Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific had a fleet of 85 4-8-4 Northerns, largest in the country. Here, No. 5058 leads a westbound freight near Lawrence, Kans., in January 1952. Robert P. Olmsted photo […]
Superlative steam
Magazine: Classic Trains
Sideswipe survivor
The remains of Santa Fe GP38 No. 3552 lie in a ditch following a sideswipe incident at Booth, Texas, on April 14, 1973. A southbound train struck the rear cars of a northbound train. The subsequent derailment and fire destroyed three GP38s. Steve Patterson photo […]
Illinois Central SD40 6000
I have always had a thing for “class units,” that is, the first in a series, and “my engine” is Illinois Central SD40 6000, delivered in late 1967 in the then-new orange and white color scheme. I have a custom-painted HO scale model of it, weathered in that livery. Best of all, during my […]
Royal Gorge
The Rio Grande’s Tennessee Pass line traversed Colorado’s Royal Gorge west of Pueblo on the road’s route to Utah. Here, the Royal Gorge passenger train with an Alco PA for power pauses for its customary sightseeing stop in its namesake. W. A. Peters photo […]
Prairie State steam
Chicago & North Western train 6, heavy with mail and express, speeds east near Dekalb, Ill., in 1949. H-1 class 4-8-4 No. 3014 is one of 24 such rebuilt locomotives on the roster, built by Baldwin in 1929 as the H class and retired between 1950 and 1956. Classic Trains collection […]
Spring 2025
Welcome – Celebrating railroad history Head End – A potpourri of railroad history, then and now Fast Mail – Letters from our readers Mileposts – Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe True Color – Santa Fe at Del Mar racetrack The Way It Was – Tales from railfans and railroaders Classics Today – Saving Silver Splendor […]
Overseas Alco
For World War II, the U.S. military adopted a six-axle variation of Alco’s 1941 RS1 for overseas duty. U.S. Army No. 8052 is shown at Tehran, Iran, in 1945. Alco photo […]
North Coast Limited
Officially a Burlington Northern train but looking just as it had under the Northern Pacific, the North Coast Limited pauses at Butte, Mont., on April 10, 1970, just over a month after the merger. The train retains a complete set of equipment in the paint scheme by famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Steve Patterson photo […]
Narrow gauge freight
A 70-car Rio Grande narrow gauge freight drops down Tanglefoot Curve east of Cumbres, Colo., on June 11, 1960. Power is K-36 2-8-2 No. 486. Robert F. Collins photo […]
4-6-4 Hudson steam locomotives
While growing up in Cleveland and Buffalo after World War II, a close encounter with a 4-6-4 Hudson-type locomotive was just a train ride away. My first memory was as a four-year-old. My family had taken the New York Central to Chicago, and as we walked forward at La Salle Street Station, I was […]
N&W standard
Rare elsewhere, the 4-8-0 was Norfolk & Western’s top freight engine until 1910, when the first articulateds arrived. Out of an original fleet of 286 Twelve-Wheelers, by 1954, three dozen remained, including 1906-built 475, switching at Potts Valley Junction on the Radford Division. Today this engine hauls tourists, and sometimes freight, at the Strasburg Rail […]
Minuteman
Boston & Maine train 58, the eastbound Minuteman, approaches North Pownal, Vt., in August 1940. Pacific 3658 has milk cars tucked in behind its tender. John P. Ahrens photo […]
