PLYMOUTH, Mich. — The Plymouth Historical Museum has signed an agreement to bring the Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc., archives to the museum. The agreement was signed Aug. 6. “As someone who has been a member of the society since the very beginning and was fortunate enough to know several of the founders of the […]
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A 31-year effort by the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has reached fruition with the acquisition of Central of Georgia combine car Fort Mitchell, giving the museum the complete four-car streamlined, stainless-steel Man o’ War trainset built by Budd Co. in 1945. When restoration efforts are complete, the museum believes it will […]
In 1981, I was Director, Freight Car Engineering, for Berwick Forge & Fabricating, a railcar manufacturer. The company decided to start producing grain covered hopper cars, which seemed to still have a significant market. I developed a prototype car that weighed more than desired, reducing the available load capacity. Although we stenciled the car with […]
Western Pacific Railroad history The Western Pacific Railroad almost “had it all.” It ran passenger and freight trains, in mountain and desert scenery, behind vintage steam engines that survived World War II and hauled excursions, and then colorful diesels, from early green-and-yellow FTs through orange-and-silver Fs and Geeps to dark-green second-generation EMDs and GEs. It […]
PULLMAN, Ill. — The grand opening of the National Park Service’s Pullman National Monument and Pullman State Historic Site Factory Grounds is set for Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6. Free events will include tours, site visits, and historic tours at the community built for the Pullman Co’s factory and as a community for its workers, […]
The BL2 was a mistake at diesel locomotive leader EMD EMD’s BL2 diesel locomotive was a mistake of historic proportions. During the 1930s and ’40s — when diesel-locomotive sales grew from smoldering embers to white-hot inferno — Electro-Motive Corp. (after 1940, General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division) seemingly could do no wrong. With the technical and marketing […]
The Illinois Central Railroad is Classic Trains editors’ Railroad of the Month for July 2021. Please enjoy this photo gallery of IC locomotives selected from the files of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
TREGO, Wis. — The kitchen of the car Huckleberry Finn, being converted to a full dining car, is a focal point as work continues on the restoration of the Mark Twain Zephyr at the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad. During work on Thursday, July 22, lead carpenter Bob Heil displayed a stainless steel butter knife found […]
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first railcar for the Flour-By-Rail Legacy Project in Buffalo’s Silo City neighborhood has arrived and is now on display. Buffalo Creek No. 3424, a 40-foot car built by the Pullman Co. in 1952, arrived at the project site on July 15 and has now been placed on its trucks on a […]
All through July 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the grit and glory of the Illinois Central Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of IC freight selected from the image archive of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
Benjamin Kletzer, Stanton Schmitz, and Matthew Parkes are the winners of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s 2021 scholarship awards. Klezter, pursuing a Ph.D. in history at UC San Diego, has received the George W. Hilton Scholarship. He is writing a dissertation on the development of the Chinese National Railway. Schmitz, pursuing a Bachelor of […]
CLEWISTON, Fla. — U.S. Sugar’s restored 4-6-2 No. 148 will star in its first outing for railroad photographers in an exclusive event sponsored by Trains Magazine on Jan. 29-30, 2022. The 1920 Alco-built Pacific-type locomotive will pull passenger and replica freight consists in locations chosen by Trains Editor Jim Wrinn and Videographer Kevin Gilliam for […]
