Talk of Burlington Northern passenger trains inevitably conjures visions of green E units toting bilevel stainless steel coaches at rush hour. But BN has history, albeit brief, with conventional intercity passenger service. This spanned from its March 1970 inception to the May 1, 1971, startup of Amtrak – just days less than 14 months. […]
Moon Glow, the dome observation car of the 1947GM Train of Tomorrow featured seating for 68 in four separate lounge areas. L. O. Merrill photo […]
At 9:52 on the morning of June 2, 1953, Grand Trunk Western U-4 No. 6410 accelerates the Toronto-bound Maple Leaf away from Dearborn Station, Chicago. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
June 13, 1950, finds three Fairbanks-Morse H20-44 end-cab road-switchers and 4-8-2 No. 7019 at Union Pacific’s San Bernardino (Calif.) engine house. The F-Ms had taken over Cajon Pass helper chores in 1948. When they were found wanting, UP brought steam back for a spell in 1950–51. Chard Walker photo […]
Welcome – Still has the connections Head End – A potpourri of railroad history, then and now Mileposts – Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe True Color – Katy green-and-yellow Short Rails – Illinois Central in Wisconsin The Way It Was – Tales from railfans and railroaders Classics Today – Preserved NYC steam Looking Back – […]
Streamlined Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 275 departs Birmingham, Ala., with the every-third-day South Wind from Miami to Chicago on February 4, 1941. James Wade, L&NHS coll. […]
One of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines’ 12 Budd Rail Diesel Cars pauses at Collingswood, N.J., about 3 miles out of Camden on the old West Jersey & Seashore, in September 1964. William J. Coxey photo […]
When created, Burlington Northern had a greater extent than any other U. S. railroad: Vancouver, British Columbia, to Pensacola, Fla. If you crossed North America from east to west, you had to cross BN rails or get your feet wet in the Gulf of Mexico or find your way around the north side of […]
It was an oddball branch line with a just-as-odd history that is still worth recounting. The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch was built in 1905 to connect Carbon Junction, Colo. (just outside of Durango to the southeast), and Farmington, N.M. It was a modest, 47.68-mile standard gauge line (later narrow gauge) that followed the […]
Several piggyback cars head northbound on the Wabash at Forrest, Ill., en route to Chicago in March 1960. In a few years, the route would host the railroad’s Roadrunner overnight TOFC train. J. Parker Lamb photo […]
This 40-foot Canadian National boxcar was built in November 1923 and was still in service in the 1970s. The car is single-sheathed (meaning sheathed only on the inside of the truss-style metal bracing) and has wood sides and ends. Note the modern AEI panel on the 1923-built car. Michael Dean photo […]
Bridgton & Harrison 2-4-4T No. 8 creeps around a rock outcropping at the head of a special train in 1940. The second-to-last Maine two-foot road to operate, the B&H closed the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
