BL2 at Muskegon

20180510

EMD’s BL2 of 1948–49 was conceived to be as versatile as a road-switcher yet attractive enough to give passenger trains a respectable appearance. Chesapeake & Ohio 1841 illustrates the BL2’s bi-directionality as it idles at the head of a passenger train at Muskegon, Mich., in the 1950s. David W. Richter photo […]

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B&O tower at Deshler, Ohio

20180507

Baltimore & Ohio’s DR Tower, pictured before daybreak in 1952, guards the crossing of the road’s Chicago and Toledo divisions at the small town of Deshler in northwest Ohio. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]

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Sneak peek: Broadway Limited Imports T-1 4-8-4

Color photo of N scale steam locomotive

After looking at the photos, you might be asking, “Hey, where is the paint and lettering?” Well, this isn’t a production model. Instead, Broadway Limited Imports sent us a pre-production sample of its N scale Reading Co. class T-1 4-8-4 steam locomotive. The model, scheduled for release this fall, features a dual-mode Paragon4 sound decoder, […]

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Broadway Limited Imports N scale Reading T-1

A pre-production sample of the Broadway Limited Imports N scale Reading T-1 paid a visit to our Milwaukee, Racine & Troy State Line Route layout. Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno discuss the features on the die-cast metal and plastic model and take the 4-8-4 for a spin around the 4 […]

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Locomotives We Love: Lionel No. 2065 steam engine

Lionel No. 2065 steam engine

Roger Carp is Senior Editor of Classic Toy Trains and the author of numerous books about the toy train collecting hobby. What toy train locomotive means the most to you? My favorite toy train locomotive is the Lionel No. 2065 steam engine. This small Hudson isn’t the biggest, heaviest, or most expensive, but everything desirable […]

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Penn Central passenger trains remembered

Black-and-white diesel locomotive with train at station

All through May 2023, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the legacy of everyone’s favorite bankrupt railroad: Penn Central.     Please enjoy this photo gallery of Penn Central passenger trains selected from the files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library.   Only from Trains.com! […]

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Penn Central history remembered

Black-and-white locomotives on Penn Central history freight train curving through mountains

Penn Central history began existence on Feb. 1, 1968. More accurately, it was incorporated in 1846 as the Pennsylvania Railroad; changed its name to Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Co. on Feb. 1, 1968, when it merged the New York Central; and adopted the name Penn Central Co. on May 8, 1968. On Oct. 1, […]

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‘Olympian Hiawatha’ coach

20180517

Among the cars built for the Milwaukee Road’s 1947 Olympian Hiawatha were 52-seat coaches, produced in the road’s own shops. The interior paneling matched the exterior paint scheme, which was soon modified. MILW photo […]

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The Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad

A model steam locomotive pulls a passenger car over a bridge.

For most of my 70 plus years I have been interested in trains. Wherever I lived, I built a number of layouts in basements and attics. It was not until I became interested in the life of the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad that I thought it would be a railroad to model. It could not […]

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C&O book showcases photographer William M. Rittase

Steam locomotives meet under signal bridge

  The railroad industry has created more than its share of publicity photographs over the past 150 years. Here, standing in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Memorial Library, I’m surrounded by tens of thousands of them, mostly 8 x 10 black-and-white prints, all of which came flooding into the company after the 1940 launch of […]

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