ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – The East Broad Top Railroad has hired an archivist to begin organizing and cataloging hundreds of cubic feet of the historic narrow gauge line’s company records. Julie K. Rockwell of nearby Huntingdon, Pa., is leading efforts to sift through a vast collection of material documenting the operations of the 33-mile central […]
All through June 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, grit, and grandeur that was the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Please enjoy this Jersey Central locomotive photograph gallery selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
SEPTEMBER 24, 1961 with response by Morgan OCTOBER 4, 1961 This exchange includes a letter from noted author, railfan, and bon vivant Lucius Beebe and a response from then-Trains Editor David P. Morgan about the book project, “When Beauty Rode the Rail”, published by Doubleday in 1962. Beebe notes that Morgan helped him with the title […]
TREGO, Wis. — After surviving 62 years in storage and seven previous owners unable to fulfill their plans for the historic Budd-built streamliner, Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad’s restoration of the Mark Twain Zephyr has turned a corner, with three of the five cars nearing interior completion. “I am thankful every day for the individuals and […]
The Southern Railway was famous for good-quality passenger service. Here are Classic Trains editors’ picks for the five best Southern trains. Crescent Introduced on April 26, 1925, the Crescent Limited ran between New Orleans, Mobile, Atlanta, Washington, and New York. The train was operated by the Louisville & Nashville, West Point Route, Southern, and Pennsylvania […]
By the mid-1960s, the appearance of F units on freights along Union Pacific’s main line through southern Wyoming was rare to nonexistent at best. All of the road’s F3s and F7s had been traded to EMD by the end of 1964 for replacement units in the form of GP30s, GP35s, and DD35s. However, there […]
I was hired as a yard clerk for the Southern Pacific in San Jose, Calif., in April 1960. On my first day, I was ushered into the general yardmaster’s office and given a short talk on safety. The general yardmaster, an old head named Ralph Fanning, stood behind his desk and regarded me suspiciously. […]
History of the Central Railroad of New Jersey At its peak, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the self-proclaimed “Big Little Railroad,” operated only about 700 route-miles, but in keeping with its densely populated region, totaled over 1,900 miles of track, two-thirds in New Jersey. CNJ’s Central Division extended from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, on […]
New York Central’s 275 4-6-4 Hudson-type engines are among the most celebrated of all steam locomotive classes. As the top passenger power of one of the most passenger-oriented railroads from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, the J-1, J-2, and J-3 classes were in the public eye like few other groups of engines. That […]
CP calls CN plan to sell KCS line ‘token divestment,’ remains critical of merger’s competitive impact Canadian Pacific says Canadian National’s plans to divest a Kansas City Southern line in Louisiana is “clear recognition” of the competitive issues created by the proposed CN-KCS merger. In a Thursday statement, CP also said the “token divestment” would […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — By railfan standards this two-axle, metal-framed, wooden rail freight wagon is an interesting, vintage piece of rolling stock, but otherwise unremarkable. For the world at large, it has a larger, darker place in history, which is why it is on display at Kansas City’s Union Station. The car was one of […]
All through May 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the style, glamour and grit of the Northern Pacific Railway. Please enjoy this NP locomotive photo gallery sourced from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. Only from Classic Trains! […]
