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Early Conrail and its predecessors
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Sad Sam
SP Coast Division train 90, the San Francisco–Los Angeles mail train known as “Sad Sam,” passes through the Chatsworth rocks northwest of L.A. in the early 1960s. Bruce Hollinshead I was a teenager when I first began biking the two miles from my home to a place called Gemco after school. Like many spots on […]
B&O GP9 restored to its original colors
STAUNTON, Va. — A piece of Baltimore & Ohio locomotive history has been preserved. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad recently restored ex-B&O GP9 No. 6512 to its original blue and yellow paint scheme. The GP9 locomotive will be used on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad’s 20-mile short line between Staunton and Pleasant Valley in north […]
NS repaints Erie Lackawanna SD45-2 in original colors NEWSWIRE
Norfolk Southern No. 1700 in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sept. 30. Norfolk Southern CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Norfolk Southern unveiled the latest addition to its heritage fleet on Wednesday with a blast from the past. The railroad recently repainted SD45-2 No. 1700 into its original Erie Lackawanna colors at the railroad’s Chattanooga shops. The locomotive was the […]
Seaboard Coast Line SD45 being restored for museum NEWSWIRE
Former Seaboard Coast Line SD45 No. 2024 as it appeared on Sept. 4. The locomotive is being restored for service in Tennessee. Southern Appalachia Railway Museum OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has acquired former Seaboard Coast Line SD45 No. 2024. Built in September 1971 by EMD, it is operational and includes […]
Racing south on the Southern Belle
Kansas City Southern E8 No. 26 races north of Heavener, Okla., with the Kansas City-bound Southern Belle on December 30, 1962. J. David Ingles Back in 1968, when I first hired out on the Kansas City Southern Railway, I bid on and was assigned to the “second trick” operator’s position at De Queen, Ark. By […]
Rock Island lives on in restored GP7 No. 1275 NEWSWIRE
No. 1275 at NRE in Silvis, Ill. ELDON, Iowa – The Eldon Depot Museum has brought back a piece of the “Rock” with the renumbering and repainting of a GP7 in Rock Island colors. Members of the museum recalled working with Rock Island GP7 1275, which was well liked by engineers. To honor the unit, […]
CSX recognizes railroad heritage with predecessor emblems on locomotives NEWSWIRE
GE AC44CW No. 256 displays the Seaboard Coast Line logo ahead of the cab. Curtis Brown JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation will recognize its rich history with commemorative predecessor logos applied to locomotives beginning this year. Last week, photos from the railroad’s Waycross, Ga., locomotive shops showed freshly painted GE AC44CW No. 256 displaying a […]
Close encounter with the B&OCT
B&OCT 0-8-0 1703 hauls a string of cars from Grand Central Station, Chicago, to B&O’s Robey Street coachyard. Robert A. Caflisch In 1957 I was a 14-year-old, dismayed by the disappearance the previous year of the remaining Pacifics from commuter service on the Chicago & North Western through my hometown, Des Plaines, Ill. I knew […]
Last ride north from Xenia
PRR passenger service from Xenia north to Springfield, Ohio, — protected by an old gas-electric motor car — ended on July 21, 1953. Harry V. Noble Xenia, my hometown in southwestern Ohio, was on the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis main line 16 miles east of Dayton. Xenia was also the base of a branch line north […]
Thank you gift: Santa Fe
Thank you for being a loyal Classic Trains newsletter subscriber! Enjoy your love for classic trains to the fullest! Please enjoy a FREE gift: 27-page Article Collection we’ve set aside just for you! See downloadable files below for your FREE gift. Continue to enjoy the golden age of railroading on ClassicTrainsMag.com and enjoy these […]
Learning the lingo at Flagstaff
At Flagstaff, Ariz., where Santa Fe operator Elisa Lindenberg apprenticed in 1943, an operator hands up orders to an FT-powered eastbound perishables train in 1947. Joe Lynch The time was August 1943, the place, Flagstaff, Arizona. My mother, Elisa Ward Lindenberg, and I had come west because Zane Gray’s books had captivated her and she […]
