With a consist of just two freshly painted boxcars, two dead Fairbanks-Morse diesels, and a bay window caboose, Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 is westbound at Elm Grove, Wis., in September 1954. The dirty, underutilized S3 looks like she’s at the end of her rope, but remarkably she began a second career in 1993 as […]
New York Central J-3 Hudson 5437 rushes west with mail train 257 at Millbury Junction, 7.5 miles east of Toledo on the Water Level Route, in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Ready for service at the head of the Milwaukee Road’s 100-mph Hiawatha trains, a brand-new F7 streamlined 4-6-4 shows off its cab interior. Classic Trains coll. […]
The next time you watch a quartet of six-motor diesels go grinding past with an 11,000-ton unit coal train, consider that all that horsepower is being transmitted through the train by a mere 11-inch-high chunk of steel at the end of each car. This simple little device – the “knuckle” – is the key part […]
Before radio communication came into wide use in the 1960s, a locomotive’s whistle was an important tool in conveying information to other employees, both on and off the train, and many signals were on the books. The General Code Of Operating Rules, used by many railroads, contains the following list of whistle signals and their […]
Unsurprisingly, the largest 2-6-2 Prairie fleet operated on the U.S. prairies with the railroad that originated the type. As the railroad industry approached the late 19th century, it became obvious that what had been considered the preferred locomotive — the 4-4-0 American — could no longer provide the horsepower nor the speed necessary […]
Two Grand Trunk Western F3s, dressed in the memorable but short-lived livery of parent Canadian National, wheel fast freight 492 (68 cars, all loads, including 63 reefers) near GTW’s crossing with the Pennsy and Nickel Plate west of Valparaiso, Ind., in May 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
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Given a choice, railroads will always follow a straight, level path. Trains use less energy, speeds are higher, and there’s less wear on equipment when railroads can build on an arrow-straight line. But land rises and falls, obstacles must be avoided, and this requires grades to compensate for changes in elevation and curves to reorient […]
The best-selling early GE diesel locomotives are familiar to fans of mid-century diesel power. General Electric has a long relationship with railroad motive power. The company began building heavy electric locomotives in the 1890s, furnished traction motors and electrical equipment to other builders through the 1950s, and eventually become the dominant diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer […]
During an October 15, 1950, excursion, Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Alco S2 No. 20 stands beside the short line’s substantial headquarters building at Gloversville with a consist of two cabooses, two wooden combines, and a gondola car. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Penn Central locomotives were varied from Alco and Baldwin to EMD and General Electric. There were electrics, too, on the Northeast Corridor and branches between New Haven, Conn., and Alexandria, Va. PC inherited its diesel and electric locomotives from components New York Central; and New York, New Haven & Hartford; and Pennsylvania Railroad. […]
