We Hawkins love historic steam locomotives, especially ones that still move under their own power. Here's a sample of pages from our Steam collection of 'tea kettles' that are still in operation today:

Here are a few favorite scrapbooks of steam locomotives in the Deep South that continued to operate in revenue service even after most railroads had retired steam in favor of modern diesel-electric locomotives:

And here are a few of our favorite railroad museums around the southeast where you can explore a collection of historic steam locomotives preserved on display:

Finally, here are a few scrapbooks featuring some of our favorite operating tourist railroads where you can ride behind a steam locomotive in action:

If HawkinsRails has any area of expertise, it would be Shortlines: smaller branchline railroads that serve specific communities and industries, connecting to the larger mainline railroads, often using interesting secondhand motive power and equipment. We have nearly 200 such railroads documented on our site!

Our most beloved shortline scrapbook, and far and away our largest online collection, features the historic Columbus & Greenville Railway in Mississippi, still in operation today:

Here's a small sampling of shortlines we loved that are no longer in operation:

And here are some favorite scrapbooks featuring time-tested, historic shortlines that continue to move freight today:

We love discovering and documenting newer shortlines that bring renewed vitality to neglected segments of railroad. Here's a sampling of some newer shortline operations we have come to love in recent years:

Finally, we've always had a keen interest in Industrial railroading: locomotives and lines that serve a specific industry and move specific materials and products. Here are a few favorites from our industrial railroad scrapbooks:

The web and social media offer so much wonderful coverage of the major freight and passenger railroads around the country. Here at HawkinsRails, we mostly focus on Mainline railroading in the Deep South — especially former railroads that were merged into the current major rail systems of the southeast. Here's a sampling of our favorite "Fallen Flag" mainlines:

We also enjoy chronicling the story of some of the smaller regional railroads in the Deep South that became the building blocks for larger rail systems. Our favorite southern regional railroads include:

HawkinsRails is a supporter and frequent patron of Amtrak, the national passenger rail network. We are building a collection of scrapbooks chronicling our favorite Amtrak routes. Here are a few of our many collections:

We also love exploring and documenting the classic urban railroad stations that survived from the Golden Age of passenger railroading and are still served today by Amtrak trains. Here are a few of our favorites:

HawkinsRails has been visiting railroad museums around the country for decades! Here are a few more examples of our favorite locations to see historic train equipment on display:

We'll go out of our way to ride an operating tourist railroad — any place, any time! Here are a few more samples of some favorite tourist haulers:

Every generation involved with HawkinsRails has loved riding streetcars and trolleys in urban settings and at museums. Here are a few of our favorite street railway scrapbooks:

Our home region for railfanning is the southeastern United States, but we love visiting the beautiful state of Colorado and enjoying all that the Rockies have to offer in the way of narrow gauge steam railroads and museums. Here are a few favorites:

We love visiting scale-riding outdoor railroads. Be sure to check out our huge scrapbook chronicling the construction and operation of our beloved friend's backyard railroad in South Louisiana:

Finally, for a "little something extra," don't forget to check out these pages for our ongoing site updates, some of our more creative railroad photography, some of our special collections, and our video channel on YouTube.