Last Class 1 steam runs: Why isn’t my favorite railroad covered?

Lloyd Stagner’s book AMERICAN STEAM FINALE, 1954-1970 (South Platte Press, 2001; www.southplattepress.com) is the definitive resource on the end of steam on U.S. Class 1’s and short lines. In “Just Who Was First to Dieselize,” in Diesel Victory (2006), we mentioned 17 U.S. Class 1 railroads that dieselized early. To qualify for the list, the […]

Read More…

‘Winton’s train’; remembering a Holocaust hero

The year was 1939, and 29-year-old British stockbroker Nicholas Winton was set to leave for Switzerland on a ski holiday when he answered his phone. It was a friend conducting humanitarian aid in Prague, Czechoslovakia. This friend described the refugee camps in which he worked, and asked Winton to abandon his holiday, come to Prague, […]

Read More…

Unexpected Treasure

Rare find: Working in Cajon Pass helper service, Santa Fe center-cab Baldwin 2600 heads west at Summit. David Lustig collection I think I was about 14 or 15 when the word got out that I liked trains. It was not a secret, you understand, but unless I seriously misjudged him, I don’t think my father […]

Read More…

History according to Hediger 8

Person with model train table

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Model Railroader Senior Editor Jim Hediger grew up in Dearborn, Mich., and lived across the alley from Star Hobbies, a hobby shop owned by noted railroad photographer Emery Gulash. In this episode Jim shares an amusing story that demonstrates Emery’s legendary sense of […]

Read More…

Pan Am Railways Locomotive Roster 2009

Pan Am Railways

Late in the day, but early on author Fred Frailey’s trip, Pan Am train AYMO passes Otter Creek, Mass., on Aug. 6, 2009. Ryan Parent In our January 2010 issue, Fred W. Frailey explores Pan Am Railways’ history and its history-making partnership with Norfolk Southern Railway: Pan Am Southern, which provides Pan Am a lot […]

Read More…

Cascade Tunnel promo

Great Northern issued this promotional diagram in advance of its opening of the Cascade Tunnel at Stevens Pass, Wash. The January 2010 issue of TRAINS explores another option GN could have used to cross the mountain range. […]

Read More…