Phoebe Snow as a person was an invention by advertising men a half century before the streamliner. A new management led by William Haynes Truesdale had taken charge of Lackawanna in 1899 and was turning the system from a 19th-century pike into a 20th-century railroad. The makeover included the passenger service. DL&W’s passenger engines used […]
Delaware & Hudson history dates from 1823, when the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. was chartered to build a canal from Honesdale, Pa., to Rondout, N. Y., on the Hudson River. The canal would carry anthracite coal from mines near Carbondale, Pa., to New York City. The mines would be served by a gravity railroad […]
The Southern Pacific locomotive roster was expansive. A headlight breaking the horizon in the 1960s meant one thing; you never were sure what the motive power would be. In its latter years, despite having hundreds of Electro-Motive Division Geeps and SDs and General Electric U-Boats of all models, SP would assemble whatever was available on […]
An F3 leads the five cars of Monon’s Chicago–Indianapolis Tippecanoe across the Grand Calumet River in Hammond, Ind., on May 30, 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
Delaware & Locomotive locomotives demonstrated some of the greatest variety for a railroad its size. Steam locomotives on the D&H were distinctive. Its roster was dominated by 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 types, but it also had notable fleets of 4-6-2s, 4-8-4s, and 4-6-6-4s. After World War I, the road stuck with the 2-8-0 long […]
A Broadway Limited Imports HO scale EMD SD40 decorated in Southern Ry.’s “tuxedo” scheme paid a visit to our Wisconsin & Southern staff layout. Join Model Railroader editor Eric White and senior editor Cody Grivno as they talk about the features on the six-axle road locomotive and run a train on MR’s WSOR staff layout. In addition to Southern Ry., […]
The three railroads that shared Deramus red locomotives also shared the leadership of William N. Deramus III. He began working on the Wabash in 1939 and served in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps in British India before becoming general manager of the Kansas City Southern after the war. He died Nov. 15, 1989, at age […]
Was the Blue Streak Merchandise the last Great American Freight Train? “You define a passenger train by its cars, its menu, its route — even its patrons,” says railroad historian Fred W. Frailey in his 1991 book on the Blue Streak. “But the Blue Streak defined the railroads over which it runs — seized control of […]
The Meridian & Bigbee Railroad “possessed all the credentials required for admittance to the Typical Southern Short Line Club,” wrote J. Parker Lamb in Trains’ July 1959 issue. Those included secondhand steam locomotives, a leisurely schedule, and insufficient revenue tonnage. Yet, the road was able to overcome those deficiencies to become a sought-after bridge route […]
Four Grand Trunk Western passenger trains meet at Durand, Mich., in July 1950. A streamlined 4-8-4 has just arrived with No. 17; visible east of the depot is a car from No. 38, in from Alpena; Pacific 5633 is on No. 21; and Pacific 5629, having cut off from No. 56 to take water, waits […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway aims to take over Montana Rail Link operations on Jan. 1, 2024. Federal regulators in March approved the early termination of Montana Rail Link’s lease of the former Northern Pacific main line between Jones Junction, Mont., and Sandpoint, Idaho. Although the Surface Transportation Board’s green light meant that BNSF […]
CORINTH, N.Y. — The Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway has introduced its newest piece of equipment, a flatcar that proved to have an extensive and significant history. SC&H car No. 16151 was unveiled on June 3 for the Alco Historical & Technical Society’s annual “Alco Adventure” day. During restoration for use as an open-air excursion […]
