The clouds of smoke from double-headed steam locomotives illustrate a disadvantage to riding behind them — particularly with open windows. Here a troop extra rolls east of Staple Bend, Pa., on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh–Philadelphia main line. Several distinctive troop sleepers are in the consist. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 cab-forward No. 4203 works hard in pusher service on Tehachapi Grade near Woodford, Calif., in August 1948. SP commissioned the specially designed locomotives to minimize crews’ exposure to tunnels in the lengthy tunnels and snowsheds on its system, a benefit that did not always apply to locomotives further back in the train. […]
A Missouri Pacific Mountain-type 4-8-2 rolls an 83-car train under the coaling tower at Gurdon, Ark., in 1952. Soon, diesels would render the locomotive, and coaling tower, obsolete. The railroad had 29 such MT-73 class engines, Nos. 5308–5316 and 5335–5344, built by Alco between 1921 and 1930. All were retired by the end of 1956. […]
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The R.J. Corman Group Chinese 2-10-2 steam engine, charmingly called “Old Smokey,” is being donated to the non-profit, Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. While it is bittersweet to see this locomotive go to a new home, R. J. Corman is excited to make this locomotive accessible to as many people as possible for […]
Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 332 on a 2017 photo charter. Steve Glischinski DULUTH, Minn. – The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is overhauling its steam program for 2020, sending locomotive parts out for rebuilding, purchasing others, and operating on a reduced schedule. The revamp follows a 2019 season that saw Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range […]
No. 1477 last operated in 2007 in Colorado, shown here on the Rio Grande Scenic near Alamosa. Jim Wrinn SUNOL, Calif. – The Pacific Locomotive Association has purchased Southern Pacific 2-6-0 No. 1744, which will be rebuilt for operation on the Niles Canyon Railway. The 1910 Baldwin-built Mogul-type locomotive operated for many years out of […]
St. Louis — San Francisco Railway 2-10-0 Decapod type steam locomotive No. 1630 hauls an excursion train at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. Jim Wrinn 2-10-0 •YEARS BUILT: 1924-1933 •MANUFACTURERS: Baldwin, Canadian •OPERATED ON: Alabama, Tennessee & Northern, Durham & Southern, Georgia, Florida & Alabama, Seaboard Air Line, Great Western, Gainesville Midland, Woodward […]
McCloud River Railroad 2-6-2 Prairie type steam locomotive in California in 2008. Jim Wrinn 2-6-2 •YEARS BUILT: 1900-1909 •MANUFACTURERS: Rogers, Alco, Baldwin, Burlington Route shop forces •OPERATED ON: Burlington Route, Santa Fe, Milwaukee Road, and Northern Pacific •NAME: Prairie •QUANTITY: 1,250 for common carriers; more for loggers and mining roads; Burlington Route had the most […]
Rio Grande Scenic Railroad 2-6-0 Mogul type steam locomotive No. 1744 steams upgrade through Laveta Pass, Colorado, in 2007. Jim Wrinn 2-6-0 •YEARS BUILT: 1852-1929 •MANUFACTURERS: Lima, Southern Pacific, Baldwin, Pennsylvania Railroad, others •OPERATED ON: Chicago & Western Indiana, Baltimore & Ohio, Green Bay & Western, Boston & Maine, Southern Pacific, Canadian National, short lines […]
Fundraising continues for Western Maryland No. 1309, shown during restoration work last August. Tishia Boggs CUMBERLAND, Md. — Using funds donated by Trains magazine readers, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has picked up the 12 drive-wheel journal boxes for steam locomotive No. 1309 to replace those stolen in an employee theft two years ago. Meanwhile, the fund-raising drive launched […]
Stan Gentry presents the V&T Lyon to Dan Thielen, director of Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. NSRM CARSON CITY, Nevada – The old saying that legends never die might also be said about old locomotives. Many of those iron horses, long lost to time or the scrap heap, live on through historic photographs, […]
CUMBERLAND, Md. — The Trains Magazine led fund-raising effort to contribute $100,000 toward the restoration of the last Baldwin steam locomotive made for domestic use — Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 — is off to a good start. With the appeal to readers still in its first month, more than $41,000 — including one […]
