Amtrak Twin Cities services started on May 1, 1971, at the Burlington Northern (former Great Northern) station in Minneapolis. Service levels ebbed and flowed through the years as trains were added or subtracted. Amtrak opened a new Twin Cities station on March 1, 1978, using a standard plan that was also built in […]
The first rail-to-trail conversion in the U.S., the Elroy-Sparta State Trail, gives riders an opportunity to traverse three tunnels. Wisconsin isn’t usually associated with railroad tunnels, but it once had a number of them. Today only Canadian Pacific’s bore at Tunnel City is active, but next door is the closed tunnel of the Chicago […]
As the Maxon Railway car pulls away from the platform everything seems business as usual. Steel rails. Steel wheels. A slight clickety-clack. The whizzing soundtrack of an electrified locomotive. Check. Check. Check. Check. Except this is no ordinary rail car and this railway is definitely nowhere near ordinary. Located in the Pacific Northwest with the […]
Top preserved diesel locomotives are units that were not only saved from the scrap heap, but special. These locomotives are important to see and understand not only because they were saved but because visionary railroad management saw them as examples of the past that should be saved to be enjoyed by the present and future […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Scott Hartley: My first Trains feature article appeared in the February 1980 issue, a four-page report on Amtrak’s Alco RS3 fleet. Editor David Morgan had occasionally used my photos and opinion columns, but this was my first real article. It was a tough sell: In 1980, Alcos clearly […]
The GMDH1 diesel-hydraulic locomotives led a short life with one staying near their birthplace of London, Ontario. Diesel-hydraulic railroad locomotives are just what they say they are: diesel engines connected to a hydraulic transmission via the same principle as you would in your automobile. They can be found in various parts of the […]
Erie Railroad locomotives included both oddball steam and diesels right out of a builder’s catalog. The Erie was a big user of the 2-8-0 Consolidation and 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive types. Going a step larger, the Erie experimented with articulated locomotives beginning with three Camelback 0-8-8-0s for pusher service in 1907. This evolved […]
How to store diesel locomotives: The changing traffic levels of a railroad can affect the number of locomotives it operates. Outside of the effects of Precision Scheduled Railroading, which significantly reduces how many locomotives are needed, other factors such as losing a major contract to haul goods or the end of a cyclical demand, like […]
Alco RSD15 road switcher Some locomotive models seem to come and go and hardly get noticed. Nobody can say that about the Alco RSD15. The six-axle mainline road switcher concept was still in its infancy in the mid-1950s, with many railroads sticking with various four-axle locomotive designs that had been popular for decades. But a […]
EMD F40C diesel locomotives were six-axle, 3,200-hp units built for Chicago-area commuter service in 1974. They were found on two Milwaukee Road-operated routes out of Union Station, one west to Elgin and one north to Fox Lake. The units had a cowl body like the Amtrak SDP40F of 1973, but used an alternator to […]
Erie Railroad passenger trains: The Erie Railroad is Classic Trains’ railroad of the month for October 2023. All this month you’ll find interesting articles detailing the history of the Erie in text and photographs. Please enjoy this Erie Railroad passenger trains photo gallery, originally published in March 2016 and selected from the archives of […]
Locomotives with two diesel engines: The recent announcement by Union Pacific to donate a portion of its heritage steam and diesel fleet has lowered the number of Class I railroads owning double diesel locomotives to one. A double diesel locomotive features two prime movers on a single frame to increase the horsepower beyond what’s available […]
