Download this free 29-page PDF to enjoy five stories about a variety of railroad yards and engine terminals. Inside you’ll read first-hand stories about a day at the Kansas City, Brookfield, Illinois, Bolton, Vermont, North Philadelphia, and Marion, Ohio railroad yard. […]
Magazine: Classic Trains
“Let us ride your bikes, we’ll let you shovel coal”

A Camelback switcher like Lehigh Valley 3421, pictured at Jersey City in 1939, was a powerful magnet for a couple of young boys. Stanley D. Crews My buddy Mike and I were sitting on our bikes at a Lehigh Valley yard in northern New Jersey one day in 1950. We had our eyes on a […]
Trains Go To War: Railfans in Vietnam

To order, Trains Go To War, visit: KalmbachHobbyStore.com Video Transcription courtesy of YouTube. [NARRATOR] Rob I’d like to I’d like to ask you to talk about something later on in the issue — that’s about railroads in Vietnam. It’s a really interesting story one of our longtime authors, I think Jerry Pinkepank … [ROB MCGONIGAL] […]
Trains Go To War: An overview

To order, Trains Go To War, visit: KalmbachHobbyStore.com Video Transcription courtesy of YouTube. [ROB MCGONIGAL] Hello there, I’m Rob McGonigal, editor of Classic Trains magazine and we’re here to talk about our latest special edition, Trains Go To War. There’s the cover right there. That covers railroads and wartime activity and all the major conflicts […]
Something borrowed

With H12-44 No. 100 in the shop for repairs, Sandersville Railroad borrowed a Southern Railway F3, No. 6804, to run with SW1200 No. 200. The duo is at Tennille, Ga., on Dec. 24, 1965. The railroad is known for hauling kaolin clay, which is used in porcelain and paper coatings. Jack Parker photo […]
Springfield in spring

Illinois Central train No. 22, the Green Diamond, led by E7 No. 4016, rolls north from Springfield, Ill., headed for Chicago on May 7, 1966. Thomas Hoffmann photo […]
Stationary steam

Articulated steam locomotives rest at Cumberland, Md.’s 31-stall roundhouse in April 1934. A coal strike has sidelined the big engines, which otherwise would be working. Bruce D. Fales photo […]
Super Chief

The Super Chief was the first scheduled Santa Fe passenger train to beat the running time of the famous special that the railroad operated for Walter E. Scott, better known as “Death Valley Scotty,” in 1905. Here, the eight-car Chief is led by an A-B set of EMD diesels. Santa Fe Railway photo […]
Two Medicine Valley

Great Northern’s eastbound Empire Builder crosses Two Medicine Valley near Montana’s Glacier National Park. EMD supplied the railroad with eight SDP45 locomotives, Nos. 326-333, in 1967, two of which power this train. Great Northern photo […]
Pennsy power

The Pennsylvania Railroad station in Fort Wayne, Ind., was busy each afternoon and evening as the railroad’s eastbound passenger train fleet rolled in. Here, a distinctive T1 class 4-4-4-4 receives some attention under the lights. William N. Clark photo […]
Racing rivals

Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited, left, and New York Central’s 20th Century Limited race each other from Englewood on Chicago’s South Side to Gary, Ind., in the 1930s. Both trains shared stations at each location. Classic Trains collection […]
Sand Patch

Baltimore & Ohio F7s tackle the twisting approach to the Sand Patch summit in southern Pennsylvania with an eastbound coal train in February 1953. The B&O had almost 300 F7 A and B units, in addition to FT, F3, and FP7 models. S.K. Bolton Jr. photo […]