In this all-new MRVP series, you’ll get to explore the many intricacies found in John “Truck” Truckenbrod’s extensive collection of vintage toy trains. Truck’s collection is housed in a setting that replicates a hobby shop from a bygone era, so you’ll get to browse shelves, counters, and display cases packed with boxed Lionel Trains (1945-1969) […]
Era: 1946 - 1970
End details that add realism to heavyweight passenger cars
Passenger car end details were pretty standard and most followed the pattern used on sleeping cars built by the Pullman Co. The car in the photo is Crystal Point, a Pullman 3-compartment, 2-drawing-room, observation lounge assigned to the Milwaukee Road’s Olympian Hiawatha in 1947. A number of details are visible that appear on most cars […]
Belt Railway C424s
Alco built a total of 190 Century 424 road-switchers during 1963–67. Nearly half went to Canada, and a quarter to Mexico. Of the 53 built for U.S. customers, 6 were for the Belt Railway of Chicago, which used them until 1999. Harold A. Edmonson photo […]
Waiting at Chicago Union Statio
A Milwaukee Road trainman peers down the dimly lighted platforms of Chicago Union Station for any late-arriving passengers as the Arrow prepares to depart the Windy City for Iowa points in 1964. John Gruber photo […]
Rush hour on the Erie
Pacifics of three different classes are poised to depart the Erie’s Jersey City passenger terminal with outbound commuter trains at 5:27 p.m. on June 26, 1951. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Santa Fe reefers in Arizona
Four F7s ease a train of refrigerator cars around one of the many curves on the original line between Supai and Welch, Ariz., in a 1950s publicity photo. The road’s 1960 line change between Williams Junction and Crookton avoided this tough stretch. Santa Fe photo […]
Taxi stand at NOUPT
An usher at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal carries luggage and whistles for a cab at the depot’s taxi stand in the mid-1950s, when NOUPT was new. James G. La Vake photo […]
Mountains on the prairie
Illinois Central 4-8-2s pass at speed on the double track near Gilman in September 1954. Engine 2539 is southbound, 2418 northbound; both are on freight. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Evening at CUT’s roundhouse
New York Central 4-8-2 3008 looks across the turntable at the Cincinnati Union Terminal roundhouse one evening in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
L&N FP7 on a local
Louisville & Nashville FP7 571 had not been long out of EMD’s plant at La Grange, Ill., when it breezed through London, Ky., with Cincinnati–Knoxville local No. 29 on May 25, 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Christmas & Electric Trains
Sharing the joys of toy trains at Christmas […]
Test run for Santa Fe’s Super C
The second Super C test run set a record with a 34-hour 35-minute run from Chicago to Los Angeles in January 1968. Crane operators had the first trailer on the ground about a minute after arrival. Santa Fe photo […]
