Two Chicago & North Western Pacific-powered commuter trains (“scoots,” in local parlance) unload passengers at the road’s Windy City passenger terminal in June 1953. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Rush hour at North Western Terminal
The “middle” order
Baldwin road-switcher 1615 passes the Hertford, N.C., depot with Norfolk Southern freight 88 in January 1965. A few months later, removal of a siding here would cause some confusion. Harry Bundy Telegraph operators working from the extra list rolled with the punches. They were on call 24/7, as they say now, to fill vacancies created […]
Grand Trunk Western steam sounds
Listen to GTW steam audio recordings from Art Weber’s album, Detroit Division, recorded in 1959, accompanied by photos of GTW steam in action. […]
Two big engines that couldn’t
After a 2-10-2 and 4-8-4 stalled on MoPac’s Kirkwood Hill, an 0-8-0 and caboose couple up to render assistance. Joe Collias Heading west from St. Louis, Missouri Pacific trains faced the 6-mile-long, 1-percent grade known as Kirkwood Hill. Normal train length was 100 cars, powered by one of the rebuilt 2101-class 4-8-4s and led by […]
Classic Trains Index 2016-2017
If you’re looking for an article from a past issue of Classic Trains, check out the annual index for 2016-2017. Classic Trains 2016-2017 Index […]
‘Abandoned’ during switching at Jacksonville
Splitting and combining trains was a well-practiced ritual at Jacksonville Union Station. David W. Salter From 1954 until I was 11 years old in 1965, we traveled, by Pullman, from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to North Miami, using either the Seaboard Air Line or Atlantic Coast Line south of Richmond, Va. Until the Florida […]
Chicago Railroad Fair: Official Guide Book
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WM local from Elkins
Pacific 203 leads Western Maryland’s Elkins, W.Va.–Cumberland, Md., local train along the North Branch of the Potomac River near Westernport, Md., in June 1952. H. F. Houck photo […]
Genesis of a debt to be repaid
Before starting their seven-stop trek to Providence, the two Alco PAs on New Haven train 531 prepare to follow the FL9s on the Merchants Limited (left in photo) out of South Station, Boston, in 1961. Chris Burger In the early 1960s, I was a student at Providence College in Rhode Island’s capital city, commuting on […]
Winter Rail Memories
Celebrate the winter season with Classic Trains’ compilation of Winter Rail Memories, featuring four articles and stunning images showcasing some of our favorite snow-filled stories. In Long Way Home for Christmas, author David Ingles recounts his trip home from college in 1965, when he ventured on a rail odyssey from central Illinois, to Dearborn, Mich., […]
Classic Trains, Winter 2017
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PRR Baldwin in Baltimore’s streets
A Pennsylvania Railroad Baldwin switcher trundles down Fleet Street in Baltimore en route to the waterfront with an old class ND four-wheel wooden cabin car and an X29 boxcar in about 1951. Harold A. McBride photo […]
