Classification lights on Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern SD40-2 No. 6090. David C. Schauer Question: When a train displays color flags on the engine indicating “Extra” or “Second” section, how is that information used in the operation of the railroad? — Robert Miller, Hernando, Fla. Answer: A complete answer is available in Trains’ online “ABCs of […]
BNSF Railway ES44C4 No. 8338 works at the lead of a freight train. The locomotive’s C4 trucks have only two powered axles in the three-axle trucks arranged in a powered-unpowered-powered arrangement known as A-1-A. Tom Danneman Question: What is the purpose of the A-1-A C4 truck on the BNSF Railway Evolution Series diesels, and how […]
What appears to be an Omaha Orange and Pullman Green Great Northern Railway EMD SD9 in 2017 actually is a BNSF Railway unit that had been built in 1959 for Chicago, Burlintgon & Quincy subsidiary Colorado & Southern. For several years, BNSF has assigned Great Northern “GN” reporting marks to some older diesels generally assigned […]
BNSF Railway distributed power pushes an eastbound empty coal train at Hathaway, Mont., in June 2014. Tom Danneman Q In two recent issues, Trains stated that distributed power helps maintain trainline air for brakes. How can this be without giving up lead unit control of the brakes? – Jay Noyes, Lowell, Ind. A In distributed […]
Catch up on all our Big Boy No. 4014 video content! This playlist, updated each time we add a new Big Boy video, will keep you entertained for hours. It includes the latest video updates from Wyoming and Utah, and our back catalog content going back to the locomotive’s removal from the California fairgrounds in […]
A low-floor Alstom Citadis light rail vehicle for United Arab Emirates has minimal truck components so it remains closer to the street. Steve Sweeney Q In the August 2015 issue of Trains, the article on Alstom light rail mentioned continuous low floors as a design feature. How does Alstom make this work? – Jack Munro, […]
Join Trains and guests on a guided tour of Switzerland’s Brienz Cog Railway. Officially the Brienz Rothorn Bahn, this cog railroad features multiple steam locomotives, open air coaches, steep grades, and spectacular views. More information on the Trains 2019 Switzerland tour is available online. […]
Railroads like Illinois Terminal, Pennsy, and New York Central sent promotional material to author Matejka, and often returned his 15 cents postage as well. How far can you travel for 15 cents? As a child in the early 1960s, I was traveling all over the country from my St. Louis home, thanks to 15 cents I […]
Chinese workers load rail onto a tracklaying car from the piles left by the morning’s supply train. Sixteen rails, a keg of spikes, a keg of nuts and bolts, and 32 splice bars, along with the crew made the load. Horses to pull the car stand ready. The location is Granite Point, Nev., in late […]
Grading on the Central Pacific was done by hand, relying primarily on Chinese using picks, shovels, and horse-drawn dump carts, though black powder was freely used to break hard soil and move rocks aside. This scene is the 170-foot deep excavation at Prospect Hill, Calif. It dates from summer 1866, when more than a thousand […]
A track worker hammers in spikes on a turnout. Steve Smedley Rusty track spikes near Canadian Pacific tracks at Brookfield, Wis, in 2012. Karl Riek The Golden Spike of the first transcontinental railroad was but one of millions in the nearly 2,000-mile route between Sacramento, Calif., and Omaha, Neb. Spikes date back to the first […]
Notable U.S. and Canadian railroad completions Trains: Rick Johnson Promontory Summit, Utah, may have hosted North America’s most famous final-spike ceremony, but the event on May 10, 1869, was not unique. Not all railroads had a completion “moment:” the New York Central is an example of a railroad formed through a series of mergers and […]
