Southern Railway locomotives: It’s time to celebrate the sleek lines and power of Southern Railway locomotives. Please enjoy this photo gallery selected from files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have selected one Fallen Flag to honor. A Fallen Flag is a railroad whose name and […]
Southern Railway freight trains remembered: All through June 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the grit, panache, and charm that was the Southern Railway. As part of the celebration, please enjoy this freight train photo gallery as the perfect accompaniment. Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have showcase one “Fallen Flag” railroad — […]
Southern Railway passenger trains remembered All through June 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Southern Railway. Please enjoy this Southern Railway passenger train photo gallery selected from the files in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was first published in March 2019. Only from Trains.com! […]
Electro-Motive history: Steam was king, its supremacy uncontested, in 1922 when Harold L. Hamilton and associates rented office space at 17th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio, for their fledgling Electro-Motive Engineering Co. Established to design, market, and maintain gas-electric railcars for light-density passenger service, the modest enterprise could hardly be considered a threat to […]
Nearly five decades have passed since General Motors debuted two new EMD electric freight locomotives. There were two models: the 6,000-hp GM6C, which operated on two six-wheel trucks, and the 10,000-horsepower GM10B, which operated on three four-wheel trucks. The GM6C began testing in 1975, the GM10B in 1976. The only practical choice for evaluation at […]
Frisco steam to diesel transition: The mid-20th century was a time of great change for U.S. railroads. They were in the midst of a great steam to diesel transition that would revolutionize the industry for generations to come. An example of how the diesel changed part of one railroad may be found on the rolling […]
Southern Railway history: The earliest portion of the Southern Railway was the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company, which was chartered in 1828 to build from Charleston, S. C., to Hamburg, S. C., on the north bank of the Savannah River. Its purpose was to bring trade to the port of Charleston from inland […]
Frisco locomotives: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad all throughout May 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of St. Louis-San Francisco locomotives selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. The Frisco’s steam roster included several locomotives inherited from predecessors, subsidiaries, and short lines, among them St. […]
Frisco freight trains: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad all through May 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Frisco freight trains selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. At its heart, the Frisco was a regional Class I railroad, an X-shaped system with lines from […]
Baldwin Centipede locomotives were an oddity of mid-century railroading that just couldn’t compete with more mundane offerings from rivals Alco or Electro-Motive. What is a Centipede? Officially, this gargantuan diesel is the Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2. That’s a mouthful. Broken down, it stood for Diesel Road, 12-axles, eight of which were connected to traction motors, with two […]
Union Pacific Challenger: Railroad slogans are one of the industry’s lost arts. The old ad men and promoters who came up with them were geniuses. Remember when phrases like Water Level Route or Main Line of Mid-America told you so much about a particular railroad? The best ones spoke of far-flung places, and how to […]
EMD DDA40X: In 1968, Union Pacific purchased 50 20-cylinder, 3,600 hp EMD SD45s for high-speed service. However, the units did not meet management’s expectations in that role. So, UP commissioned EMD to design and build a locomotive that would develop more horsepower than the DD35, U50, or C855 models. The result was the largest double-diesel […]
