At the Pennsylvania’s South Amboy, N.J., engine terminal in the mid-1950s, a hostler shovels coal into the firebox of a K4s Pacific in preparation for its next run. Don Wood photo […]
Preparing a K4
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Hasselman, former Conrail executive, dies at 95 (updated)
Throughout much of its 23-year history as a Class I trunk carrier, Conrail made steady, some might even say historic, progress toward becoming the model of a profitable, efficient, customer-oriented railroad. Much of the credit for that transformation must go to Richard B. “Dick” Hasselman, former senior vice president-operations for the company’s first 13 years. […]
B&O 2-8-2 at rest
Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-2 No. 4858 stands with a caboose at the road’s terminal at Cowen, W.Va., in May 1952. B&O adopted the name “MacArthur” for its 2-8-2 Mikado types during World War II and referred to them as such until the end of steam. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Oklahoma troop train
Oklahoma troop train Santa Fe 4-6-2 1311 rolls east with a 13-car troop train near Quinlan, Okla., on Mar. 16, 1946. The train consists of 5 standard sleepers, 6 troop sleepers, and 2 troop kitchen cars, plus a caboose at the rear. R. H. Kindig photo […]
The versatile 2-8-2 Mikado
The 2-8-2 Mikado-type steam locomotive was the first with a firebox behind the drivers and supported by a trailing truck. Originally conceived by Baldwin Locomotive Works and the narrow gauge Interoceanic Railway in Mexico, the first U.S. Mikado was a 50-inch drivered Baldwin built in 1901 for the Bismarck, Washburn & Great Northern. In 1902, […]
Anthracite hauler
Anthracite hauler Reading Co. 2-10-2 3012 leads a train of anthracite along the Schuylkill River at Tamaqua, Pa., in July 1953. RDG’s 20 K-1’s were the heaviest Santa Fe types ever built. Classic Trains collection […]
Orders at Clare
Orders at Clare At the joint Chesapeake & Ohio-Ann Arbor depot in Clare, Mich., the engineer on Toledo–Frankfort freight TF-1, behind two GP35s, reaches to pick up orders in May 1966. John S. Ingles photo, Brian Schmidt collection […]
SoCal “Blimps”
SoCal “Blimps” Three big “Blimp” cars leave downtown Los Angeles behind them as they proceed down PE’s four-track right of way toward Long Beach, August 1953. Reginald McGovern photo […]
Remembering Milwaukee Road locomotives
Milwaukee Road locomotives All through November, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the multi-faceted Milwaukee Road. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Milwaukee Road selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The Milwaukee Road operated with steam, electric, and diesel motive power in its Midwest-to-Northwest service area. There are examples in […]
Reefer block
Reefer block 4-8-2 2605, a product of IC’s own Paducah (Ky.) shops, leads a long string of refrigerator cars north on the main line at Peotone, Ill., in the 1940s. Illinois Central photo […]
Cheseapeake & Ohio Historical society receives slides from J. David Ingles collection
CLIFTON FORGE, Va. — The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society has received a collection of slides from the estate of J. David Ingles, the late senior editor of Classic Trains magazine and former editor of Trains magazine, the organization announced in a press release. The collection includes many slides from the 1960s and 1970s of […]
Handsome Hudson
Handsome Hudson For a few years in the late 1930s, the steam queens of New Haven’s Shore Line were 10 class I-5 4-6-4s. The handsome Hudsons’ wheel-balance woes prompted NH to begin acquiring a fleet of 60 DL109 diesels in 1941. Here, an I-5 roars west with the Merchants Limited at Sharon, Mass. Wayne Brumbaugh […]
