Trains

The tracks and individual cabins of a new train would be built so that, as the high-speed and local train move alongside each other, a link can be secured momentarily, creating a transfer gate for passengers to get on and off.

This High-Speed Train Picks Up Passengers Without Having to Stop

It's possible to let passengers board trains through separate cars that latch on, but who will take the risk to make it happen?

In New York City, you can even get a late pass from the MTA to show your skeptical boss.

The NYC Subways Will Give You a Late Slip If Your Train Is Delayed

In New York City you can even get a late pass from the MTA to show your skeptical boss

This train car, used for much of the early 20th-century as a segregated passenger car through the southern United States, will be installed Sunday on the National Mall—the first artifact for the future National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Installing an Artifact in a Museum That Hasn’t Even Been Built Yet

This weekend, two objects are being installed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture—more than a year before it's set to open

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Summer Reads: Zombie Science, the American Revolution and Travels Across Italy

Looking for a good book? We’ve got some suggestions

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Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed

The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America

The rickety platforms—"norries" to the locals—carry passengers and freight on wobbly rails left over from an abandoned transit system.

Catching the Bamboo Train

Rural Cambodians cobbled old tank parts and scrap lumber into an ingenious way to get around

This past June, photographer Russ Juskalian made a 170-mile trip by norry and wrote about it for his first Smithsonian feature story.

Russ Juskalian on “Catching the Bamboo Train”

One of the most ingenious escapes from slavery was that of a married couple from Georgia, Ellen and William Craft.

The Great Escape From Slavery of Ellen and William Craft

Passing as a white man traveling with his servant, two slaves fled their masters in a thrilling tale of deception and intrigue

trans-siberian railway

A World on Rails

A journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway offers inspiring sights, from snowscapes to wildlife

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Full Speed Ahead

A railroad, finally, crosses Australia's vast interior—linking not only the continent's south with its north, but also its past to its future

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Subway Spy

Walker Evans' underground-breaking photographs resurface for the centennial of New York City's rapid transit system

Easy Riders

For whistle-stop campaigning or just rolling down memory lane, nothing could be finer than your own railroad car

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Moving Down the Line

It's pulled and jimmied, tied and lifted —but the 20-ton Jupiter engine finally reaches its new home

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The Steam Locomotive

Even in the computer age, a thousand-ton train driven by fire and water inspires awe

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Little Engines That Still Can!

Across America, short-line freight trains are pulling their weight

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Steam Locomotives Steal the Spotlight

Photographer O. Winston Link documented the final days of steam engines on the Norfolk and Western Railway, the last main line to use them

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With Computers and New Equipment, Our Once-struggling Freight Railroads Are Now the World's Best and Busiest

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