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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
The locomotive at Emporia, Ind., in March 2011. Kermit Geary Jr. KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Lehigh & New England Railroad Preservation Society, in collaboration with the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, have launched an online fundraising campaign to transport and restore Lehigh & New England Alco S2 No. 611, the only […]
Left to right: J No. 600, Class A No. 1203, and Y6 No. 2123. Norfolk & Western ROANOKE, Va. – During the apex of steam on the Norfolk & Western Railway in the 1940s and 1950s, there were three classes of Roanoke-built steam locomotives that were the mainstay of operations: the Class A 2-6-6-4s, Class […]
Southern SD45 3134 leaves a pall of smoke over the depot area at Salisbury, N.C., July 17, 1977. Mike Small Growing up in close proximity to a main line, I’ve always valued speed and power in railroading. We lived about a mile south of Jamestown, N.C., where Southern Railway’s Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Ga., route […]
Crews clear the last debris from the depot site on Wednesday. The trackage belongs to Indiana & Ohio. Eric Davis LIMA, Ohio – Northwest Ohio has lost a piece of its railroad history this month. Crews recently razed the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton freight depot in Lima, completing the job on April 15. The […]
Three NP F units lead a 12-car train 2, the Mainstreeter, through Plains, Mont., in summer 1964. The depot’s train-order signal projects above the third unit, while a mail pouch is ready to be snagged by No. 2’s RPO. Bruce Butler In the summer of 1964 I had just about the best summer job that […]
