Outstanding Railroad Historic Preservation Award

The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), Railway Age, and Railway Track & Structures have joined for a fourth year to recognize and honor a North American common carrier railroad for a historically significant preservation project currently in operation, accessible to the public, or on display in the United States, Canada or Mexico. NRHS members and Railway Age and RT&S readers are strong advocates for sharing the railroad industry’s important history. This award is intended to recognize the most outstanding example of historic preservation achieved within the railroad industry itself.

The criteria for the Outstanding Railroad Historic Preservation Award are as follows:

• Projects may include locomotives or any type of rolling stock, buildings, stations, a rail line, or a significant rail line feature such as a bridge, viaduct, tunnel, etc.
• Projects that result in returning the asset to use as originally intended will be prioritized vs. a static display or no longer operational asset.
• Projects accessible to the public will be prioritized for recognition (for example, periodic operation of historically significant railroad equipment, scheduled excursion train service, publicly accessible historically preserved railroad stations, or buildings and/or museums displaying historic railroad artifacts).
• Historic railroads, tourist lines and museums not operated by common carrier railroads are ineligible for this award (instead, see NRHS Heritage Grants).

The 2026 honoree will be announced at the Railway Interchange conference on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

Nominations will open shortly. For further information about this award, please contact Mike Yuhas.

PREVIOUS HONOREES

2025: Reading Blue Mountain & Northern

2024: Union Pacific

2023: Iowa Traction