New York Central class L-4 3137 brings the Queen City from Detroit into Cincinnati Union Terminal in September 1954. The 50 L-4 engines, built by Lima 1942–44, were the final group of 4-8-2s acquired by the Central, which had more of the type — 600 — than any other road. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
St. Louis-San Francisco passenger trains are part of Classic Trains‘ editors’ celebration of the Frisco all through May 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Frisco passenger trains selected from Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Since October 2019, Classic Trains’ editors have celebrated a different Fallen Flag, that is, a Class I railroad that […]
The St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad was a survivor and an innovator. It weathered some very rough times, including at least five bankruptcies. It started running unit coal trains from Fort Smith, Ark., the city across the Arkansas River from my hometown of Van Buren, in the 1930s. It helped move Texas and Oklahoma oil east […]
Pennsylvania Railroad 5698, one of the road’s two class K5 4-6-2s, heads an unidentified passenger train south on the Northern Central line between the Harrisburg, Pa., area and Baltimore in the early 1940s. PRR added the pair of heavy Pacifics to its roster in 1929, after the last of 425 K4’s had been built. Frank […]
Conrail locomotives: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, heritage, and style of Conrail all through April 2022. Enjoy this photo gallery of Conrail locomotives selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail was formed in 1976 with the consolidation of several bankrupt Northeastern railroads: Penn Central, Central of New Jersey, […]
Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of Conrail all through April 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Conrail freight trains selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail served a variety of customers across the railroad’s territory stretching from St. Louis and Chicago east to Philadelphia, New […]
The second-trick operator at New York Central’s BE Tower at Berea, Ohio, just west of Cleveland, highballs FA-powered westbound fast freight NC-1 as it passes the tower. Richard J. Cook photo […]
1950s EMD customer relations: At the height of dieselization circa 1950, the volume of orders pouring into Electro-Motive Division was sufficient to require three production locations: La Grange, by far the largest; Plant 2, a former Pullman Co. facility in South Chicago; and Plant 3, the ex-Cleveland Engine Corp. facility in Cleveland, Ohio. However, by […]
Conrail passenger trains are probably the least known of all the aspects of the big blue railroad’s operations over time. As Conrail is the Fallen Flag Railroad of the Month for April 2022, please enjoy these Conrail passenger trains images from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail started operations April 1, 1976 taking over […]
“Coast Lines and Valley Freights” is a 348-page, 8 1/2 x 11-inch, hardbound volume with 630 color photos. It will quicken the pulse of any diehard Santa Fe fan. Covering the last three decades of the Santa Fe Railway in California, this superb book is an excellent and magical tribute to the Santa Fe and its […]
Conrail history starts with Penn Central’s bankruptcy in 1970, a collapse that upset the entire railroad industry. Something had to be done — Penn Central could not simply be liquidated. It operated one-third of the nation’s passenger trains and was the principal freight carrier in the Northeast. Without PC, the industries of the area would […]
RICHMOND, Va. — Norfolk Southern has donated its complete collection of documents and archives from predecessor Norfolk & Western Railway to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, NS announced on Wednesday. Along with the collection, which dates to the 1840s, the company will donate $750,000 in support digitization, cataloging and preservation of the materials. […]
