This line of numbers and letters is a rail brand. Deciphered correctly, they show railroads the weight, maker, treatment, design, and manufacture date of a rail. Ed Funkhouser Q I saw these numbers and letters on the side of a rail near Mebane, N.C. Can you tell me what they mean? – Ed Funkhouser, Raleigh, […]
Santa Fe PA No. 61, whose long nose may have saved its crew 14 years later, in 1951 flies green flags on the point of First 24, the Grand Canyon, at Caliente, Calif. Stan Kistler On December 22, 1965, I was the engineer on Santa Fe Railway Los Angeles–San Diego train 76, one of the […]
Train Festival 2009 brought together some of the best U.S. steam in central Michigan for an unforgettable weekend of railroading. You’ll see locomotives big and small, from saddletank switchers all the way up to the famed Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449. Be sure to look for our special issue, Big Steam is Back, available now, along […]
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If you enjoyed the first episode of Taking Care of Business featuring Morristown & Erie Railway crews, just wait ’til you see the second! In this exclusive, contributing editor Charlie Conway continues capturing real railroad operation, and its challenges, as work proceeds throughout a day on the rails! […]
Two Canadian Pacific trains, with motive power from CP, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern, meet near Oconomowoc, Wis., in November 2014. Brian Schmidt Q It is common to see a train from one railroad which is powered, partially or fully, by locomotives from another railroad. Why does this happen so frequently and how is the […]
Take a look at the final month of Norfolk Southern subsidiary Triple Crown Services, before its 2015 retrenchment. You’ll see a variety of motive power with this unique RoadRailer freight equipment that is now largely retired. Only from Trains Magazine! For another look at the Triple Crown RoadRailer trains, check out our Triple Crown’s Fort […]
Louisville & Nashville E8 No. 787 leads the head-end cars and lone coach of Evansville–St. Louis train 10 out of East St. Louis in May 1968. R. R. Wallin, George W. Hamlin coll. “No, that train doesn’t stop here. You’ll have to go up to ‘Hoptown’ to get it,” was the less-than-helpful information from the […]
Volunteers at the Whitewater Valley Railroad in Connersville, Ind., prepare a string of cabooses (not cabeese) for an excursion in December 2013. Steve Sweeney Q If the plural of “goose” is “geese,” then is the plural of “caboose,” “cabeese?” What is the proper plural form of “caboose?” – William James, Manchester, N.H. A Our collected […]
Take a look at the railroad with the magenta stripes: the Aberdeen Carolina & Western. You’ll see both freight and excursion trains on this North Carolina treasure. Be sure to check out our feature story in the June 2017 issue of Trains, too! […]
Join Trains Magazine Editor Jim Wrinn at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer for the May 2017 unveiling of the restored Texas! The famous 4-4-0, which pursued the General in the Great Locomotive Chase, will be on display at the Atlanta History Center in late 2017. You’ll see the locomotive following its cosmetic restoration, […]
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