A 4200-series 4-8-8-2 cab-forward steam locomotive is cut in behind a 4-8-4 to double-head Southern Pacific’s Overland Limited upgrade out of Colfax, Calif., in April 1950. The cab-forwards were a special design unique to the Southern Pacific to spare head end crews from the accumulation of exhaust in the railroad’s lengthy and frequent tunnels and snowsheds. That […]
In the mid-1950s, in the waning days of steam on the New York Central, Trains Magazine Editor David P. Morgan and his friend, the accomplished photographer Philip R. Hastings, had a memorable encounter with a NYC Class L-3a 4-8-2 Mohawk in Shelby, Ohio. The Mohawk had seen better days and was assigned to a lowly […]
Only seven years old, but already facing an uncertain future, Norfolk & Western J Class 4-8-4 No. 611 sprints at better than a mile-a-minute pace across the summit at Blue Ridge, Va. Behind the now-famous locomotive are 15 cars on train No. 46, the eastbound Tennessean, bound for Lynchburg, Va. The top of the skyline […]
Central Vermont Railway Southern Division in HO scale | In Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, a dedicated group led by Paul Weiss is passionately re-creating the Central Vermont Railway’s Southern Division as it existed in May 1956. This historically accurate project showcases meticulously replicated scenes from New London, Conn., to Palmer, Mass., portraying the […]
Central Vermont Railway Southern Division in HO scale | In Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, a dedicated group led by Paul Weiss is passionately re-creating the Central Vermont Railway’s Southern Division as it existed in May 1956. This historically accurate project showcases meticulously replicated scenes from New London, Conn., to Palmer, Mass., portraying the […]
Former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie class K-5a Pacific 4920 is just out of the station at Lafayette, Ind., and onto the Wabash River bridge with the westbound Sycamore in 1950. Robert Aldag Jr. photo […]
Terminal elevators on lakes and rivers feature rail unloading on the inland side, lots of rail storage tracks, and loading and unloading gear for boats and barges on the water side. This scene along the Chicago & North Western in Milwaukee is from the early 1950s. Photo by William A. Akin […]
Grand Trunk Western is among the paint schemes offered in the latest run of WalthersProto HO scale EMD GP9 diesel locomotives from Wm. K. Walthers Inc. Senior editor Cody Grivno takes a look at the sound and light features on the four-axle diesel and uses the road locomotive to work the interchange yard at Jones […]
Grand Trunk Western is among the paint schemes offered in the latest run of WalthersProto HO scale EMD GP9 diesel locomotives from Wm. K. Walthers Inc. Senior editor Cody Grivno takes a look at the sound and light features on the four-axle diesel and uses the road locomotive to work the interchange yard at Jones […]
10 vintage toy train items for your holiday layout The holidays are fast approaching! If you’ll be setting up a display (or a permanent layout), Senior Editor Roger Carp has suggestions for 10 items to add for the most fun! 1. Lionel No. 154 highway signal – for once, its enormous height and out-of-scale proportions […]
Rock Island train 39 heads west from Kansas City, Kans., on UP trackage rights (as far as Topeka) on March 2, 1963. Tagging along behind the Southern Pacific coach for Los Angeles at the rear of the train is RDC3 9016, the “Herington pusher.” At that Kansas junction, it will uncouple and go 73 miles […]
Scrapping a steam locomotive was a relatively simple matter. Workers at Sheffield Steel in Kansas City just started at the rear of Frisco 4-8-2 4308 one day in April 1953 and worked their way forward. Photo by James A. Williams […]
