FULL SCREEN John F. Bjorklund, Collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art In its early days, Amtrak relied solely on equipment provided by its member railroads. The passenger carrier is barely two months old in this Independence Day view from Chicago in 1971, where train No. 18, the eastbound Super Chief-El Capitan, still […]
Section: History
Railroad Reading: Blue-chip investment
The cover of Yanosey’s first Lehigh Valley book, one of Morning Sun’s early titles. Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the August 2006 issue of Trains Magazine in the “Railroad Reading” section. Recently one of my authors at Morning Sun, who is writing a Lehigh Valley book, came here and immediately stated, “I didn’t […]
Video: Secrets of a master builder
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Providence & Worcester Railroad’s history
In Trains’ April special on short lines and regionals, author Scott A. Hartley brings us up to date on where Providence & Worcester Railroad is today. The now 516-mile system in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York has a rich history, which Hartley also wrote about it in the June 1994 issue. Click the […]
Early catalogues from the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Here are some additional interesting details from three early Baldwin catalogues in my collection, plus some more info about the facsimile I made of the rare and elusive 1885 Illustrated Catalogue of Narrow-Gauge Locomotives. Note: Click on any of the images to enlarge. The covers of three early catalogues from Baldwin Locomotive Works. The large […]
Running repairs keep loaded cars on the move
Railroad equipment sustains a great deal of wear and tear as the freight cars travel about the country. For this reason, all cars receive careful attention from car inspectors anytime they move through a yard or terminal. Car inspectors are trained to look for anything that’s wrong with a freight car, from damaged safety appliances […]
New York Central RR High Line
Long stretches of elevated main line gave the New York Central RR’s 30th Street Branch its High Line nickname. New York Central RR’s 30th Street Branch was known as the High Line because of its long stretch of elevated mainline track. Learn all about this interesting prototype railroad in the article below originally published in […]
Do you know where your boxcar is?
In the December 2014 Model Railroader, Seth Neumann and Chris Drone wrote an article about using radio-frequency identification (RFID) and a computer to track rolling stock and new possibilities for operation. Prototype railroads have been using scanning technology since the late 1960s. Automatic Car Identification (ACI) used an optical reader and a color-coded plate to […]
Small town railroading in the early 1950s
For many years small towns were a major source of traffic for railroads all across the country. Long before anyone ever heard of freeways, the railroads moved all sorts of carload and less-than-carload lot (LCL) freight that kept the local businesses and nearby agricultural economy going. A local station agent-operator was the railroad’s representative who […]
Helper communication in the steam locomotive era
Helper operations were carefully coordinated using locomotive whistle signals as specified in the railroad’s operating rules: (an “o” denotes a short sound, while a dash – indicates a longer whistle blast). The lead engineer handled the train’s air brake while each helper engineer had an independent brake for just his engine. Two long blasts on […]
Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography
FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress Santa Fe conductor George Burton tends the fire in the stove of his freight train’s caboose in March 1943. Burton lived in Chillicothe, Illinois, and worked the run between there and Corwith Yard in Chicago. FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress […]
Mail and express train operations
Head-end traffic helped cover some of the costs of America’s passenger trains for many years. Contracts with the United States Postal Service covered the transportation of mail, while the Railway Express Agency (REA) provided a nation- wide package delivery service. Small-to-medium-sized railroads forwarded most of the mail in Railway Post Office (RPO) cars and packages […]
