Rock Island lives on in restored GP7 No. 1275 NEWSWIRE

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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, […]

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CSX recognizes railroad heritage with predecessor emblems on locomotives NEWSWIRE

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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 […]

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Close encounter with the B&OCT

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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 […]

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Last ride north from Xenia

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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 […]

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Thank you gift: Santa Fe

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  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 […]

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Learning the lingo at Flagstaff

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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 […]

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Fundraiser aims to move, restore last L&NE diesel locomotive NEWSWIRE

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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 […]

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Norfolk & Western’s ‘Big Three’ to reunite May 31 NEWSWIRE

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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 […]

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Get well soon

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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 […]

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‘19 west, copy 4, Plains’

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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 […]

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