For railroading, the EMD SD40, was a stellar standout. Between January 1966 and August 1972, more than 1,250 units were built, with orders coming from most major railroads. Through upgrades and rebuildings, many are still working today, some still on mainline trains, others rebuilt and earning their keep on short lines. So well […]
Electrification of railroads North American freight trains are powered by diesel locomotives. Before the diesels, steam engines did the work. Electric trains have a niche hauling passengers in the Northeast. Everyone knows this short history of motive power development, but it’s not quite the whole story. Early electrification of railroads “Diesels,” of course, are properly […]
If there’s one thing you could never accuse the late Jerry Joe Jacobson of, it was thinking small. At every turn in his remarkable career as a railroader and preservationist, he went big. Really big. When he got started in the shortline business 40 years ago, he began with a modest 35-mile former New York […]
CHICAGO — Passengers who drifted in to the westbound California Zephyr’s crowded Sightseer Lounge leaving Chicago on Tuesday found themselves in the middle of an Amtrak-sponsored onboard event commemorating the first runs of the original Burlington-Rio Grande-Western Pacific streamliner on March 20, 1949. They were treated to an informative lecture by Thomas Whitt, director and […]
PRINCETON, Ill. — Amtrak marked the 75th anniversary of the launch of the California Zephyr today (Tuesday, March 19) with ceremonies in Chicago, Princeton, and Galesburg, Ill., as well as onboard today’s westbound departure from Chicago. In Princeton, at least 50 people were on hand when the train arrived to sing “Happy Anniversary” for the […]
West Side Freight Line New York Central’s West Side Freight Line, more formally named the 30th Street Branch, was the only direct freight railroad into Manhattan. It was just 10 miles long but maintained to mainline standards, and was even electrified for three decades. Vital for freight, mail, and express into the 1960s, it afterward […]
Amtrak GP7 diesel locomotives served for decades in supporting roles for America’s passenger carrier throughout its network. Electro-Motive Division produced the 1,500-hp, four-axle GP7 from 1946 through 1958, making a total of 2,729 units, including five cabless B units, for more than 40 railroads. By the time Amtrak needed more support motive power […]
WICHITA, Kan. — Prints of a painting by renowned railroad artist John Winfield of Fort Worth, Texas, are now being offered by Wichita’s Great Plains Transportation Museum to help fund cosmetic restoration of Santa Fe FP45 No. 93, subject of the painting. Winfield’s work, “Warbonnet Renaissance,” shows the locomotive pulling a freight train through the […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — A track crew began restoring East Broad Top Railroad’s main line south of here this week, a first step toward reopening the narrow-gauge steam tourist line’s 20-mile route to Robertsdale, Pa., a former mountain mining center that produced the semi-bituminous coal that was EBT’s revenue-freight lifeblood for more than 80 years. […]
The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed. PRR photo […]
Canaan Union Depot The past The story of this historic building traces back to the 1870s, a busy time for American railroads. Across the nation new lines were being built between cities and towns, often crossing over one another. One of these crossings happened in the small town of North Canaan. Located in the northwest […]
U.S. railroads introduced long-haul luxury coach trains in the 20th century to attract a more budget-conscious traveler. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the worst of the Great Depression in the U.S. was over, and railroads began to invest in new passenger equipment; both new diesel motive power, and a radical new […]
