PORTOLA, Calif. — The Western Pacific Railroad Museum has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Fund for phase one construction of its Frederick Whitman Multi-Purpose Building. The grant, received with the assistance of U.S. Rep Doug LaMlfa (R-Richvale, Calif), will help fund construction of a 100-foot by 200-foot, […]
A former Bangor & Aroostook F3A, which became Canadian Pacific property with the purchase of the Central Maine & Quebec, is on its way to CPKC headquarters in Calgary. A CPKC spokesman confirmed the locomotive, shown in Galt, Ontario, on June 2, is en route to Calgary, but said he had no information on future […]
When we drove off Illinois Route 92 onto former Rock Island property recently at Silvis, I was singularly focused on seeing steam locomotives. Three of them, to be specific, including one very special engine, former Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger No. 3985. The Challenger was among equipment that made headlines last year as Railroading Heritage […]
The EMD BL20-2 locomotive had to be an engineer’s brainchild to improve the company’s share of the locomotive market. Just look at the concept. It was brilliant. Perceived as a win-win for both the manufacturer and railroad, EMD would remanufacture older, high-mileage GP9s with new guts at a cost far less than paying […]
Canada’s GMD1 diesel locomotive was the first to be completely designed by General Motors Diesel Ltd., Electro-Motive’s subsidiary at London, Ontario. GMD built 101 copies in two variants between 1958 and 1960. The locomotive was powered by a 12-cylinder, non-turbocharged 567 prime mover producing 1,200 hp. A news brief in Trains’ July 1959 issue called […]
Women in railroading Research deflates the idea that a woman’s place was in the home in the 19th century. In 1838, during the Industrial Revolution when women were already working many jobs outside of the home, railroads employed female car attendants. In the 1800s, the most important breakthrough for women in railroading came when women […]
The best-selling Dash-2 EMD diesel locomotives will come as no surprise to diesel locomotive fans. By the late 1960s, the horsepower race had quieted, with 3,000-hp locomotives becoming the norm for fast freight (EMD’s GP40 and SD40, GE’s U30B and U30C) and 2,000 for local service (EMD’s GP38). EMD had successfully introduced a new, […]
CALGARY, Alberta — CPKC is stoking interest in the revival of Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 Hudson No. 2816, which will set out on a tour this summer to celebrate the CP-Kansas City Southern merger. In social media posts, the railroad this week teased the progress made on the locomotive’s overhaul in preparation for its first outing […]
Amtrak E44 electric locomotives are eight roster oddities that likely never turned a wheel in revenue service for the passenger carrier. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired 66 of the 5,000-hp, six-axle E44 electric locomotives from General Electric, Nos. 4400-4465. Built at Erie, Pa., between 1960 and 1963 the motors were 69-feet, 6-inches long and […]
These eight forgotten Amtrak trains are largely unremembered by railfans today. The shortest duration lasted just short of 14 months. Black Hawk The Black Hawk began service on the Illinois Central Iowa Division main line between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, on Feb. 14, 1974. It operated at first with Budd Rail Diesel Cars […]
Soo Line diesel locomotives came from four builders and sported two distinctive paint schemes. The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie had long been known by its nickname, the Soo Line. The railroad adopted that name officially in 1961 when it merged the Wisconsin Central and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, both […]
Soo Line history involves numerous subsidiary railroads. Seemingly hidden away in the north-central U.S., the Soo Line and its affiliated Wisconsin Central Railway did not receive the attention lavished on bigger neighbors Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road. Soo did not host a streamliner, went freight-only in 1968, and was bought by Canadian Pacific, […]
