Illinois Railway Museum’s Burlington E5 No. 9911-A, and the Nebraska Zephyr occasionally makes an appearance outside of the museum. On Sept. 29, 1993, the set overnights on the Wisconsin Central in Burlington, Wis. Photo by Tom Danneman […]
This Map of the Month was featured in the November 2003 issue of Trains magazine. Amtrak advertisements showcase images of passengers looking out windows at breathtaking scenery, and gleaming trains winding through spectacular canyons or along scenic river- banks. But that’s only half the story. Long-distance trains (those on routes of 750 miles or more) […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the February 2005 issue of Trains magazine. Say good-bye to two successful railroads,” was the startling way Seaboard Coast Line introduced itself in magazine advertisements in summer 1967. Below the picture of two streamlined diesels blurring nose-to-nose into each other, the ad continued with a gushing declaration: “The new […]
This Map of the Month was featured in the August 2002 issue of Trains magazine. If ever two railroads practiced seamless service decades before it became a railroad industry buzzword, it would be the Chicago & North Western and the Omaha Road. The Omaha Road, the usual shorthand for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & […]
This Map of the Month was featured in the November 2001 issue of Trains magazine. Train frequency per 24 hours on the vast Union Pacific system, in first quarter 2001, is revealing both for what is indicated and what is not. Consider, if you will, the pre-1982 Union Pacific, i.e., before merger mania. With just […]
Union Pacific No. 7875 heads east through Rochelle, Ill., bathed in bright morning light. Photo by Sean Valk […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the October 2007 issue of Trains magazine. Like other great American railroads, the Illinois Central was a melting pot of many smaller lines — some acquired through lease or purchase, others set up by IC to construct new routes. This map charts the 88 different names that made up […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the August 2003 issue of Trains magazine. Where does a railroad go? Might seem like the most basic of questions. But with trackage rights and service alliances, a railroad’s franchise — its sphere of influence — may extend far beyond the outermost mile of track it owns. […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the December 2005 issue of Trains magazine. Among the many hazards of running trains at high elevations in North America are the difficulties of snow, ice, and avalanche. This was well illustrated in Washington state where the Great Northern crossed the Cascades at Stevens Pass, named for John F. […]
Long hood first, Wisconsin Central SD45 No. 7514 leads the rock train southbound through Vernon, Wis., on Jan. 2, 2007. Photo by Karl Riek […]
Near the end of its San Francisco–L.A. run, SP GS-2 4-8-4 4415 rolls “Overnight Merchandise” train 374 through Glendale. Herb Sullivan In 1954, when I was 14 years old, my family moved to within a few blocks of Southern Pacific’s Glendale Tower north of Los Angeles. I soon became friends with the second-trick towerman, and […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the May 2004 issue of Trains magazine. If a system map is an archaeological record of mergers, acquisitions, abandonments, and line sales, then a crew-district map is the record of all of these, plus technological change and traffic pattern change, with a great deal of law and contract negotiations […]
