Pennsylvania’s Steel City gateway

PRRMoM

Railroads included in this map: Norfolk Southern; CSX Transportation; Johnstown & Stony Creek; Ligonier Valley; Lehigh Valley Rail Management; Pennsylvania; Southwest Pennsylvania; Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad; Western Pennsylvania This map originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Trains Magazine. […]

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Whatever happened to the Santa Fe?

ATSFMoM

Railroads included in this map: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Arizona & California; Arizona Central; Blackwell Northern; BNSF Railway; Cimarron Valley; Dallas Area Rapid Transit; Farmrail; Fort Worth & Western; Grand Canyon; Garden City Western; Heart of Texas; Kansas City Southern; Kansas & Oklahoma; Midland; Panhandle Northern; Pacific Sun; Rail Runner Express; Metrolink; Coaster/Sprinter; Santa […]

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Colorado’s scenic tourist lines

ColoradoMoM

Railroads included in this map: Manitou & Pike’s Peak; San Luis & Rio Grande; Denver & Rio Grande; Cumbres & Toltec Scenic; Leadville, Colorado & Southern; Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge; Royal Gorge Route This map originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Trains Magazine. Be sure to check out our Colorado Railroads special […]

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Growth of the final granger

CNWMoM

Railroads included in this map: Chicago & North Western; Chicago Great Western; Litchfield & Madison; Minneapolis & St. Louis; Chicago, Minneapolis & Omaha “Omaha Road” This map originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of Trains Magazine. […]

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Ohio’s railroads: 1946 and 2006

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It’s almost a cliché to call Ohio a crossroads of railroading. The state was, literally, stitched in steel. Here, the New York-Chicago and New York-St. Louis routes of the Eastern trunk lines crossed paths with Pocahontas coal roads making a beeline to Lake Erie and nearby railroad gateways (Norfolk & Western got as far as […]

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Louisville & Nashville coal mines in 1966

LouisvilleNashville

Transition was under way for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s coal-hauling operations during the 1960s. The railroad’s traditional coal-loading points reflected its historic single-car movements, but the 1960s also marked the development of the unit train, with coal loaded at high speed “flood” loaders in a single train for a single consignee. Pioneering this trend […]

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A month in the life of 4 freight cars

Dayinthelife

This map shows how four freight cars, threading their way through the North American railroad network, can take about two weeks to cross half the continent. The shippers using these four cars enjoyed tremendous efficiencies by sharing the costs of train crews and locomotives, track and signaling, classification yards, and overhead expenses with the other […]

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2014 Holiday Trains

CPHoliday

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train makes a stop in La Crosse, Wis., in 2010. Photo by Travis Dewitz. Please scroll to the bottom to download this content in PDF form. ALABAMA Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum Calera hodrrm.org North Alabama Railroad Museum Huntsville northalabamarailroadmuseum.com ARIZONA Grand Canyon Williams thetrain.com ARKANSAS Arkansas & Missouri Springdale amrailroad.com […]

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Canadian Pacific’s predecessors

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Some men go to war for their country. Others build railroads. In both ventures, there is sacrifice, struggle, and honor. The driving of the Canadian Pacific’s final spike at Craigellachie, B.C., in 1885 marked a defining moment in Canada’s transformation from a vast swath of land into a nation — a political and economic engine […]

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Whatever happened to the anthracite roads?

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The Northeast was laced with anthracite roads — those carriers that made a name for themselves hauling hard coal out of the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. With its high heat value, clean-burning anthracite was far superior to wood for warming homes and offices, and moving this coal by rail fueled the growth of the East’s […]

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Canadian Pacific in 1974

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You squint through the train window to read the signs on parallel highway 148. They’re in French and English. It dawns on you that your ride in a Budd Rail Diesel Car from Ottawa to Montreal is about the most inauspicious way to begin a trip around the world. But no matter. It’s February 1974, […]

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