Classic Trains

Deregulation revitalized U.S. railroading in the 1980s. While I can’t envision a complete return to those dark days before the Staggers Rail Act, I can’t help but think that the pendulum is swinging back that way in 2023. The railroad industry is back under media and political scrutiny after a series of high-profile derailments early in 2023 and years of service complaints. A significant wreck and chemical release at East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 led to media coverage that soon found every minor mishap making national headlines. This peaked with a Union Pacific runaway on Cima Hill in southern California on March 27. I often hear railfans lament the passage of Staggers more than 40 years on and its subsequent effects on the industry. They envision a return of their “good…

Summer by the sea Pacific Goldliner? L. G. Russell, Brian M. Schmidt collection…

East Broad Top Railroad’s freshly restored 2-8-2 Mikado locomotive No. 16 delighted admirers over the weekend by pulling a full schedule of eight passenger trains and two photo freights for the road’s annual Winter Spectacular. All trains were sold out. The event was a landmark in several ways. First, No. 16 (Baldwin, 1916) has not run since 1956, when the original common-carrier version of the 33-mile narrow gauge coal railroad in south central Pennsylvania shut down for the first time. After a three-year restoration, the engine was steamed up two weeks ago and has made breakin trips in the yard and on the main line. Master Mechanic Dave Domitrovich, who oversaw the restoration and served as engineer for some trips, declared the engine’s performance in its new public role to be “perfect…

Genesee Valley Transportation has acquired the Alco PA locomotive restored by preservationist Doyle McCormack and will run the unit on mainline passenger excursions. McCormack and GVT Rail President Michael D. Thomas finalized the agreement in a recent meeting at the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum in Portland, Ore., where the locomotive, built for Santa Fe and later operated by Delaware & Hudson, but restored by McCormack as Nickel Plate Road No. 190, has been stored and displayed. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain the ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ of locomotives,” Thomas said in a press release. “On behalf of our ownership group and the entire team at GVT Rail, we are ecstatic that Doyle has entrusted us with the stewardship of his great gift to rail preservation.” Thomas said initially the PA will…

Minnesota Transportation Museum will repaint its former Great Northern Railway SDP40 No. 325 into GN’s simplified orange and green color scheme, the museum announced to members. A museum member has agreed to fund the project, which is estimated at more than $60,000. MTM also has a large collection of GN passenger cars painted in the orange and green colors. GN No. 325 was built by EMD in 1966, one of six SDP40s purchased for passenger service. Only 20 SDP40s were built between 1966 and 1970 for GN and National Railways of Mexico. The 3,000-hp units were essentially an SD40 with a steam generator added. Transferred to freight service upon Amtrak’s inception in 1971, No. 325 operated under various numbers for GN successor Burlington Northern and BNSF Railway until it was retired…

The Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Wash., has acquired a Series VI Talgo Bistro car for preservation. While the car was donated, the museum will launch a fundraiser to offset the $26,000 cost of its move. The Series VI equipment was a fixture on the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland Amtrak Cascades route from 1999 through 2020. Five of the unique tilting-carbody trainsets eventually operated in Cascades service, three owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation and two owned by Amtrak. Their service life came to an end following the fatal December 2017 derailment of one of the trainsets in Dupont, Wash., after the National Transportation Safety Board report questioned the safety of the equipment’s design. The Washington-owned sets were scrapped in 2021 and the Amtrak-owned sets were sold for scrap in 2022. A last-minute negotiation…