Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie, or the Gaspésie Railway Society, ran its first train from New Richmond to Port Daniel, Que., in more than a decade on January 7. 

The Province of Quebec has been spending millions of dollars to reopen the 200-mile-long former Canadian National line along the Gaspé Peninsula. In December, track work was completed on the section of rail line between Caplan and Port-Daniel, a distance of 45 miles. With the line to Port-Daniel now open, the short line can now serve a cement plant. 

Originally built in the early 20th century, the 202-mile line from Matapedia to Gaspé, Que., is arguably one of the most scenic in eastern Canada. CN operated the line until the 1990s, when it was spun off to a short line. Passenger service, provided by VIA Rail, continued into the 2010s but was suspended after track issues arose.

—Justin Franz

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The Yakima City Council voted Tuesday night to extend a five-year operating agreement with Yakima Valley Trolleys, the Washington non-profit that runs the community’s historic interurban railroad. However, what the railroad will look like when that agreement ends in 2030 remains an unanswered question. 

Late last year, the city council decided not to automatically renew its operating agreement with the non-profit that manages what remains of the Yakima Valley Transportation Company, an interurban railroad once part of the Union Pacific and now owned by the city. At that time, the council wanted to better assess its financial situation. A week earlier, it approved a 2026 budget that included cutting $9 million from its current budget, including from police and fire services.

The actual operation of the trolley is fairly minimal for the city. The previous agreement specified that the city would cover basic costs, such as heating and maintaining the city-owned trolley barn, and set aside about $10,000 for any maintenance issues with the track or other city-owned property. However, the larger issue—and expense—is a major road construction project along the trolley route connecting the trolley barn with the rest of the line to the town of Selah. That street, Sixth Avenue, needs to be rebuilt, and for a time, the city considered paying the approximately $7 million it would take to reinstall the rails and the catenary above. But with a budget crisis on the horizon, some city council members are questioning whether that’s a wise financial choice. As a result, the city council decided to delay approving or denying an operating agreement until a decision is made on the road project. 

Presently, the trolley operation is mostly confined to Pine Street. In 2024, a diamond crossing with the Central Washington Railroad at the north end of Sixth Avenue was removed for maintenance, and a bridge further north was taken out of service. The bridge is currently being repaired, and volunteers are hopeful the diamond will be put back in place, allowing trolleys to reach Selah again.

Tuesday’s meeting started with public comment. Nearly 20 people spoke to the council, either in person or via Zoom, supporting the trolley, including one person who was in England. Only one person opposed extending the operating agreement. After public comment and other city business, the council began discussing the Sixth Avenue project and the costs of rebuilding it with the track. Mayor Matt Brown asked if it was possible to turn Sixth Avenue into a one-way street, allowing the trolley line to stay in its current place but no longer be part of the roadway. Community Development Director Bill Preston said the city’s engineering staff would need to look at what’s possible. Brown and others also inquired if there are other street projects that could be addressed first, giving Yakima Valley Trolleys more time to potentially secure their own funding to help keep the tracks. Preston said it would ultimately be up to the city council to decide which roads to fix first, but stated that Sixth Avenue is “structurally toast” and the longer the city waits to fix it, the more expensive it will be. Ultimately, the city council decided to hold another hearing, scheduled for February 17, to gather public input on what should happen along Sixth Avenue and how to pay for it. 

Yakima Valley Transportation Company 298 made a rare appearance during what could have been the railroad’s final day of operation on December 31. It was followed by line car A. Photo by David Honan. 

With that item out of the way, the council then moved on to the operating agreement with Yakima Valley Trolleys. The pared-down agreement outlines that the city will spend about $5,000 annually to heat buildings and power the overhead, and keep around $10,000 available for emergency street repairs. The non-profit will help cover the cost of insurance, about $4,800 annually, according to city staff. 

One city council member, Rick Glenn, expressed concern about the cost of the trolley to the city; “I’d rather have more cops and firemen and keep the pool open,” he said at one point. However, other city council members pointed out that the city would have to pay for maintaining the buildings whether the trolleys were running or not. The city council then voted six to one to extend the operating agreement. The new agreement will run through 2030. 

Late Tuesday evening, Yakima Valley Trolleys thanked their supporters and announced they were getting to work planning various events and excursions, including some on Valentine’s Day weekend.

The main question now — and one that will be debated during the next city council meeting — is what that railroad will look like in 2030. If the city proceeds with the Sixth Avenue project but doesn’t pay to reinstall the rails, Yakima Valley Trolleys will no longer be able to reach the community of Selah to the north. Without that connection, the railroad would no longer qualify as a true interurban, and volunteers have said that could threaten an effort to get it designated as a National Historic Landmark as the country’s last interurban railroad. 

Yakima Valley Transportation Company was established in 1907. Starting as a streetcar line serving downtown Yakima, the company was acquired by Union Pacific predecessor Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company in 1909 with the aim of tapping into the region’s fertile agricultural resources. Eventually, the system grew to include over 40 route-miles radiating into surrounding communities, providing interurban passenger service and feeding freight traffic to the national rail network. Regular passenger service ended in 1947, and the remaining streetcars were scrapped or sold. Freight service continued until Union Pacific filed for abandonment in 1985 due to a decline in traffic. The railroad was later purchased by the city and has operated as a museum ever since.

—Justin Franz, with additional reporting by David Honan. 

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by Andrew S. Nelson/photos by the author

On February 28, 1987, I got a call from my brother, Jeff, who was then a student at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. He had just come back from Soo Line’s Stevens Point engine terminal and had news — the terminal was chock-full of GP9s, GP30s, and GP35s. There wasn’t a single SD40 or SD40-2 to be found. Something was brewing.

And brewing it was. Soo Line was going to make a stronger go of its Lake States Transportation Division (LSTD) that had been created in 1986 after it had acquired The Milwaukee Road. Basically, the “Lake States” as it became known, was the original Soo Line trackage in Wisconsin (with two small tails into eastern Minnesota) and Upper Michigan prior to The Milwaukee Road merger. Also included were the former Milwaukee Road Wisconsin Valley Line between New Lisbon and Tomahawk, Wis., and the former Milwaukee Road line between Green Bay and Milwaukee. In the months prior to the official January 1, 1986, merger, Soo had shifted almost all through traffic between the Twin Cities and the Chicago-area terminal at Bensenville/Schiller Park to the former Milwaukee Road main line. This left the original Soo main through Wisconsin with little traffic. Stevens Point, a busy division point on the original Soo, went from eight to 12 through trains per day to fewer than half as many.

ABOVE: Train 17 crosses Little Hay Meadow Creek north of Otis on July 3, 1987. GP30 707 and GP9 4233 are in charge.

What followed after that phone call from my brother was akin to traveling in a Soo Line time machine that lasted all of a little over seven months.

Now, I need to point out here that I was someone who cut his teeth watching The Milwaukee Road on its Wisconsin Valley Line in hometown Wausau. I was used to the ever-predictable Bensenville–Wausau Train 247 arriving in Wausau in the early morning behind three GP38-2s. A few hours later, the “North End,” the moniker for the Milwaukee’s Wausau–Tomahawk turn, would leave Wausau with one or two GP38-2s. A little later in the morning, one GP38-2 would take the “Rapids Patrol” (“patrol” was the Milwaukee’s term for most way freights) south to as far as Wisconsin Rapids.

Later in the afternoon, both the North End and Rapids Patrol would arrive back in Wausau. By early evening, the three GP38-2s that had brought Train 247 to Wausau that morning were leading Train 246 to Bensenville. The whole operation ran like clockwork, Mondays through Saturdays, orange and black locomotives up front, and an orange bay window caboose in the back. From mid-1985 through early 1987, the former Milwaukee Road in central and northern Wisconsin became much less Milwaukee and much more Soo, and I did not like that one bit.

But, March 1987 changed all of that.

ABOVE: The Stevens Point Dispatcher West set up the meet between Stevens Point–Superior Train 3 and its counterpart Train 4 at Spencer, Wis., on April 17, 1987. Spencer was where the Soo’s route to Ashland split from the Chicago–Twin Cities main line.

This Is 1987?
The transformation in the Stevens Point area happened pretty much overnight. Soo Line transferred 37 GP9s, 19 GP30s, six GP35s, nine SW1200s, and two SD39s (ex-Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern) along with a few “Bandit” ex-MILW GP20s (rebuilt GP9s with chopped noses) and SD10s (rebuilt ex-MILW SD7s and SD9s with chopped noses) to the Lake States. The “Bandit” nickname came from the way former MILW units had their roadnames hastily masked out with black paint and placed back into service. Some units remained this way until the last few were retired in 2019.

This power transfer put Soo’s oldest power on its lightest density lines. The Lake States would not be the land of SD40-2s and SD60/SD60Ms that dominated the former Milwaukee Road main line between the Twin Cities and Chicago. In fact, except for the rust on several of the older Soo locomotives, the look of the Lake States in spring, summer, and fall 1987 was more like a railroad in 1967. The LSTD presented a rare opportunity on a Class I to recreate scenes common two decades earlier.

ABOVE: GP30 715, replete with rust, leads three GP9s and Train 3 past the depot at Stevens Point on March 20, 1987.

Suddenly, a drive from Wausau to Stevens Point to “check on the Soo” became a worthwhile venture. My first chance to get to “Point” at the start of the LSTD era was on March 20, and it didn’t take long for me to get hooked. Train 4 was ready to head east to Shops Yard in North Fond du Lac behind GP30s 719 and 703. Skies were bright and sunny, and the two units put on a good audio show as those old turbocharged 567s slugged it up Stockton Hill east of Stevens Point. After the train crested the hill, it was a cross-country chase east to Waupaca.

That afternoon Stevens Point–Shoreham Train 1 left Stevens Point with three GP9s, including two 4200-series “torpedo Geeps” that were originally acquired for Soo passenger train service. After the 1 departed Stevens Point, Train 3 for Stinson Yard in Superior left Point Yard behind a GP30 and three GP9s.

Yep, I was hooked…

Read the rest of this article in the February 2026 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Subscribe Today!

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by Adam Horgan/photos by the author

On a summer morning along the banks of Powell’s Creek, a distant horn echoes off the flat water. A northbound parade of trains is marching up CSX Transportation’s Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac (RF&P) Subdivision. The scanner crackles alive with Amtrak P052, the northbound Auto Train to Lorton, Va., calling its last few signals before arriving at the end of its journey from Sanford, Fla. It flies across the bridge, and right on its heels is CSX I032 with priority intermodal traffic from Jacksonville, Fla. Both trains are some of the hottest on the railroad, and the BD dispatcher desk is working hard to keep traffic moving on time. Behind them, an Amtrak regional and another intermodal are on their way north from Richmond, Va. This is just business as usual on one of the most important stretches of main line railroad in America.

RF&P in 2025 is a critical rail corridor for both freight and passenger traffic. As the road’s original slogan says, this subdivision links north and south, connecting the northern portions of CSX’s system in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest with the southern portions. For more than 190 years, this vital steel rail highway has carried commerce and passengers to and from the nation’s capital. From the Civil War through modern times, RF&P continues to play an important role in the story of America. With changes on the horizon to improve the line and expand capacity, the storied history of RF&P is about to begin a new and important chapter.

ABOVE: A southbound CSX freight enters Virginia with the Washington Monument in the background. The crew has just called the clear signal at “RO,” the northernmost point in Virginia on RF&P. Due to recent security measures, this spot is no longer accessible.

From Richmond to D.C.
In February 1834, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia incorporated Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. You have to wonder if the lawmakers at the time had any premonitions that Virginia’s sixth chartered railroad would become arguably its most important. Connecting Virginia’s capital city of Richmond to Washington, D.C., it would become a strategically important asset during the Civil War. This is also possibly where the other moniker for RF&P, “Rich Folks and Politicians,” began.

Due to the number of waterways along the route and the bridges required to cross them, the line was not fully connected by rail until 1872. Instead, travelers relied on steamboat connections to Washington for part of the journey. Despite the limitations, the line was burned many times by both armies during the Civil War because it traveled through and near several major battle sites and, like many railroads, later required significant investment.

ABOVE: Train I034, a holiday service extra train, crosses under the signals at Slaters Lane in Alexandria on November 23, 2024. In the background is the dome of the U.S Capitol building.

After the war, the railroad grew to meet growing demand. RF&P was a distinctive bridge line connecting northern and southern railroads. The company retained a shared ownership structure, which allowed for the free flow of traffic up and down the I-95 corridor. The railroad served as a not-quite-short line, not-quite-terminal railroad, and not-quite-traditional main line either, moving freight from the massive interchange at Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Va., to Acca Yard in Richmond. The commonwealth of Virginia retained partial ownership of the railroad as well, and the fascinating history of RF&P’s ownership structure could be its own article and has been well-documented by several authors. Over the years, through the evolution of mergers and consolidations, RF&P was a notable missing link in the CSX system. In 1991, CSX officially purchased the line and by the end of the year fully assumed operations.

Today’s RF&P
Since that transition, RF&P has risen to be an increasingly busy and important piece of the CSX system. Running from M Street in Washington to Acca Yard in Richmond, the roughly 114 miles of the RF&P Subdivision are some of the busiest in the eastern U.S. They are also some of the most diverse in terms of traffic, locations, scenery, and options available to railfans.

ABOVE: Two Virginia Railway Express commuter trains meet at the Alexandria station during rush hour in March 2022. Launched in 1992, the operation serves 16 stations on two lines serving Manassas and Fredericksburg.

The railroad now has more trains than it has track and capacity to handle them, with the south side by Richmond averaging 40 Amtrak and CSX trains in a 24-hour period. Between 15 and 20 of those trains are CSX freights and the remaining are Amtrak passenger trains. The northern end sees those 40, plus scheduled weekday Virginia Railway Express commuter train movements. Freight traffic is diverse, ranging from hotshot intermodals with containers on flatcars to manifests, coal trains, rock trains, and anything else the railroad needs moved, including military equipment for Uncle Sam. Often featured on priority trains are the iconic Tropicana orange juice cars that travel between Florida and New Jersey. While “the juice” used to be a separate hotshot unit train, it is now generally switched and carried as a block.

RF&P crews traditionally run through to Richmond from their departure terminals, and vice versa, with most freight trains getting new crews before departing Richmond’s Acca Yard. Traditional routing for trains running to northern cities through Baltimore and Philadelphia is to connect with the Capital Subdivision in Washington, D.C., and trains bound for West Virginia and beyond connect with the Metropolitan Subdivision just north of Washington. With the amount of traffic on the railroad, there are plenty of opportunities to see freight in daylight. This line is also home to Auto Train’s northern terminal at Lorton. Auto Train is a unique operation, taking both passengers and their vehicles to Sanford with a scheduled arrival window of early in the morning and a late afternoon departure once the train is loaded and built…

Read the rest of this article in the February 2026 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Subscribe Today!

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Maine’s Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington is making steady progress with its effort to build a brand new 2-foot gauge 2-4-4T locomotive, and the project is getting a major boost thanks to an anonymous donor. 

Since 1989, the museum has rebuilt 3.5 miles of track on the original right-of-way of one of Maine’s five original narrow gauge railroads. Along with that, the museum has built multiple stations, a shop, a roundhouse, and a water tower, as well as rebuilt two steam locomotives. The third locomotive, presently under construction, is a 2-4-4T based on the original WW&F’s No. 7, a 28-ton 2-4-4T Forney built by Baldwin in 1907. The locomotive will wear the number 11, one higher than the museum’s current steam roster (locomotive 9, a 0-4-4T, was the last engine owned by the original railroad, and locomotive 10 was purchased from Edaville in Massachusetts in the early 2000s. Locomotive 10 was originally built for a Louisiana plantation).  

In 2025, this anonymous donor made a generous matching donation toward the “Build 11” project, and they have decided to do it again in 2026. For every dollars raised this year, the donor will match it up to $60,000. The donor has said they hope to offer similar support over the next few years, which will help the museum get even closer to an operating locomotive. As of early 2026, a number of major components have been completed, including the frame and wheelsets. The museum hopes to have the locomotive complete by the end of the decade. For more information and to learn how to donate, visit https://wwfry.org/build-11/.

—Justin Franz 

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Steamtown National Historic Site is currently restoring a two-truck Shay locomotive, and officials say they expect to have it operating before the end of 2027. 

Steamtown Superintendent Jeremy Komasz tells Railfan & Railroad that restoring Meadow River Lumber Company 1 is critical to ensure the park has an operating steam locomotive at the end of next year, when Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 26 is scheduled for a federally-mandated overhaul. 

“Getting Shay 1 back under steam while planning for Baldwin 26’s 1,472-day inspection is exactly where Steamtown needs to be focused right now,” Komasz told Railfan & Railroad. “These projects are cornerstones of our five-year Strategic Action Plan and our long-term Investment Concept development, and they allow us to keep engaging visitors with live steam during an extraordinary series of national milestones in 2026 and beyond.”

Meadow River Lumber Company 1 inside the Steamtown shop in Scranton, Pa. Photo Courtesy of Steamtown. 

Shay 1 was built by Lima for the Sewell Valley Railroad and the Meadow River Lumber Company in May 1910, and it operated in West Virginia throughout its entire career. The locomotive was later sold to F. Nelson Blount, who was establishing his Steamtown U.S.A. museum, first in New Hampshire and then in Vermont. In Vermont, the locomotive was badly damaged when the roof of the building where it was stored collapsed under heavy snow. The collapse destroyed the locomotive’s cab. In the 1980s, it and the rest of the Steamtown collection were moved to Scranton, Pa., where it eventually became the property of the National Park Service. 

A 1991 study commissioned by the National Park Service stated that Shay 1 was a “tired, worn-out engine” best suited for static display. But subsequent inspections have led the Steamtown shop staff to believe that the engine can operate again. The restoration quietly began in 2024, and since then, shop crews have disassembled the locomotive, conducted a full ultrasound on the boiler, started rebuilding the trucks, and begun fabricating a new smoke stack. Shop crews say they are on track to have the engine under steam by the end of 2027. 

—Justin Franz 

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Hours after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific’s application to acquire Norfolk Southern as “incomplete,” the Western Class I vowed to press on in its effort to create the first single transcontinental railroad. 

In a brief statement to Railfan & Railroad late Friday night, a spokesperson for UP simply wrote, “Union Pacific will provide the additional information requested by the Surface Transportation Board.”

On Friday afternoon, the STB announced it was rejecting UP’s initial application due to insufficient information. Among the issues the STB identified in the initial application was an incomplete market analysis. For example, UP and NS stated that it would take three years for the benefits of increased traffic from the merger to be realized. However, the application did not provide an analysis of what those traffic levels would be; it only showed what they would be on the first day of the combination. 

The STB’s decision will undoubtedly delay UP’s efforts to acquire NS. It will also be seen as a win for the four other Class Is, which have all spoken against the proposed merger. On Friday evening, Canadian National praised the STB’s decision. 

“A stronger record will allow the Board to determine whether the proposed transaction is in the public-interest and whether the time and scope limited measures offered by the applicants satisfy the requirement to enhance competition,” CN officials wrote in a statement. “As noted earlier, applicants had refused information critical to understand their perspective on anticipated competitive harms and inform the Board’s public-interest and competition analyses. The Board rightly found that applicants needed to provide that information. CN looks forward to participating robustly once UP-NS has submitted a complete application and encourages customers to file their notices of intent to participate so they can stay informed and continue to participate in the STB’s process.”

—Justin Franz 

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The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has rejected Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s initial merger application as “incomplete,” telling the two Class I railroads that if they want to become North America’s largest railroad, they’ll need to try again. 

The unanimous bombshell decision was announced late Friday and is likely to delay UP’s effort to acquire NS. Although the board rejected the initial application, it provided no insight into the final decision on the merger — if UP and NS opt to try again.

“Today’s decision is based solely on the incompleteness of the December 19 application and should not be read as an indication of how the Board might ultimately assess any future revised application,” STB officials said in a press release. 

Among the issues the STB identified in the initial application was an incomplete market analysis. For example, UP and NS stated that it would take three years for the benefits of increased traffic from the merger to be realized. However, the application did not provide an analysis of what those traffic levels would be; it only showed what they would be on the first day of the combination. 

Additionally, applicants are legally required to provide copies of “Any contract or other written instrument entered into, or proposed to be entered into, pertaining to the proposed transaction.” However, UP and NS only included an “Agreement and Plan of Merger,” not the full contract. 

The STB’s decision will likely be seen as a win for BNSF Railway, Canadian National, CPKC, and CSX Transportation, which have all been speaking out against the UP-NS combination for weeks. One of their chief complaints was that the merger application was incomplete, meaning they couldn’t fully evaluate it. 

—Justin Franz

 

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On January 1, 2026, Genesee & Wyoming’s Connecticut Southern Railroad assumed control of the state-owned Armory Branch. The 14 miles of track were formerly operated by short line Central New England Railroad. 

Central New England (CNZR) was established in 1995 to operate a pair of former New Haven/Conrail lines around Hartford. One of those lines, the Griffins Secondary, has been inactive since its last customer moved in 2021, and service was only sporadic on the Armory Branch. CNZR had an eclectic fleet of locomotives, including Alcos and EMDs. Its last unit in regular service was a former Southern Pacific/New Brunswick Southern GP9 still in NBSR green and yellow. 

CSOR is expected to operate the Armory Branch as needed. The branch connects with CSOR at East Windsor. 

—Justin Franz 

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by David Zeman/photos by the author

For many railfan photographers, a large part of the motivation for taking photos of trains is documenting a subject before it is gone forever and lost to history. However, when the stars align, it is possible to bring history back to reality. Bringing back to life the late 1950s and early 1960s on Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad was the main objective for myself, Ralph Durham, James Keats Jr., and the Illinois Railway Museum Diesel Department, when we hosted the “Nebraska Zephyr Night Photo Shoot” in October 2025.

For the last handful of years, Ralph and I, plus a handful of other dedicated IRM volunteers, have coordinated several special night photo shoots with a variety of equipment, having mostly focused on highlighting the museum’s steam locomotive, Frisco 2-10-0 1630. This year, as 1630 undergoes a mandatory 1472-day inspection, we shifted our focus ahead to the diesel era with the 1935-built Nebraska Zephyr for an all-CB&Q evening featuring other miscellaneous pieces of Burlington Route equipment. Our main goal for the event was to take our guest photographers back to the golden age of passenger rail travel on one of America’s most famous streamlined trains by incorporating actors and crew members in period dress plus appropriately placed memorabilia items and props into our photo setups.

Because I started visiting IRM when I was young, I have always been mesmerized by anything related to CB&Q, the railroad referred to by us diehard Burlington fans as “God’s railroad.” Seeing the Zephyr and EMD E5 9911A pull out of Barn 9 in the morning and rushing to the museum’s East Union depot for a ride in observation car Juno was always top priority on any day the train was running. SD24 504 was also a favorite locomotive in its vibrant “Chinese Red” paint scheme, and SW7 9255 is a treat to see operate as well. As I started to do my own research about the Burlington, I learned that the railroad’s employees had an unparalleled amount of pride in the company. IRM has kept this tradition alive with its group of dedicated Zephyr crew members, all sharply dressed in their blue suits and stovepipe-style hats each day the train operates. I am proud to have joined this crew in the last few years and help carry on the Burlington Route tradition for future generations to enjoy.

After leading several successful past photo shoots with the IRM Steam and Electric Car departments, fellow museum volunteers and I had high hopes of putting together an exclusive Nebraska Zephyr or all-CB&Q night shoot for a long time. In the middle of the summer, a group of us put our heads together and talked loosely about what we wanted to do and which pieces we wanted to incorporate. We concluded that the main focus of the event would be the Zephyr itself, and any other CB&Q equipment would be considered an added bonus. It was mutually agreed that we wanted to have as many era-dressed models as possible, plus plenty of appropriately placed Burlington memorabilia items for smaller setups, and a few “large” scenes featuring multiple trains and/or locomotives.

Bringing It Together
Once we had solidified our date for the event, we pursued inviting models to act as Zephyr passengers. Over the years, Ralph has built a significant network of actors who have agreed to be on our call list in case of events like this. Some of the models are regular IRM visitors, and some became acquaintances through other social avenues, but all simply enjoy dressing up and posing for photographers for special events. Luckily, I was able to twist a couple of my friends’ arms as well, and convinced them to dress for the part. We were absolutely thrilled to have recruited a total of 12 wonderful models for the event.

In addition to passengers, we needed to align a sufficient crew dressed properly for the Nebraska Zephyr. Thankfully, many of us IRM volunteers are collectors of all types of CB&Q memorabilia, and several of us have been lucky enough to acquire Zephyr uniforms, hats, badges, and appropriate jewelry. Not all the Zephyr crew members own uniforms with all the matching badges and buttons, so it was a team effort to mix and match bits of our own collections to ensure our crew of Nebraska Zephyr trainmen and conductors wore the prototypically correct paraphernalia. It would have been difficult for me to lead the event, pose for Zephyr crew photos, and take my own photos at the same time, so I lent my conductor’s outfit to one of our other IRM conductors. All in all, the train crew consisted of three conductors (identifiable with gold buttons and hat badges) plus four trainmen (silver buttons and hat badges).

In addition to all of the necessary uniform paraphernalia, we CB&Q enthusiasts dug deep through our drawers and closets to find anything relevant to the Burlington, or specifically the Nebraska Zephyr, to help add an extra layer of authenticity to the photographs. In observation car Juno, era-appropriate timetables, matchbooks, playing cards, ticket books, seat checks, ashtrays, coffee cups, and other assorted pieces were carefully distributed as both subject pieces and background items to accompany our well-dressed models. On a table in the dining car Ceres, an assortment of surplus Burlington Route artifacts was set for an additional small photo opportunity as well…

Read the rest of this article in the February 2026 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Subscribe Today!

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This month, Andrew Nelson leads us on a fond look back at the Lake States Division of Soo Line. Our story is set in the mid-1980s, when the Soo began preparations to “spin off” a portion of its original main line as a condition of absorbing the remnants of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road.

The names “Milwaukee Road” and “Soo Line,” though, are old ones in railroading, and crucially, both are nicknames. Like many railways founded in the 19th century, both companies went through multiple re-incorporations and mergers, their identities an unstable litany of place-names joined by an ampersand. A shorter “handle” became a favored marketing tool. The origin of the Milwaukee’s is self-evident, as “Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific” indicated the Upper Midwest cities linked with the Pacific Coast. Focusing on the largest city in Wisconsin as the epicenter, it becomes “The Milwaukee Road.” Soo Line requires a bit more explanation. Originally founded as Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic in the 1880s, the railway’s middle place-name referred to a Quebecois-founded town on Michigan’s upper peninsula, with the French word “Sault” pronounced “Soo.” While the “Soo Line” nickname came early, it wasn’t until 1961 that the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad adopted it as its legal moniker.

Beyond the nicknames, the Milwaukee and the Soo are both railways that grew up with what was called — a century ago — the “Old Northwest,” a region that stretches from the Great Lakes to the plains of the Dakotas. For much of the 19th century, numerous railways criss-crossed this space, fighting to control traffic in the region’s rich grain-growing lands. The Milwaukee traces its founding to the 1840s in an attempt to connect Great Lakes and Mississippi River shipping, cutting out business that might otherwise have gone via Chicago. The Soo, founded more than a generation later, had similar designs; its St. Paul backers planned the new line running due east toward Great Lakes ships at its namesake town on the passage between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It was so successful that the transcontinental Canadian Pacific picked up a majority stake in the company in the 1890s.

The Old Northwest, then, is a region that is intimately tied up not merely in its grain-rich landscape, but also in its proximity to Great Lakes ships and (through them) to the Atlantic Seaboard. Today, we are apt to see the hills and dales of Wisconsin or the lake-studded woods of Minnesota and think them insulated from the wider world, but in fact the Old Northwest was, thanks to lake steamers and railways, one of the most connected parts of North America. It is little wonder that, for much of the 19th century, immigrants from Germany, Sweden, and Finland saw this region as a place to start over and make good. The fact that they, like the railways they rode, largely succeeded is part of why today the idea of this region as a northwestern edge of anything is difficult to perceive. Every railway line, every new small town, every growing downtown office tower in Chicago and Milwaukee and St. Paul made it all the harder to see this as anything other than a contiguous part of the wider Midwest.

Likewise went the Milwaukee and the Soo. The former suffered bankruptcy after bankruptcy in the latter half of last century. It was not, perhaps, so much a marker of failure as it was a symptom of having grown too far, too fast, connecting too much of the Northwest — both “old” and “new” — at the expense of making a sustainable profit. The Soo acquired it in 1986, but just four years later, Canadian Pacific bought out the remainder and converted it into a subsidiary that exists only on paper. Just as the Old Northwest had grown into the larger Midwest, the region’s flag carriers disappeared into the larger railway network.

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

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

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A Northern Pacific 4-6-0 was fired up on New Year’s Day for the first time in over 70 years, following an extensive restoration. NP 1364 has been the marquee restoration project of the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, Wash., for over a decade. 

In spring 2025, volunteers installed a new steam dome, laying the groundwork for a hydrostatic test in September. Afterward, volunteers kept reassembling the locomotive for a successful steam-up on January 1. 

“The recent steam-up test was an important step, not the finish line,” the group wrote on social media. “It allowed us to see how systems performed under steam and helped identify what adjustments and fine-tuning are still needed.”

Locomotive 1364 was one of 40 S-4 class 4-6-0s that the NP purchased in 1902 from Baldwin. NP 1364 was assigned to the Tacoma Division and spent most of its operating life in Washington State. It was retired in 1954 but was set aside for preservation and donated to the City of Tacoma. It was on display for several years before being moved to Nallys Valley for an ultimately unsuccessful restoration. Later, it was relocated to the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. In 1994, it was moved to the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, and volunteers have been gradually working on it ever since. For more information, visit nprymuseum.org.

—Justin Franz 

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The fate of Yakima, Washington’s famed interurban railroad will be the subject of a city council meeting on January 20. The meeting comes a month after the city council decided not to offer the non-profit that operates the city-owned electric railroad, Yakima Valley Trolleys, an operating agreement for the new year. 

During the December 9 meeting, the council considered offering the non-profit a five-year agreement starting January 1, as it has done for many years. However, the council decided to delay that discussion until this month as it evaluates its financial situation amid increasingly tight budgets. A week earlier, the council approved a 2026 budget that requires cutting $9 million from its current budget. 

The actual operation of the trolley is fairly minimal for the city. According to Community Development Director Bill Preston, the proposed agreement called for the city to cover basic costs, such as heating and maintaining the city-owned trolley barn, and to set aside about $10,000 for any maintenance issues that might arise with the track or other city-owned property. But the bigger issue — and cost — is a major road construction project along the trolley route connecting the trolley barn with the rest of the line to the town of Selah. That street needs to be rebuilt, and for a time, the city considered paying the approximately $7 million it would cost to reinstall the rails and the catenary above. But with a budget crisis looming, some on the city council are questioning if that’s a wise financial decision. Because of that, the city council decided to wait on approving or denying an operating agreement until a decision was made on the road project. The road project is also expected to be discussed during the January 20 meeting. 

Yakima Valley Transportation Company 298 made a rare appearance during what could be the railroad’s final day of operation on December 31. It was followed by line car A. Photo by David Honan. 

Yakima Valley Trolleys is encouraging the public to attend the January 20 meeting to support the continued operation of the historic railroad. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.

Yakima Valley Transportation Company was founded in 1907. Starting as a streetcar line serving downtown Yakima, the company was acquired by Union Pacific predecessor Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company in 1909 with a goal of tapping the fertile agricultural resources of the region. Eventually, the system comprised over 40 route-miles radiating into surrounding communities, providing interurban passenger service and feeding freight traffic to the national rail network.  Regular passenger service ended in 1947, and the remaining streetcars were scrapped or sold.  Freight service continued until Union Pacific filed for abandonment in 1985 due to depleted traffic. The railroad was later acquired by the city. 

With the future of the operation uncertain, on December 31, Yakima Valley Trolleys decided to roll out all the stops on the final day of its operating agreement. On New Year’s Eve, the railroad utilized all of its active equipment, including freight motor 298, which wears a UP-inspired livery as it has since the railroad’s heyday.

See more about what could have been the railroad’s final day of operation in the March 2026 edition of Railfan & Railroad.

—Justin Franz, with additional reporting by David Honan. 

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BALTIMORE — On January 12, the B&O Railroad Museum held a ribbon-cutting to mark the conclusion of the cosmetic restoration of American Freedom Train No. 1 (formerly Reading 4-8-4 2101). A ceremony was held for museum board members and donors in the morning, followed by a public viewing in the afternoon.

The ribbon cutting was the culmination of 1,300 hours of labor to return the Northern to its AFT livery. Speakers at the event included former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Amtrak Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Communications Bruno Maestri (who also serves on the museum’s board). Also on hand were four members of the original Freedom Train crew from 1975-1976 including Louis and Valerie Arcuri, Harold Weisinger, and Steve Wickersham (who, along with the late Ross Rowland, was the engineer on the 1 during its AFT stint). The 2101 was one of three locomotives to power the Freedom Train on its coast-to-coast tour, primarily handling the train in the Northeast. Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 610 led the train in Texas, while Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449 powered the train through most of the rest of the country. Members of the Freedom Train crew from 1975-1976 were on hand, including (left to right) Louis Arcuri, Valerie Arcuri, Harold Weisinger, and Steve Wickersham. Built by Reading in its home shop in Reading, Pa., from a smaller 2-8-0, the 2101 was set aside as protection power for the famed Iron Horse Rambles in the late 1950s, although it never powered those trips. Sent to Streigel’s scrap yard in Baltimore after the Rambles came to a close, it was rescued by Ross Rowland for the AFT. It later powered the Chessie Steam Special in 1977 and 1978, but was damaged by a roundhouse fire in Silver Grove, Ky., in early 1979. Chessie System traded Chesapeake & Ohio 4-8-4 614 to Rowland for the damaged locomotive; the 2101 was returned to its AFT identity and placed in the B&O Railroad Museum. Outdoor display took its toll on the AFT paint job, and in recent years the locomotive looked somewhat neglected. The refurbished AFT 1 will spend a little time displayed outdoors, but will spend most of its time displayed indoors in the museum’s North Car Shop. According to the museum, “The locomotive’s restoration and interpretation connect two milestone anniversaries: the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026 and the 200th anniversary of American railroading in 2027.” —Steve Barry Missing or damaged exterior elements were restored or accurately recreated, including the number boards and eagle on the headlight. The lights were wired to run off standard current for display purposes. In all, the restoration required more than 1,300 hours of labor, all performed at the museum.

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Story and Photos by Dave Zeman

For many railfan photographers, a large part of the motivation for taking photos of trains is documenting a subject before it is gone forever and lost to history. However, when the stars align, it is possible to bring history back to reality. Bringing the late-1950s and early 1960s on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad back to life was the main objective for myself, Ralph Durham, James Keats Jr., and the Illinois Railway Museum Diesel Department, when we hosted the “Nebraska Zephyr Night Photo Shoot” in October 2025.

For the last handful of years, Ralph and I, plus a handful of other dedicated IRM volunteers, have coordinated several special night photo shoots with a diverse variety of equipment, having mostly focused on highlighting the Museum’s steam locomotive, Frisco 2-10-0 1630. Last year, as 1630 underwent a mandatory 1472-day inspection, we shifted our focus ahead to the diesel era with the 1935-built Nebraska Zephyr for an all-CB&Q evening featuring other miscellaneous pieces of Burlington Route equipment. Our main goal for the event was to take our guest photographers back to the golden age of passenger rail travel on one of America’s most famous streamlined trains by incorporating actors and crew members in period dress plus appropriately placed memorabilia items and props into our photo setups…

Read more about this night photo session in the February 2026 edition of Railfan & Railroad…

A sharp-dressed crew was one of the highlights of a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy-themed photoshoot at the Illinois Railway Museum in October 2025. 

Timetables, rule books, tickets, luggage tags, maps, conductor hats and more all served as props for the CB&Q photoshoot at IRM.

Here one of those timetable props is put to use in a scene with a conductor helping a pair of passengers. The moon is rising in the distance on a beautiful October evening in the Heartland. 

Scenes inside the Nebraska Zephyr were also part of the photoshoot. Old magazines, coffee cups and cigarettes were all props used to bring the 1960s on the Q back to life for one night only. 

Two passengers play cards aboard the Nebraska Zephyr at the Illinois Railway Museum. These interior shots were set up ahead of the shoot’s highlight later that evening. 

A real Chicago, Burlington & Quincy E5 leads the Nebraska Zephyr past the East Union Depot during a night photo session at the Illinois Railway Museum in October 2025. 

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North America’s four Class I railroads not named Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern took aim at the proposed UP-NS merger in January, a combination that, if approved, would create the largest railroad in U.S. history and the first single transcontinental. UP and NS submitted their historic merger application in December, and since then, their rivals have been taking potshots at the proposal. Most notably, all four railroads have filed comments with the U.S Surface Transportation Board — the independent regulator that will approve or deny the merger — claiming they believe the application is incomplete. 

Canadian National, through its American subsidiary Grand Trunk Western, perhaps summed up the opposition best when it wrote: “(The) Applicants seek approval from the Board for a proposed transaction they assert is an ‘unprecedented opportunity for our country’ because it will purportedly ‘create America’s first transcontinental railroad’ and ‘transform the nation’s supply chain.’ Applicants are correct that their Application is unprecedented in at least one respect: They seek the Board’s approval to undertake the first major transaction under the Board’s new rules, which require Applicants to show that the proposed transaction would not only preserve, but also enhance competition. Yet they fail to provide the Board, or interested parties, the information that is required.”

Among the rival railroads’ complaints is that while UP-NS has said their merger would remove 2 million trucks from America’s highways, it doesn’t provide proof of that claim. It also provides little evidence of how it would enhance competition, a requirement of the STB’s “new” merger rules established in 2001 (but exempted any merger with the smallest Class I railroad, Kansas City Southern, which was acquired by Canadian Pacific in 2023). 

For their part, UP has said the other Class I railroads are simply trying to delay the merger because it will force them to work harder against the competition. 

—Justin Franz 

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KC Streetcar ridership has surged to record-breaking levels following the October 24, opening of the Main Street Extension. Even with rainy weather and cool temperatures dampening Kansas City, streetcar ridership drew nearly 35,000 passenger trips during the three-day opening weekend. 

Following the late-October service start, November 2025 has seen the highest monthly ridership in system history, demonstrating that the expanded 5.7-mile rail route from the River Market to UMKC is attracting unprecedented demand for fare-free, frequent, and reliable public transit. November ridership was 341,922 passenger trips, bringing the 2025 year-to-date total to 1,799,708 trips. November system ridership is 2.5 times above November 2024 levels and November 22 saw the single highest ridership of 2025 with 19,761 trips. During November, the KC Streetcar carried an average of 11,397 daily riders, accounting for approximately 30% of all transit trips in the Kansas City region.

—Bob Gallegos 

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Mario Péloquin, president of VIA Rail Canada since 2023, will retire on January 15 after more than four decades in rail and transportation. 

Péloquin began his career as a train dispatcher for Canadian National in the 1980s before moving to Transport Canada. He later worked on Ottawa’s light rail system and at Siemens. In 2020, he briefly served as chief operating officer for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

“It has been a privilege to serve as President and CEO of VIA Rail Canada and to work alongside dedicated colleagues across the country,” Péloquin said. “Together, we advanced important initiatives, from modernizing key systems to progressing fleet renewal projects that will support passenger rail in Canada for decades.”

A search for his replacement is presently underway. 

—Justin Franz 

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Northeast Rail Heritage, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to preserving equipment in the northeast that previously saved an Amtrak AEM-7, announced in January that it has acquired the only remaining Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Silverliner III car.

St. Louis Car Company built 20 Silverliner III cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, which entered service in 1967. These cars later operated for Penn Central, Conrail, and finally SEPTA. The Silverliner IIIs served for 45 years and were synonymous with daily commuter operations around Philadelphia. The last one was retired from service in 2012. Car 238 was set aside for preservation, but it sat forgotten for more than a decade. In 2023, it was moved to Morrisville, Pa., for scrapping. However, logistical challenges prevented its immediate destruction, giving Northeast Rail Heritage the chance to save it. In July 2025, Sullivan’s Scrap Metals donated the car to NRH, which plans to restore it to its 1990s “Yellowbird” appearance. That livery helped promote SEPTA’s Airport Line service. 

“This car represents an era of railroading that millions of Philadelphia-area riders experienced firsthand,” said Mike Huhn, NRH President. “Preserving 238 ensures that an important chapter of Philadelphia-area transportation history is not lost. Our goal is to stabilize, cosmetically restore, and interpret the car for public education and potential display.”

In December, 238 was moved from the yard in Morrisville, where it had been stored, to an SMS Rail-owned facility. SMS has agreed to store both the Silverliner and the AEM-7 until NRH can acquire its own property (as of this writing, the AEM-7 has not yet been moved to SMS). 

For more information and to learn how you can help, visit northeastrailheritage.org. 

—Justin Franz 

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The slow trickle of locomotives being painted to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will likely turn into a flood as July 4, 2026, approaches. The first Semiquincentennial units appeared in 2023, and more arrived in 2025. Just before the New Year, two more joined the fleet, one from New Jersey Transit and another from North Shore Railroad.

The North Shore locomotive might be one of the most complex. Instead of the red, white, and blue that’s graced the dozen or so locomotives revealed so far on other shortline and regional railroads, North Shore chose murals that depict scenes from the Revolutionary War and American iconography. On one side, there’s George Washington crossing the Delaware River, the Declaration of Independence, and the Liberty Bell. On the other side, there are amber waves of grain, purple mountains, a flag, and the Statue of Liberty.

NJ Transit 4526 was released in December 2025. Courtesy Photo. 

The locomotive chosen was North Shore SW1500 2238, built in 1966 as EMD demonstrator 106. It later went to Conrail and Norfolk Southern. 

The murals are the vision of railroad employees Diana Williams and Loni Martz Briner, and they were hand-painted by Sunbury, Pa., artist Pedro Reyes. Reyes said he started working on the locomotive in early October and finished just before the dedication on December 22, putting in about 1,500 hours of work.

The locomotive was not renumbered during the repaint. On the cab door, there is a depiction of The Mayham Tower in Augusta, Ga., a turning point in the Revolution that occurred 2,238 days into the conflict, the railroad said.

In 2026, the 2238 will be showcased at towns where North Shore railroads operate, both on display and pulling excursions. —M.T. Burkhart

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