Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-6 No. 1610, one of the road’s 60 giant Allegheny types, works as a pusher on a coal train. Classic Trains coll. […]
Allegheny helper
Section: Railroads
Romance aboard Amtrak’s ‘Capitol Limited’
Romance aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited: A bit of background is in order to set the stage for this romance aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited. For 27 years, my wife, Julie, worked as a children’s librarian. I met her in the library. Yes, you could say I went there to check her out. That was early in […]
The first Dreyfuss Hudson
Among the most recognizable of all steam locomotive designs is the New York Central J-3a Hudson as styled by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss for the 1938 20th Century Limited. Just-completed No. 5445, the first of the 10 streamlined 4-6-4s, stands outside the Alco plant at Schenectady, N.Y. Classic Trains coll. […]
Hiawatha near journey’s end
Milwaukee Road’s Minneapolis–Chicago Morning Hiawatha crosses from track 1 to track 2 as it passes over the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern diamonds at Rondout, Ill., on April 10, 1971. The streamliner is 32 miles from its destination and 20 days from its final run. W. C. Christopher photo […]
Oldest Amtrak locomotives
Amtrak inherited a menagerie of power at startup in 1971, but what were the oldest Amtrak locomotives? During the period leading up to the advent of Amtrak in May 1971, it wasn’t uncommon to see passenger train equipment, both locomotives and cars, of significant seniority. Regarding what came behind the locomotives, heavyweight (typically pre-World […]
Inside Amtrak’s Amfleet cars
Amtrak Amfleet cars were the first of the National Passenger Railroad Corporation’s own passenger cars in the 1970s. They were and are, useful, flexible cars that have served the railroad for decades. Did you know these facts about Amfleet cars? The cars were initially billed as “the Amfleet,” but “the” was quickly dropped as trains […]
Five mind-blowing Big Boy facts
Mind-blowing Big Boy facts In the 1959 Union Pacific movie Last of the Giants the narrator comments, “ … There are no small parts on a Big Boy.” This is also true of the story that accompanies this colossus of the rails. As one digs into Big Boy’s details, everything — measurements, operating statistics, even […]
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway freight trains remembered
Spokane, Portland and Seattle freight trains remembered: All through August 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the grit, panache, and charm that was the Spokane, Portland and Seattle. As part of the celebration, please enjoy this freight train photo gallery as the perfect accompaniment. Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have showcase one “Fallen Flag” railroad — […]
Spokane, Portland and Seattle locomotives remembered
Please enjoy this photo gallery of Spokane, Portland and Seattle locomotives selected from files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. The principal Spokane, Portland and Seattle locomotive shop was at Vancouver, Washington. Initially a roundhouse, it was supplemented with a four-track, three-level diesel shop in 1949 that replaced the roundhouse after the last […]
Ingalls Shipbuilding 4S locomotive: a true diesel that didn’t
The Ingalls Shipbuilding 4S locomotive was a truly unique, one-of-a-kind diesel unit. The business world in general, and railroading in particular, is full of one-hit wonders. The concept is solid, the idea grand, the thinking sound. Yet, despite all the barometers showing the product should be a sales winner, through no fault of […]
Milwaukee Road suburban train
A 4-6-2 Pacific leads a Milwaukee Road suburban train past the road’s Western Avenue coach yards in Chicago on an afternoon run from Union Station to Fox Lake, Ill., in 1948. Henry J. McCord photo […]
Dallas Union Terminal from above
Dallas’s Union Terminal hosted trains from eight railroads and featured through tracks. The tracks at upper right lead to a coach yard. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]
