Ruling Grade: The maximum meaningful grade on a line; the grade that limits train tonnage. Traditionally, a ruling grade was the grade up which the standard road locomotive assigned to that division could just stagger with a maximum-tonnage train. This grade may not have been the steepest on the division, however. There may have been […]
Section: Railroads
Outfit cars
Outfit cars Cars equipped with facilities for feeding and housing construction and maintenance employees in the field are known as outfit cars or camp cars. Over the years they have taken a number of forms. Because outfit cars are not revenue-producing equipment, railroads have tended to not spend much money on them, and a common […]
Rack and cable railways
Virtually all the railways in the world employ the same system for moving the vehicles that travel over them: Power is applied to some or all of the wheels that support and guide the vehicle along the rails. Adhesion between the wheels and running rails then allows the vehicle to move along the track, often […]
Rail
Perhaps no part of railroading is as important as that which gave the industry its name: rail. Together with flanged-wheel vehicles, rails allowed the development of a transport system quite distinct from the conventional roadway. Though rails of steel are standard today, iron and even wood found widespread use in the 19th century. Many early […]
Railroad’s traffic control systems
Traffic control systems Running a safe operation is not as simple as you might think. Every train must have authority to occupy the main track before it can begin moving. There are several types of authorities, but usually only one type is in effect on any given piece of track. Maintenance people must also have […]
Trackage and haulage rights
Because shippers’ distribution patterns are rarely congruent with any one rail carrier, railroads have developed two traditional methods of extending their reach over each others’ lines. The first is the joint rate and route. Two railroads, by agreement, establish one rate from an origin on the first to a destination on the second. One of […]
Ask Trains from April 2006
Q Why do automobile rack cars have TTX Co. reporting marks but also bear a logo from a railroad? – Gary Gergye, Marietta, Ga. A This started in the early 1960s when autoracks first came into use. Flatcars, with TTX reporting marks, were pulled from the Trailer Train pool, but the racks were purchased by […]
Bound Brook, N.J., March 17, 1976
Wanting to get a look at the Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley just before they disappeared into Conrail, future Classic Trains magazine Editor Rob McGonigal spent several hours on March 17, 1976, at CNJ’s Bound Brook station. Here is his train log. 08:51 Reading RDC2 9165 and RDC1 9164, Crusader, eastbound 08:55 CNJ GP7 1524 […]
Online Bonus: “The case of the elusive C-Liners”
The Spring 2005 issue of Classic Trains includes two stories regarding Fairbanks-Morse’s C-Line diesels: “A new dress for opposed pistons” (page 52) and “Why to C-Line fell on its face” (page 56). As an online bonus, we’ve scanned an article from the July 1972 issue of TRAINS magazine called “The case of the elusive C-Liners”. […]
Post-World War II East Broad Top timeline
East Broad Top 2-8-2 No. 12 pulls into Orbisonia station for another load of riders on Oct. 14, 1960, during the narrow-gauge’s reopening weekend. Don Wood photo June 24, 1951 Last of seven chartered railfan trips, dating to 1936, operates on EBT. Jan. 1, 1952 C. Roy Wilburn, who eventually would lead the railroad’s day-to-day […]
Louisville & Nashville: Still reliable after all these years
It was on March 5, 1850, that the Kentucky legislature approved a charter for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. The first through train operated between L&N’s namesake end points in 1859. Had it not been for dynamic leadership, vision, money, and some luck, the L&N might not have matured beyond this original route and […]
The Berkshire: Fast-Freight Legend
In 1920, when American railroads emerged from 26 months of government control, the prevailing philosophy of freight-train operation was to hang as many cars as possible behind a locomotive and send it out to drag its way along the line. Three locomotive types were ideal for drag freight: 2-10-2, 2-6-6-2, and 2-8-8-2. The 2-10-2 and […]
