Celebrating American Trains & Rides in The USA!
The goal of the Kansas Belle Dinner Train is a nostalgic trip back into the 1940’s era. You’ll experience beautiful scenery on a 22 mile round trip departing from the Baldwin City Depot while listening to 1940’s music.
The Midland Railway preserves the history on the first railroad line south of the Kansas River, originally constructed in 1867 by the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GMSR) is pleased to announce the PEANUTS™ Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown Excursion and Valentine Sweetheart Train. This special event train will depart the historic Bryson City depot on Saturday, February 11th, at 11:00am. The train will travel along the Tuckasegee River to Dillsboro for a 1 ½ layover. Enjoy special Valentine’s activities as well as a relaxing afternoon in the quaint town of Dillsboro.
Passengers will join Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy for old fashioned Valentine’s Day fun based on the popular television episode titled by the same name. Thirteenth in the series, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown premiered in 1975. Fans follow Charlie Brown’s Valentine’s Day woes as he tries to get noticed by the “little red-haired girl” and receive a briefcase full of Valentines.
Festivities for the Be My Valentine passengers include mingling with Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy costume characters, listening to the narrated story based on the television special, and children can create their own Valentine for that special someone. There will also be plenty of photo opportunities, so do not forget your camera! Standard Coach Class adult tickets are $49, children (2-12) are $29, infants 23 months and under ride complimentary. Upgrade to Crown Class seating and receive a souvenir tumbler with unlimited soda, coffee and tea refill! Adult tickets are $66, children (2-12) are $38 and infants 23 months and under are $10.
Also available are upgrades to the fantastic Family First Class package! Treat the family to a wonderful Valentine’s train trip complete with a delicious meal for all in your party as well as a special GSMR souvenir and refillable tumbler! Adult ticket prices are $92, children (2-12) are $54, infants 23 months and under are $20.
If you’re looking to enjoy a special Valentine’s date with you and your sweetie join us in the Adult First Class for a romantic afternoon! Choose from one of our four delicious lunches served by a private car attendant. Receive a special gift amenity and souvenir tumbler with unlimited soda, coffee and tea refill. In addition enjoy a specialty dessert and long stemmed rose. Tickets for adults are $92. Advance tickets are recommended, as seating is limited.
For more information and reservations please call 800-872-4681 or WWW.GSMR.COM.
©2012 PEANUTS Worldwide LLC
Admission to the Smoky Mountain Trains Museum is included with ticket purchase. Without tickets, admission to the museum is $9 for adults and $5 for children.
For more info, visit: www.sbmrr.org
Source: http://www.enctoday.com
There was a common denominator between the hundreds of people who came to Saturday’s opening day of the Carolina Coastal Railroaders show and the trains they came to see — both were all ages and sizes.
The 16th annual show, which continues today at New Bern High, featured a lobby full of vendors with any possible train or accessory. Inside the gym, there were 10 layouts — complete with detailed miniature scenery — and trains of varying sizes and historic reference.
Nic and Juanita Nicastro come from Newport to the show each year and walk away with memories and bags of trains and parts.
“I’m a collector, an operator and an accumulator,” he said of his own home layout, which measures more than 13 by 19 feet, with three different train “yards.”
He had trains as a child and when the couple started a family in the early 1970s, they wanted trains for the children.
He saw a want ad for trains for sale, so he bought six two-foot-square boxes. The Nicastros were off and running as collectors.
“It’s a toy,” he said of trains. “And I’m just a bigger kid.”
Juanita said that while collecting trains that date to the 1900s, it had given her a sense of watching changes in the way American manufacturing has changed over the years in production and materials, from tin to injection plastics.
Allison Stusse of Havelock brought her sons Noah, Henry and George — ages 2 to nearly 6 — because “They love trains. They have trains, too many trains.”
The Stusse brothers are still in the early stages of train love, with wooden trains that they have to push around the tracks.
“But, they build new track every day,” said their mother, as the three boys pointed and intently watched larger motorized miniatures in front of them at the Garden Railway Society’s layout.
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Source: http://www.salisburypost.com
The Flagg 75 steam engine spits, coughs, breathes heavily and blows off a lot of steam before it finally moves.
In other words, I can relate.
I hopped into the cab of the 1930 workhorse locomotive Saturday morning as Engineer John Barnett of Raleigh backed it onto the roundtable at the N.C. Transportation Museum.
We took about a quarter turn before locking in and heading south on our warm-up run. The white steam we released made us a moving cloud at first.
On the right side of the cab, Barnett manned the throttle. Also within reach were the reverse gear, the locomotive and train brakes, injectors for water and even levers to release sand for more traction on the tracks.
“It’s easy to operate, but they can be temperamental,” Barnett said of these coal-fired beasts.
Going forward, Barnett can watch the tracks ahead through a small window. Or in forward or reverse, he can poke his head out the side opening, much like a happy dog hanging out the window of his master’s car.
Also on board was Fireman Gil Williams of Lexington, S.C., and Mike Stovall of Greensboro, a fireman in training. All three men are regular transportation museum volunteers who love anything to do with trains and their operation.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE WITH LOTS OF GREAT PICTURES!
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Day Trips To Roanoke, Va. and Asheville, N.C. Scheduled for October 30 and 31
SPENCER – The N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation and the Watauga Valley Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society will host day trip train excursions to Roanoke, Va. October 30 and Asheville, N.C. October 31. These excursions, now in their fourth year, allow travelers to see beautiful fall foliage, experience a great destination and enjoy the romance of riding the rails.
The N.C. Transportation Museum and Watauga Valley NRHS revived fall excursions in 2007, offering trips to Charlottesville, Va. Sell out crowds and satisfied passengers made those excursions incredibly popular. Last year’s addition of Asheville, N.C. as a destination created an even greater demand for tickets. The trips sold out in record time, with dome car tickets selling out in mere minutes.
This year, the “Virginia Autumn Special” will travel to Roanoke, Va. Saturday, Oct. 30. The “Blue Ridge Special” will travel to Asheville, N.C. Sunday, Oct. 31. More dome car tickets have been added but the demand is expected to be just as strong as years past.
Departing Spencer at 7 a.m., Saturday’s Virginia Autumn Special” will offer additional passenger pick-up at the Greensboro Amtrak Station at 8 a.m., allowing those in the Triad a more convenient boarding opportunity. The train will travel through the northern portion of the North Carolina Piedmont, including the cities of High Point and Reidsville before crossing into Virginia. The western part of central Virginia offers spectacular views of the fall foliage, crossing the Dan and Roanoke Rivers. Moving onto the old Virginian Railway line, passengers will travel westward, passing through several tunnels and enjoying the rolling Virginia countryside.
The train will arrive in Roanoke, the “Star City of the South,” at noon. Passengers will have nearly three hours to enjoy the attractions offered. Downtown Roanoke offers an array of dining experiences, shopping and sightseeing opportunities.
Passengers will depart the train at the old Norfolk and Western Passenger Station, home of the O. Winston Link museum. The museum offers a grand photographic and auditory history of 1950’s steam engine locomotive history. Advance tickets to the museum are available to excursion passengers at the discounted group rate of $4 per person.
Meals will also be available at the famous nearby Hotel Roanoke
The nearby Taubman Museum of Art features a permanent collection of 19th and early 20th Century American art, while the Historic Roanoke City Market has fresh food and handmade crafts.
Passengers can also take a drink from the historic Dogmouth Fountain, constructed in 1898. Legend says those drinking from the fountain will always return to Roanoke.
Departing Roanoke at 3 p.m., the train will arrive back in Greensboro at 6:45 p.m. and Spencer at 8 p.m.
During Sunday’s trip, the “Blue Ridge Special” will travel through the western Piedmont into the foothills and on to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Departing Spencer at 7 a.m., the train will roll through the cities of Statesville, Hickory, Morganton, Marion, Black Mountain and Swannanoa. The train will climb the famed “loops” of the Blue Ridge Mountains and pass through several tunnels before arriving in Asheville at noon. Passengers will have nearly three hours for an outing at Biltmore Village.
Established in the late 1890s as a planned community near the entrance of the Biltmore estate, Biltmore Village stands near the entrance to Biltmore Estate. Shopping will be available in unique, locally-owned boutiques. Passengers can dine in restaurants and take walks along brick sidewalks that parallel tree lined streets. All of this will be enjoyed alongside spectacular views of the North Carolina mountains.
Departing Asheville at 3 p.m., the “Blue Ridge Special” will return to Spencer at 8 p.m.
Dome Tickets offer the best views of passing scenery with two levels. Windows stretch across the walls and ceiling on the second level, providing a panoramic view of the entire ride. Dome tickets are available for $280 per person.
Premium First Class fare includes continental breakfast and newspapers on the journey to both Roanoke and Asheville, plus dinner on the return trip served in vintage lounge and dining cars. Premium First Class tickets are available for $245 per person.
Deluxe Coach Class tickets feature spacious seating with large windows, lunch on the dining car and light snacks during the trip. Deluxe Coach tickets are $175 per person.
Coach seating, featuring wide windows, adjustable seats and convenient access to the commissary car, are also available for $145 per person. All cars feature air conditioning, heat and rest rooms.
For those wishing to eat on the train to provide more time for sightseeing, an optional box lunch will be offered. The $14 meal, served in a souvenir lunch tote, includes include a half turkey wrap, pasta, chips & salsa, a cookie and drink.
Tickets will be available online at www.nctrans.org or by calling 704-636-2889 ext. 232. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 24.
The N.C. Transportation Museum, located in historic Spencer Shops, the former Southern Railway repair facility is located just five minutes off I-85 at Exit 79 in Spencer, N.C., and about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. The museum is part of the Division of Historic Sites and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Visit http://www.nctrans.org for more information.
For information on the Watauga Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, visit www.wataugavalleynrhs.org.
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The following are books on railroading and Western America by Lucius Beebe or Lucius Beebe and his partner. Charles Clegg.
1. High Iron: A Book of Trains. (New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1938).
2. Highliners: A Railroad Album (New York: Bonanza Books, 1940).
3. Trains in Transition (New York: Bonanza Books, 1941).
4. Highball: A Pageant of Trains ( New York: Bonanza Books, 1945)
5. The Narrow Gauge Railroads of Colorado (Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin
No. 671, August 1946).
6. Mixed Train Daily: A Book of Short-Line Railroads. (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North, 1947).
7. Virginia City & Truckee: A Story of Virginia City and Comstock Times (Oakland, CA:
Grahame H. Hardy, 1949).
8. U.S. West: The Saga of Wells Fargo (New York: Dutton, 1949).
9. Legends of the Comstock Lode (Oakland, CA: Grahame H. Hardy,1950).
10. Cable Car Carnival (Oakland, CA: Grahame H. Hardy,1951). 
11. Hear the Train Blow: A Pictorial Epic of America in the Railroad Age (New York: Dutton,
1952)
12. Comstock Commotion: The Story of the Territorial Enterprise and Virginia City News
(New York: Dutton, 1954).
New technology allows the train’s engine to capture the energy it now wastes, store it in a battery and use it for acceleration.
Click on the image below to watch the video. You’ll have to sit through a 15-second ad, but it’s very interesting.
By: Chris Morrison
With transportation costs up, one of the oldest icons of the Industrial Age is once again coming to prominence. Trains are the object of interest in the United States at levels not seen for decades, with some of the most foresightful investors around — including the world’s richest man, Warren Buffet — placing billions of dollars on old-line companies like Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.
The reason behind the trend is fairly obvious. Most investors have begun to believe that today’s high fuel prices are permanent (see the interview with Chris Nelder, below, for more). In addition, trains are seen as a good way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as one train can tote as much freight as hundreds of trucks, or as many people as thousands of cars.
The North Raleigh Model Railroad Club (NRMRC) is the N Scale NTRAK model railroad club in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park area, one of the best areas in the USA to live and work.
Founded in 1974, NRMRC members are dedicated to furthering the hobby of N-Scale model railroading through educational activities, community involvement and public displays. The Club models all railroads and welcomes new members, especially newcomers to the hobby. There is always plenty to do and learn, so come and join the fun. Check the Club’s News and Information page for meetings and the next train show in this area.
Visit: http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/index.html 
Great American Train Rides 