Amtrak P42 No. 185 leads the Pennsylvanian through Lancaster, Pa., on April 21, 2013. Photo by Michael T. Burkhart […]
Diesel under wire
Section: Railroads
Fitchburg Line on the eve of change
One of Boston’s oldest historic lines, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Fitchburg/South Acton Line between Boston and Fitchburg (built in 1845) is undergoing some major changes, with new station facilities, more double track, new equipment, and a 5-mile extension of service to Wachusett. Trains magazine brings you all the details in its December 2013 issue. Photographer […]
Norfolk Southern’s Rat Hole
Join us for an interview with two experts on the tunnel district of the Southern Railway line between Cincinnati and Chattanooga, Tenn. Learn more about the abandoned tunnels in the woods of Kentucky. Find out just how difficult it is to see these relics of the steam era. […]
Icebound!
Read the full story of Jeff Mast’s adventure on the carferry Viking in his article, “Ice Capades,” from the December 2005 issue of Trains magazine. Download the story by clicking here. […]
Drew’s Trackside Adventures, Episode 9 – Tower A2 in Chicago
In part 2 of Drew’s trip to Chicago, he visits two towers along Metra’s former Milwaukee Road lines – A5 and A2. In this video, Drew gives you a close-up look inside the towers, and you get to meet the people who run these busy railroad junction points. […]
History According to Hediger: Modeling the Auto-Train in HO scale
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In the 1970s, then editor Linn Westcott asked young associate editor Jim Hediger to build an HO model of the Auto-Train for the cover of the December 1974 issue of MR – all 38 cars of it! Jim shares the models he built […]
A minor adjustment, please
On May 29, 1961, engineer Walter Good tightens the spark arrestor on Cass Shay No. 1 after the engine started a brush fire. The railroad was in transition at the time from logging railroad to tourist attraction. Check out more Cass and West Virginia coverage in the August 2013 issue of Trains magazine. Photo by John P. Killoran […]
An underrated diesel
Once a proud hauler of crack passenger trains and fast freights as a DL109 diesel locomotive, New Haven test vehicle PP 716 languishes in Boston in 1968, awaiting its fate: the scrapper’s torch. Bruce Beardsley If Alco’s famous PA diesel is perhaps a bit overrated, as implied in the January 2004 issue of Trains magazine, then the […]
Perspective play
Three Fort Worth & Western Railroad locomotives line up in an accidental perspective shot at Cresson, Texas, on May 30, 2013. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]
Historic Union Pacific Big Boy photos
FULL SCREEN Jim Shaughnessy The front half of Big Boy No. 4005 forms a wall of steel above a hostler at the Laramie, Wyo., engine terminal in August 1957. FULL SCREEN Jim Shaughnessy Battling up Sherman Hill, Big Boy No. 4011 exits the north tunnel at Hermosa, Wyo., with an eastbound freight in August 1957. […]
Richard Steinheimer’s Cajon Pass
Still the greatest show on earth: What’s changed on Cajon Pass since Trains magazine published Richard Steinheimer’s “Cajon Pass Revisited” in September 1974? Just about everything! Except the drama. In Locomotive 2013, authors David Styffe and Greg McDonnell look back at the classic Steinheimer photos and revisit Cajon today, as exciting a place as ever […]
Video: Illinois Railway Museum’s 2013 Diesel Parade
Only a few railroads or museums can boast of having operating cab units working on their property. Illinois Railway Museum easily tops them all with Fs, Es, stainless, freight, passenger, and executive cab cousins gathered in tiny Union, Ill. Check out some footage in the video below, showing the museum’s annual Diesel Parade held in […]
