What you’re seeing here is a transformation that’s nothing short of remarkable. Twenty years ago, a map of West Coast short-haul passenger trains would’ve been little more than a blank page. Back then, Amtrak provided minimal service between Oakland and Bakersfield, Calif., and between Portland and Seattle, though it did field 14 San Diegans a […]
This video segment covers the time from when Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 first reached Covina, Calif., in the early morning hours of Jan. 26 to mid-morning in Bassett, Calif. Follow along as Steve Sweeney, Howard Bunte, and Brent Lane chase the 4-8-8-4 locomotive switch from the Metrolink main line to Union Pacific tracks. […]
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This second installment of videos from Trains’ zany chase of Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 from Pomona to West Colton, Calif., takes off minutes from where Part I ended: with the Big Boy on the Metrolink main line at 2:30 a.m., and Steve Sweeney, Howard Bunte, and Brent Lane in hot pursuit. Enjoy! […]
The Katy-Frisco Texas Special, a favorite conveyance for the Katy president’s business car, arrives in St. Louis in 1956. Fred Scott My railroad-related career started in 1941, when I was hired as a stenographer by the South-Western Freight Bureau in St. Louis. It was readily accepted for a young man who had studied shorthand and […]
Read about East Tennessee & Western North Carolina’s last narrow-gauge run in the article, “Tweetsie’s Last Trip,” from the January 1951 issue of Trains magazine. Download the article by clicking here. […]
Read the article, “Travel . . . Family Style,” from the May 1951 issue of Trains magazine, in which Bill Akin and his wife and daughter, identified as the “Andrews” family, ride the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio between Chicago and St. Louis. Download the story by clicking here. […]
Read J. David Ingles’ two-part Alco FA study, “Alco’s Big Bid to Be Best,” published in June and July 1975 Trains magazine. Download each article by clicking on the underlined PDFs below. […]
Railroad enthusiasts from across the country flock to Bellevue, Ohio, for its train-watching opportunities. The city offers many safe locations to view the action, endless variety on Norfolk Southern and Wheeling & Lake Erie trains, and a small-town atmosphere that’s hard to beat. This video shows a sampling of train-watching in Bellevue, including NS and […]
FULL SCREEN Ties await installation on the unused brick platform at Chelsea, Mich., east of Jackson. FULL SCREEN A Norfolk Southern tie gang finishes up for the day east of Chelsea. FULL SCREEN One mile further east, a tamper pushes gravel under and around newly installed ties at Chelsea, Mich. FULL SCREEN A laser beam […]
It’s a warm Oct., 1, 2013, morning as CSX train K931-01 is coming off the Plymouth Subdivision in its namesake Michigan city with 52 empty stone hopper cars from Lansing behind BNSF No. 4992. In the distance, CSX No. 2741 waits for open track. Photo by Chris Paciocco […]
Drew goes west and heads north of the border to British Columbia, Canada, with MRVP’s Kent Johnson and pal Mike Danneman in tow. After following the BNSF main line in Idaho, the guys cross the border to railfan Canadian Pacific’s picturesque Winderemere subdivision. Along the way, Drew and the crew catch industrial switching action, hard-working […]
