In about 1950, the operator at Reverse, Idaho, hands up orders to the engine crew of westbound freight 3-257. Two 2-8-8-0 pushers have been removed here after assisting the train up Medbury Hill. Henry R. Griffiths Jr. photo […]
Orders at Reverse
Era: 1946 - 1970
N&W class A ready to go
Norfolk & Western class A No. 1239 is ready to depart Roanoke, Va., with eastbound time freight 84 in 1954. The potent 2-6-6-4 was built in N&W’s shops here just five years earlier. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
The On30 Southern Pacific Keeler Branch
Facts and features Name: Southern Pacific Keeler BranchScale: On30 (1:48 proportion, 30″ narrow gauge, also called On21⁄2)Size: 6 x 17 feetPrototype: SP narrow gaugeLocale: Owens Valley, CaliforniaEra: 1950sStyle: sectionalMainline run: 36 feetMinimum radius: 24″Minimum turnout: No. 5Maximum grade: noneBenchwork: open grid Height: 50″Roadbed: 1 x 4 clear pineTrack: Micro Engineering code 83Scenery: sifted, demagnetized […]
Model the North Brookfield Railroad
Download the track plan here! See more in the Summer 2024 issue! […]
Helpers on Helmstetter’s Curve
Two big 2-10-0s cut in as mid-train helpers assist in lifting a train up the Western Maryland main line west of Cumberland, Md., at famous Helmstetter’s Curve in May 1952. The road engine and rear-end helper are also Decapods. WM’s class I-2 engines were the heaviest 2-10-0s ever built. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Prominent Budd-built passengers trains, excluding Zephyrs
The Budd Co. and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy went hand in hand in building the streamlined Zephyr fleet, though the Midwestern railroad wasn’t the only customer to the car manufacturer. By 1941, the company produced nearly 500 stainless-steel passenger cars to more than a dozen railroads. The 1939 Silver Meteor and 1941 Empire State Express […]
Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains remembered
Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains: All through June 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of “The Chicago Line.” Please enjoy this photo gallery of Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains, originally published online in 2015. […]
D&RGW Pacific at Pinecliff
Pacific 801 leads Rio Grande train 10, the local from Craig, Colo., to Denver, out of Tunnel 29 east of Pinecliff on Dec. 31, 1950. Otto Perry photo […]
The first of many Kodachrome slides
Like many other railfans back in the mid-1960s, I was shooting using black & white negative film essentially on an exclusive basis. Reasons for this included budget (color slide film and processing were more expensive than monochrome), camera quality issues (it turned out that my Argus C-3 could do a reasonably good job with […]
Classic Trains Film Archive | Pacific Northwest and California, J. David Ingles Reel 103
Classic Trains Film Archive | Pacific Northwest and California, J. David Ingles Reel 103 – Through the lens of J. David Ingles, you’ll see the Canadian Pacific, Great Northern, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific; and other roads as he ventured into the Pacific Northwest and California too. Dave rides along Puget Sound with his sights set […]
Broadway Limited N Reading T-1 4-8-4
An unusual steam locomotive, born of wartime necessity, has joined Broadway Limited Imports’ N scale lineup. The Reading Co. class T-1 4-8-4 Northern, converted from 2-8-0 Consolidation locomotives near the end of World War II, mostly handled fast freight, but also pulled passenger and coal trains. In 1945, wartime restrictions kept Reading from buying new […]
Story City steam
Minneapolis & St. Louis G6-24 class 4-6-0 No. 226, built by Baldwin in 1909, backs a train into Story City, Iowa, in February 1947. The town, at the end of a branch from Minerva Jct., near Marshalltown, also saw service from the Chicago & North Western. William F. Armstrong photo […]
