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. […]

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Spanish Rail Excursion

RENFE 141F No. 2111

British-built 141F 2111 looks good at Oural, Spain, on Oct. 10, 2003, but Schenectady, N.Y.,-built FD7 No. 1812 is pushing on the rear. J.W. Swanberg Renfe Alco FD7 No. 1808 at Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, is intact, but lacking a prime mover and a main generator on Oct. 11, 2003. J.W. Swanberg Another […]

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This is a Mickey Mouse railroad!, page one

Disney Rairoad story in Trains magazine

Click the image to download a PDF of this article as it would appear in TRAINS magazine. Before they were stars: United Railways of Yucatan’s steam power was nearing the end of regular service when these images were made. No. 274 was powering a mixed train at Tecoh, Yuc., on Oct. 4, 1964, two days […]

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This is a Mickey Mouse railroad!, page two

Disney locomotive No. 3

Shining like the sun, Disney locomotive No. 3 navigates the 7,809-foot loop around the Florida park. It was No. 275 when it operated in Mexico. Jef f Terry Shining like the sun, Disney’s locomotive No. 4 navigates the 7,809-foot loop around the Florida park. It was No. 251 when it steamed on the Yucatan peninsula. […]

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Phoenix Valley Metro Light Rail Route Map

Phoenix Valley Metro Light Rail Map

The 20-mile, L-shaped Phoenix Valley Metro light rail line serves about 33,000 passengers per day. Commuters use the service to get to U.S. Airways Center, which is home to the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams, Chase Field, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, among other places. In the January 2010 “City Rail” column in […]

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At age 10, EMD’s Class 66 diesel locomotives face competition

Freightliner

Freightliner No. 70006 represents GE’s new PowerHaul series, a potential competitor to the venerable EMD Class 66 diesels that currently rule in Britain. GE Twenty-four years ago, a British aggregate company, Foster Yeoman, took the unusual step of ordering American motive power for its movement of stone trains on the British rail network. Electro-Motive built […]

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A Tour Conductor’s trains

Train No., Name — To-From — Accommodation WESTERN TOURSAtchison, Topeka & Santa Fe19, The Chief — Chicago-Williams, Ariz. — Roomette17, El Capitan — Williams-Los Angeles — Coach74-77, San Diegans — Los Angeles-San Diego round trips — Coach123, Grand Canyon Limited — Chicago-Grand Canyon-Riverside, Calif. — Coach63, Golden Gate — Bakersfield-Merced-Richmond, Calif. — Coach1, San Francisco […]

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Santa Fe nights

The Grand Canyon was a stop on several of the tours I conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Our groups would ride Santa Fe Railway trains to Williams, Ariz., then chartered motor coaches to the Canyon. After dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon, the passengers and luggage were aboard […]

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Railroads and Industry

Aliquippa & Southern switcher

Freshly made coke still smokes in company hoppers as an Aliquippa & Southern switcher hustles empty slag pots back to the blast furnaces on May 10, 1981. The pots have been sprayed with a release agent at the slag dump to prevent the molten slag from sticking in them. Otherwise, it’s jackhammer time! Kevin Tomasic […]

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History according to Hediger 6

Man looking at model trains

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Senior editor Jim Hediger is the last staff member to have worked directly for the late Linn Westcott, a model railroading pioneer and the long-time editor of Model Railroader magazine. Jim shares a few of his favorite stories as well as vintage photos. […]

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Demystifying railroad accounting, page three

Go to page 1 Go to page 2 The second component of car hire is the mileage payment. Each car has an assigned mileage rate, which is multiplied by the number of miles it runs over other carriers to determine payments. Railroad-owned cars (whose reporting marks are railroad initials) are subject to both per diem […]

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