Denver & Rio Grande Western 3404, from a batch of 16 2-8-8-2 Mallets built by Alco in 1913, gets ready for a run west from Helper, Utah, in June 1947. R. H. Kindig photo […]
Rocky Mountain Mallet
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The history of Clinchfield
A Clinchfield primer EMD hood units await calls to work at Dante, Va., on Oct. 13, 1980. Originally known as Turkey Foot, the town was renamed Dante in 1906. Shortly after, it became a busy center for coalfield railroading. Ron Flanary The earliest noises of building a railroad to connect Ohio with the Atlantic Ocean […]
Circumnavigating the metroplex
Traveling Dallas-Fort Worth by rail During my recent trip to Fort Worth for the Railway Supply Institute conference, my brother, a Fort Worth resident, suggested taking part of a day to make a loop by rail around the Dallas-Fort Worth area by rail transit. Come along as we’re traveling Dallas-Fort Worth by rail. Such a […]
CEOs from BNSF, CN, NS set to appear at MARS meeting
LOMBARD, Ill. — CEOs of three Class I railroads are among the impressive list of speakers for this year’s winter meeting of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, set for Jan. 17-19 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Ill. Katie Farmer of BNSF Railway, Tracy Robinson of Canadian National, and Alan Shaw of […]
Brightline to resume 110-mph testing in two Florida counties
ORLANDO, Fla. — Brightline will resume 110-mph testing on the coastal portion of its extension to Orlando this Friday, Jan. 6, a process scheduled to continue in Martin and St. Lucie counties through Monday, Jan. 23. Testing on the 11-mile stretch of track will occur between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Flaggers and law enforcement […]
R&LHS announces new award for passenger rail writing
The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will recognize magazine writing about passenger rail service with the latest addition to its Railroad History Awards. The William F. Howes Jr. Passenger Rail Article Award becomes the seventh category of the awards program, which began in 1982. Howes, a career railroad official with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad […]
North Shore passenger service photo gallery
Enjoy this North Shore passenger service photo gallery selected from among the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Moran Library. This gallery celebrates the history, heritage, and Electro-glamour that was the high-speed North Shore interurban railroad. This North Shore passenger service photo gallery was first published in August 2015. […]
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee remembered
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee history is tied to the transit needs of Chicago and Milwaukee. In 1891 the Waukegan & North Shore Rapid Transit Co. was incorporated — a trolley line for the city of Waukegan, Ill., on the shore of Lake Michigan, 36 miles north of Chicago. In 1897, by which time it […]
The Morrison-Knudsen MK5000C – a leader that got left behind
The Morrison-Knudsen MK5000C was but a footnote to 1990s locomotive history. It kind of resembled an EMD six-axle road switcher. Or maybe a GE/Wabtec unit. But the cab didn’t quite seem to fit either one. It looked brutish, well-defined, powerful, and ready to pull as many cars as you could couple to it. […]
Best-selling Alco diesel locomotives
The best-selling Alco diesel locomotives came from the switcher, cab unit, and road switcher product lines. The American Locomotive Co. was North America’s second-largest manufacturer of steam locomotives. The company began making the transition to internal combustion early, building diesel locomotives in the 1920s while continuing to build steam locomotives (which it did until 1948). […]
20th Century Limited: ‘The Greatest Train Ever Made’
New York Central’s 20th Century Limited was dubbed “The Greatest Train Ever Made.” In the first half of the 20th century, New York and Chicago were the two largest, most dynamic cities in the U.S. and titans of commerce. Big business demanded in-person company meetings, thus the need for fast travel between New York and […]
Biggest 4-6-2 Pacific: Omaha Road’s E-3 class
The biggest 4-6-2 Pacific came from a surprisingly small railroad. Any history of the American steam locomotive must save some superlatives for the 4-6-2 Pacific. The wheel arrangement allowed a wide variety of design and performance, such that approximately 6,000 were manufactured in the first half of the 20th century, all in the […]
