Santa Fe nights

The Grand Canyon was a stop on several of the tours I conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Our groups would ride Santa Fe Railway trains to Williams, Ariz., then chartered motor coaches to the Canyon. After dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon, the passengers and luggage were aboard […]

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Louisville & Nashville in Alabama

Flying flags that mark it as an extra, Louisville & Nashville 806 South pulls a 106-car freight upgrade south of Montgomery, Ala., on May 26, 1955. The train consists mainly of empty cars bound for the docks at Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans. […]

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GG1 engineer’s controls

Built by the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1934 and 1943, the GG1 electric locomotive was the backbone of the busy New York-Washington and Philadelphia-Harrisburg corridors for decades. In the Summer 2009 issue of Classic Trains magazine, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of this great locomotive design with 35 pages of special features. Step inside a GG1 […]

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A Window in Thrums

Classic Trains logo

A window in Thrums By Steven Duff Thrums is a name that somehow resonates above most others, a name, as we say these days, that has Attitude. It is a Scottish word, immortalized in Sir James Barrie’s novel, A Window in Thrums, and is perpetuated in Canada by a small town in British Columbia. In […]

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Abandoned rail tunnel for sale NEWSWIRE

PLUMMER, Idaho – A tunnel that used to host Milwaukee Road freights bound for the Puget Sound area is for sale for $650,000, the Associated Press reported. The tunnel has sat vacant since Milwaukee shut down its transcontinental freight line in 1980. “We think it’s time for someone else to own it,” said Don Parker, […]

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Burlington Northern SD9 gets new Cascade Green paint NEWSWIRE

Burlington Northern SD9 6234 shows off its new coat of paint at Minnesota Transportation Museum’s ex-Great Northern Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul, Minn. Ralph Back ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Transportation Museum has restored former Burlington Northern SD9 No. 6234 to its Cascade Green paint scheme. The unit emerged from the Wisconsin & […]

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Santa Fe 2-10-4’s on PRR

Front of steam locomotive

In the Fall 2006 issue of Classic Trains, we look at the Santa Fe’s great steam designs during the tenure of Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles T. Ripley. See clips of the giant 5001- and 5011-class 2-10-4’s on home rails in New Mexico and on lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad in Ohio from the Herron Rail […]

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Santa Fe 2-10-4’s on PRR

Front of steam locomotive

In the Fall 2006 issue of Classic Trains, we look at the Santa Fe’s great steam designs during the tenure of Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles T. Ripley. See clips of the giant 5001- and 5011-class 2-10-4’s on home rails in New Mexico and on lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad in Ohio from the Herron Rail […]

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Great Northern “Hustle Muscle” SD45 repainted NEWSWIRE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Great Northern Railway Historical Society recently completed a project to repaint Great Northern SD45 No. 400, the “Hustle Muscle.” Built in May 1966, No. 400 was the first production SD45 built by Electro-Motive Division; it received the Hustle Muscle moniker by GN when the company purchased the unit. It continued […]

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Railroad Fallen Flag Thumbnails: P-S

Penn Central Company

Penn Central Company Penn Central was created February 1, 1968 by merger of Pennsylvania and New York Central. Entered bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. Because of PC’s failure and its size, the federal government created Conrail, to which PC was conveyed on April 1, 1976. Pennsylvania Railroad Pennsylvania Railroad chartered April 13, 1846; by 1852, […]

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Railroad Fallen Flag Thumbnails: C

Canadian National

Canadian National Canadian National Railways was incorporated June 6, 1919, to operate several carriers that had come under governmental control owing to financial problems: Intercolonial (1913); National Transcontinental (1915); Canadian Northern (1918); Grand Trunk Pacific (1920); and Grand Trunk (1920). The Grand Trunk name survived on the U.S. portion of the Montreal-Portland (Maine) line until […]

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