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Big Boy’s story We all know the old tried and sometimes true saying, “bigger is better.” Yes, a significantly enlarged bowl of ice cream on a hot summer day is better. Finding out that your car repair bill is larger than anticipated … well, not so good. In the eyes of the Union Pacific Railroad, […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Robert Scott: My first byline in Trains was in the May 2005 issue. I reported on the port expansion in Tacoma, Wash., which helped additional traffic for Tacoma Rail. Since that was more of a news story, it was a few more years before I had the opportunity […]
Was the Blue Streak Merchandise the last Great American Freight Train? “You define a passenger train by its cars, its menu, its route — even its patrons,” says railroad historian Fred W. Frailey in his 1991 book on the Blue Streak. “But the Blue Streak defined the railroads over which it runs — seized control of […]
The Meridian & Bigbee Railroad “possessed all the credentials required for admittance to the Typical Southern Short Line Club,” wrote J. Parker Lamb in Trains’ July 1959 issue. Those included secondhand steam locomotives, a leisurely schedule, and insufficient revenue tonnage. Yet, the road was able to overcome those deficiencies to become a sought-after bridge route […]
Sandfly Express Go ahead, talk about the glitzy Orient Express. Or the extended run of the Trans-Siberian Express. But what about the Buffalo & Fort Erie Ferry & Railway Co.? This early 1900s Canadian railroad, born antiquated, ran a 3-mile course in Fort Erie, Ontario, which is across the Niagara River from Buffalo, N.Y. Its […]
The story of Mad Dog and the volcano starts on March 20, 1980. At 3:47 p.m. on that day, Mount St. Helens rumbled to life with an earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale. It was mostly unnoticed. Earthquakes often occur in Washington State, most are light enough not to be felt. Within a week […]
The Big Boy Men William M. Jeffers, Union Pacific Railroad president, and Otto Jabelmann, vice president — research and mechanical standards, began their careers in the lowest ranking positions. Both men were known for their tempers and a belief that the only way to get a job done was to do it with their own […]
Saluda Grade The famous Saluda Grade in western North Carolina has seen its last train. Railbanked in December 2001, nature has slowly but surely reclaimed the right-of-way. Now, in 2023, an agreement has been reached to sell the railroad to become a hiking trail. Let’s look back at the years when Norfolk Southern operated the […]
When the Amtrak car inspector standing in the doorway of one of Bennett Levin’s majestically restored EMD E8 locomotives asked if I used to run them, I replied, “You bet I did.” “Remember how to do a brake test on one?” he asked, hinting that he didn’t. “If anyone does, it has to be you.” I reminded him that […]
Women in railroading Research deflates the idea that a woman’s place was in the home in the 19th century. In 1838, during the Industrial Revolution when women were already working many jobs outside of the home, railroads employed female car attendants. In the 1800s, the most important breakthrough for women in railroading came when women […]
The rainbow fleet — on May 1, 1971, the passenger train at the station was Amtrak, but it sure didn’t look that way. Locomotives and cars from the railroads buying into Amtrak were pooled to keep passengers moving along. It was a rainbow of equipment and color. This leads us to five mind-blowing facts — […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Brian Solomon: My first photo appeared 1984; this was a black & white photo of a Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts trip on the Central Vermont Railway at Brattleboro, Vt. It featured a pair of F40PHs back to back in driving rain. My first trains written byline was early […]
