite wind chills, ice and temperatures in the teens, all hosting parties put on a memorable show for everyone. This also marked the first time 475 posed as sister 429. Previous photo charters dedicated to replicating O. Winston Link’s work featured the 475 as another popular sister, the 382.

Strasburg Railroad’s ex-Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 475 took on the appearance of a scrapped sister engine for a night photo charter on Jan. 11. Locomotive 429 often appeared in O. Winston Link’s photography.

A steam-era N&W logo adorns the Pumpkinville Turnpike Bridge where Extra 429 is stopped for long exposures at blue hour. An acting couple poses on the dirt road below with a freshly-cut Christmas tree.

Extra 429 makes a station stop at “Nella,” a North Carolina town once defined by a large general store featured in Link’s photos. Locals referred to it as “Husk,” but the N&W named it in their timetables after an employee. The location shown above is actually the Groff’s Picnic Grove at Cherry Hill siding. 

N&W 429 takes the yellow signal east after everyone has boarded at Nella. A scene titled “February 8, 1957” inspired this one, but featured a much larger A-Class 2-6-6-4 passing under a towering semaphore.

A 1958 Fairlane 500 meets the 1906 “Mollie” at the Esbenshade Road grade crossing. Given the latter’s model year, this scene likely replicates one from the last days of the N&W’s M-Class.

A young couple admires the fleeting image of N&W 429 from their back porch. The same couple from the N&W bridge returned to pose for this scene, which is  inspired by another popular Link photo titled, “The Popes, Max Meadows, VA, 1957.” 

One hour before midnight, N&W 429 makes a steamy entrance into Blacksburg Depot. Similar to Cinderella’s coach, the 429 will fade back into history come midnight. The Blacksburg depot shown above is actually a former Reading Railroad station built in 1882 and moved to its current location in 1960.

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The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, Nev., recently completed the restoration of a rare switcher that was used in the construction of the Hoover Dam. 

The Davenport Locomotive Works built the switcher in 1936 for the U.S. Department of Interior. The three-axle switcher was assigned to the Bureau of Reclamation to aid in the construction of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona. Although much of the dam was completed by 1936, power plants and electrical transmission infrastructure still needed to be built. To handle the 4 percent grades on the construction railroad, the government opted for a mechanical chain drive on the gas-powered locomotive to retain greater tractive effort (luckily, loads were carried downhill and empties uphill). When the final transformer was installed in 1963, the locomotive was sold to a local industrial park.

The Davenport switcher as it appeared in the 1930s. Courtesy Photo. 

The locomotive was donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in 2003. Last year, staff and volunteers began a cosmetic restoration of the locomotive to how it appeared in the 1930s. 

The Nevada State Railroad Museum was founded in 1991 and has several pieces of historic equipment, including steam and diesel locomotives. It also offers excursions. The railroad recently broke ground on a new visitor’s center that will be a centerpiece of the Great Western Railroad Roundup planned for October 2026. For more information, visit boulderrailroadmuseum.org. —Justin Franz 

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The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has acquired a rare Pullman heavyweight passenger car that once ran on the Nickel Plate Road. The car, named Kitchi Gammi Club, was recently acquired for Fort Wayne’s popular Indiana Rail Experience excursion program. 

Kitchi Gammi Club was built in 1923 and used on some of NKP’s finest trains. The railroad converted it into an official company business car in 1953. Later the car was deemed surplus after serving in wreck train service. Between 1988 and 2019, the car was meticulously overhauled and restored under private ownership and operated by Virginia Rail Investment Corporation and its owners Chuck Akers and Chuck Jensen. It has seen continuous service ever since. In 2024, the car was used in excursion service behind Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 765. 

The interior of Kitchi Gammi Club. Photo Courtesy of FWRHS.

“We’re honored to inherit not only this special historic gem but also to celebrate the work and passion that the car’s owners, Chuck Jensen and Chuck Akers, invested in preserving this unique piece of passenger rail history,” said Kelly Lynch, Executive Director of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. “The Kitchi Gammi Club is right at home traveling behind the kinds of locomotives that once carried it throughout the railroad’s system. We’re especially thankful for our gracious donors and members who were able to quickly support this acquisition.”

Fort Wayne officials said the car will be used on the Indiana Rail Experience this year and a schedule will be released in the coming months. The car will also maintain its Amtrak certification meaning it will still be able to travel the country. 

Plans call for the organization to begin fundraising to return the car to its original Pullman appearance and to outfit the interior with authentic Pullman decor and furnishings. Donations for the Kitchi Gammi Club can be made at fortwaynerailroad.org/donate. —Justin Franz

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Jeremy M. Komasz has been selected as the new superintendent of Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa. Komasz began his new role on January 19. Komasz replaced Cherie Shepherd who held the position since 2019. 

Komasz has spent three decades in the military and private sector, as well as five overseas deployments, with three combat deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. Komasz holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, specializing in Political Science and Latin American studies, from George Washington University. He also earned a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

“The people and partnerships in northeast Pennsylvania help make Steamtown special,” Komasz said in a press release. “I’m excited to work side by side with staff, volunteers and partners to build on the park’s legacy. I spent a significant portion of my professional life working with complex machinery and systems, so I feel a deep connection to Steamtown’s mission. Throughout my career, I’ve focused on strategic and operational planning, always with an eye toward service. I’m committed to preserving this extraordinary site while ensuring it remains meaningful and accessible to the public. I am excited to experience everything the area has to offer.”

Steamtown was established in the 1960s by New England businessman F. Nelson Blount, who amassed a large collection of steam locomotives. In the 1980s, it moved to Scranton and became part of the National Park Service in 1986. 

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The United Railroad Historical Society of NJ announced Monday that it would be suspending its popular Hudson River Rail Excursions indefinitely following a series of “Farewell (For Now)” excursions next month. The suspension comes as Amtrak adjusts its operations around New York City to allow for the rebuilding of the East River Tunnel between Manhattan and Queens. 

In the coming months, Amtrak is reducing the number of trains it sends through the tunnels, including paring down the Empire Service from ten round trips between New York City and Albany to eight. The Hudson River Rail Excursions use historic New York Central equipment, including observation lounge car Hickory Creek, attached to the rear of Empire Service trains. During the service adjustment, trains will be operating with a locomotive on either end. The trains will also be serviced in Albany instead of Sunnyside Yard in Queens. 

“This decision is beyond our control,” URHS officials wrote this week. “Amtrak’s vital rehabilitation of the East River Tunnels and subsequent changes to the Empire Service have made it impossible to integrate our historic railcars into these trains for the foreseeable future.”

URHS will operate 12 excursions between February 14 and March 2. Tickets go on sale on January 29, and URHS encourages people to buy to support the organization in the years ahead. While the Hudson River Rail Excursions will not be run for the foreseeable future, URHS still plans to operate its 20th Century Limited Experience overnight excursions this summer. The non-profit is also encouraging people to submit letters of support at HudsonRiverRail.com/KeepUsRolling, to help the organization in its efforts to bring back the service. 

For more information and to buy tickets, visit HudsonRiverRail.com. —Justin Franz 

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by Justin Franz/photos as noted

When Amtrak assumed the long-distance passenger operations of 20 Class I railroads on May 1, 1971, it acquired approximately 1,190 passenger cars overnight. More than 90 percent of that fleet came from five railroads — Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, Seaboard Coast Line, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific.

But just because the Class I railroads had rid themselves of the service didn’t mean they disposed of all their passenger cars. There were still plenty of reasons to keep a few around, most notably for the use of management to inspect the property and entertain shippers. On rare occasions, the freight railroads even invited the general public aboard in a show of goodwill to the communities they served.

More than a half-century after Amtrak assumed most passenger service in the U.S. (and 47 years since VIA Rail Canada did the same north of the border), all six of North America’s Class I railroads maintain their own fleets of passenger cars for use on business trains, inspection trips, and sometimes for more unusual purposes. In 2025, BNSF Railway maintains a fleet of more than 50 passenger cars — among the largest of any Class I fleet — for use on its 32,500-mile network across 28 western states.

ABOVE: BNSF GP39E 2909 (ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) was still wearing Burlington Northern Cascade Green on February 19, 2016, as it switched out office cars in Topeka, Kan., ahead of a business train trip to the Super Bowl. —Jeff Carlson photo

The Fleet
The current BNSF passenger car fleet resulted from the combination of the Burlington Northern and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe fleets following the two railroads’ merger in 1995. While the Santa Fe fleet was made up predominantly of equipment it purchased for its own public passenger services in the mid-20th century, BN’s business train fleet was an amalgamation of cars from its predecessor roads, including Great Northern; Northern Pacific; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (Frisco). Prior to the 1995 merger, the Santa Fe passenger cars looked much as they did decades earlier with stainless-steel fluting, evoking memories of famed streamliners like the Super Chief and El Capitan. Most of the Santa Fe business cars were maintained and stored in Topeka, Kan.

The BN cars, with a few exceptions, tended to be of the smooth-side variety and were initially painted in the railroad’s green and white livery. In 1990, BN debuted what it called the “executive scheme” or “Grinstein Green” (a nod to then-CEO Gerald Grinstein). The new livery featured a dark Brunswick green on the upper and lower portions of equipment with a cream band around the middle and accented by red pinstripes separating the two primary colors. The scheme made its debut on BN-1 and BN-2, F9A and F9B locomotives rebuilt exclusively to lead the business train. The F9s were later joined by E9 BN-3. Today, all three are preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. By the time BN and Santa Fe merged, much of the business car fleet was in the new scheme.

ABOVE: On May 1, 2023, a southbound BNSF geometry train is meeting the Kalispell Local near La Salle, just south of Columbia Falls, Mont. While BNSF runs a local to Kalispell five days a week, it’s rare to have more than one train on the branch at a time. —Justin Franz photo

Following the merger, the fleets were consolidated at Santa Fe’s shop in Topeka (prior to that, the BN cars were maintained at North Kansas City, Mo.). Once the two fleets became one, it was decided to begin repainting and refurbishing the BN equipment to look more like the stainless-steel AT&SF cars. During BNSF’s early years, the business cars featured the railroad’s circular logo derived from the Santa Fe shield. The railroad’s full name, “Burlington Northern Santa Fe,” was spelled out on the side of most cars above the windows. In the mid-2000s, the circle logo was replaced by the “swoosh” and that quickly began to appear on the business car fleet.

In recent years, there have been a number of changes to the fleet, as well as additions. For example, BNSF 1, the Gerald Grinstein, was previously named Mississippi River; the car was built by Budd in 1952 for Chicago, Burlington & Quincy President Herold C. Murphy. The classic open platform observation car has fallen out of favor with BNSF in recent years, and more often than not when the business train is out it will be one of the glass theater cars bringing up the rear, either BNSF 30, the Glacier View (a full-length dome theater car), or BNSF 32, the William Barstow Strong.

ABOVE: Passengers take in the view from Glacier View, an ex-Great Northern dome converted into a theater car, on September 16, 2018, during an excursion to support the Glacier National Park Conservancy. —Justin Franz photo

A recent addition to the fleet had been waiting in the wings for decades. BNSF 35, Canyon View, was built in 1956 for CB&Q as its Silver Veranda, a blunt-end parlor-buffet-lounge observation car. The car eventually ended up in the Amtrak fleet and was sold to Burlington Northern in 1993. The car then remained in storage for more than two decades until 2015, when it was rolled into the Topeka Shops for a complete rebuild; it made its debut in early 2016. It now has seating for 45 with a meeting room, kitchenette, lounge, and dining area. One other ex-CB&Q dome is waiting in the wings in Topeka — BNSF 22, formally known as Silver Ranch — which joined the BN roster in the 1990s. So far, it has yet to be refurbished and it’s unclear if it ever will be.

In the past, BNSF has also leased cars, including an ex-Santa Fe “Super Dome” in 2018 from Iowa Pacific. At the time, the railroad’s own ex-AT&SF dome (the Carl R. Ice) was being refurbished.

While most of the passenger car fleet is based in Topeka, five cars call BNSF headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, home. Those cars include the James J. Hill (built for Frisco in 1912 by American Car & Foundry), the Cyrus K. Holliday (built in 1918 by Pullman for AT&SF), the Yellowstone River (1955 Pullman from NP), Canadian River (1947 Pullman from GN), and Prairie View (1948 Budd from CB&Q). Four of the cars are used for meeting and event spaces, while the fifth (the dome-obs Prairie View) has been turned into a coffee and sandwich shop…

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by Tim Doherty/photos by the author except as noted

Nine miles west from South Station in Boston, the Northeast Corridor drops from three tracks to two. One Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter line diverges to the north with a stop at Readville, and another one crosses over from the south. The New Haven’s once-extensive yard complex still hosts CSX’s largest carload yard within the Route 128 beltway and the MBTA daytime layover yard for the southside commuter rail trains. The Northeast Corridor runs right down the middle, hosting 38 Amtrak trains each weekday. An additional 74 MBTA commuter trains run back and forth between Boston, Providence, and Stoughton, Mass., and Wickford Junction, R.I.

The compass circle of lines centered on Readville is the product of multiple independent railroad projects in the first half of the 19th century. After the consolidation by the New Haven at the end of that century, the railroad had duplicate routes through Readville connecting Boston with points west. Over time, the better engineered Boston to Providence/Shore Line predominated over the other routes, which eventually fell victim to their secondary status and redundancy. With multiple trains on different tracks, the sprawling former New Haven station complex at Readville is a great place to sit back and watch the parade of MBTA, Amtrak, and a handful of CSX trains coming and going in four different directions.

ABOVE: An MBTA Providence Line train led by F40PH-3 1032 is about to be overtaken by Amtrak Acela 2159 at Readville on the morning of November 23, 2021. The MBTA train on Track 3 will wait for Acela’s passing before crossing to Track 1 near the southern end of the station.

Northeast Corridor
Forming the northern end of the Corridor, Boston & Providence Railroad started carrying passengers between Readville and Boston in 1834. With the construction of the massive stone viaduct at Canton in 1835, the line extended to Providence and then on to Stonington, Conn., in 1837. A steamboat crossing to Long Island and a rail connection provided the first through route to New York City. From that point on, B&P would become the principal route between New York and Boston. Ownership transferred to Old Colony Railroad for five years before being taken over by the New Haven in 1893. After the New Haven was absorbed into Penn Central in 1969, MBTA purchased most of the remaining Penn Central rail property in 1973. Amtrak received Penn Central’s reserved intercity passenger easement on the corridor in 1976 after the creation of Conrail.

A Corridor Crossroads
Crossing over the Corridor at Readville is the former New Haven Midland Division, which is now the MBTA Fairmount Line. With a connection to the Corridor at Transfer Interlocking, the old Midland Division parallels the NEC a couple of miles to the east all the way to South Station and Cove Interlocking.

ABOVE: CSX’s Readville–Framingham local L010 operates with the punctuality of a passenger train as the moves from Readville to Walpole are made tightly between MBTA commuter trains. After backing out from the yard, the local passes over a short section of the Fairmount Line before joining the Franklin Line.

The Midland was constructed as a route into Boston from Dedham and Readville in the 1850s to compete with Boston & Providence. It operated intermittently until Boston, Hartford & Erie leased it in 1867 to provide a through route to New York. With the takeover of successor New York & New England by the New Haven in 1898, the line turned into a secondary branch and lost its through passenger trains. Commuter service on the Midland would end by 1944 until it was restored by the Southwest Corridor Project on November 3, 1979.

The Southwest Corridor project, developed by state planners and implemented by MBTA, relocated 4.7 miles of the rapid transit Orange Line in the city of Boston from the original Washington Street Elevated structure to the parallel NH/NEC alignment between Forest Hills and Cove. In its place, two subway tracks and three railroad tracks of the NEC would be built in tunnel and trench sections. A key element of the Southwest Corridor project was the shift during construction of all the Amtrak intercity and MBTA commuter trains to a rehabilitated Midland Division. This move allowed the new Orange Line and NEC segments to be constructed without railroad interference (see “MBTA Orange Line: A Total Transformation” in the September 2024 Railfan & Railroad).

ABOVE: With three MBTA routes and the Northeast Corridor converging at Readville, three-way meets of trains are common. At twilight on November 27, 2023, eastbound Amtrak Train 86 is stopped for traffic ahead while Acela 2173 heads west and an outbound Franklin Line train stops on the ramp.

Three stations were initially opened in 1979 as trains shifted to the Fairmount Line. With the completion of the Southwest Corridor Project in 1987, the commuter service proved popular enough to continue on what was known internally by MBTA as the Dorchester Branch and publicly as the Fairmount Line. Four more stations were included as part of the 2005 commitment to mitigate the air quality impacts of the Big Dig highway project, and they were constructed over the next decade. The station construction and service frequency improvements on the Fairmount Line were based on a community-backed plan to replicate rapid transit-style services to become the proposed Indigo Line.

The MBTA’s commuter rail operator, Keolis, sought and was approved in 2024 to begin the purchase of new Battery Electric Multiple Unit (EBMUs) trainsets for the Fairmount Line. These BEMU cars would do two things — make a meaningful step toward electrification of the MBTA’s commuter rail system and make a big step toward what has been envisioned for the Indigo Line.

The MBTA southside daytime layover yard for commuter trains is located just to the east of Readville station on the Fairmount Line. There is no public access to the yard itself, but movements into the yard are visible from either the Fairmount Line or the station itself. Each weekday morning and early afternoon, a parade of deadheading trains travels between the yard and South Station. As one of the larger MBTA facilities on the south side of the system, Readville generates various equipment and other non-revenue moves regularly enough to pay attention to them…

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The Naugatuck Railroad has purchased three former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passenger cars. 

The cars include two 86-seat, hi-level “Pacific Parlour” cars — Columbia Valley (ex-AMTK 39970, ATSF 575) and Willamette Valley (ex-AMTK 39975, ATSF 580) — and transition car (ex-AMTK 9936, ex-ATSF 736) built for AT&SF by Budd that allowed “hi-level” cars to be run with single-level cars. All three cars were built by Budd between 1956 and 1964 and used on the El Capitan. The parlour cars continued on through the Amtrak era, and were retired in 2018.

The cars were most recently operated by the Steam Railroad Institute in Michigan. Officials with the Naugatuck said they hope to get the unique stainless steel cars in service before the end of 2025 and that they’ll greatly expand capacity on their popular holiday season excursions.

“These cars are unique and will be the first of their kind operating in New England,” said Orion Newall-Vuillemot, Manager of Passenger Operations at the Naugatuck Railroad. “We’re committed to providing the best possible service for our passengers, and these new cars will be a tremendous upgrade for our excursion offerings. We’re grateful to the Steam Railroading Institute for the work they’ve done to maintain and preserve these cars and for the opportunity to offer enjoyable new experiences for our visitors.” —Justin Franz

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A Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive will be sold at auction next month following a legal judgment against the owner for not paying storage fees. Locomotive 587, a 2-8-2 built in 1918, is being stored at the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp., campus in Irvine, Kentucky. 

This is not the first time the locomotive has been in limbo, an unfortunate situation for a engine that was leading excursions in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2018, the locomotive’s owner, the Indiana Transportation Museum, was evicted from its long-time home in Noblesville, Indiana. The locomotive was purchased by an anonymous buyer and moved to Kentucky. In 2021, it was announced that the buyer was working with Jason Sobczynski, KSHC chief mechanical officer and CEO of Next Generation Rail Solutions, to come up with a restoration plan for the locomotive. 

Those plans never came to fruition and the owner has apparently not been paying their bills to keep the engine at KSHC. As a result, a judge ruled it would be auctioned off to pay for the storage fees. The locomotive, which is currently in pieces, will be available for viewing on Saturday, January 25. Bids will be due at 10 a.m. on February 25, and the winning bidder will be informed on March 3. At that point, the bidder will have 60 days to move the locomotive. 

Visit KentuckySteam.org for additional information. —Justin Franz 

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Vermont Rail System is looking to reopen the west end of the famed Maine Central Mountain Division between St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Whitefish, N.H., to connect with the New Hampshire Central, a short line it acquired in 2024. 

The Mountain Division was last used as a main line route between St. Johnsbury and Portland, Me., in the 1980s, however, the west end continued to operate as a short line called Twin State Railroad (a subsidiary of Lamoille Valley) into the 1990s. Twin State ceased operations in the late 1990s after the paper mill at Gilman, Vt., closed, and since then the route has been considered for a rail trail. 

VRS presently operates NHC on state-owned track between North Stratford and Colebrook, N.H. (formally the North Stratford Railroad) and between Groveton and Littleton, N.H. (formally the Boston & Maine). It connects to the Twin State (former Maine Central) at Whitefield and the Conway Scenic at Hazens (operator of perhaps the most famous part of the former MEC Mountain Division). 

VRS President Selden Houghton told the Caledonian Record that the railroad has already developed new traffic in Whitefield. 

“We’re currently working to get the tracks back in service to Whitefield,” he said. “There’s a grant application to get the old yard area cleaned up and get some trans-load going out there as well. Then our plans are to work west toward Gilman, getting the brush out of the way.”

If VRS was able to reopen the line between Whitefield and St. Johnsbury, it would be able to connect with another of its operations, the Washington County Railroad. WACR operates the former Canadian Pacific and Boston & Maine between Newport and White River Jct., Vt. —Justin Franz

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