Remembering Reading Company locomotives

Black-and-white three-quarter angle photo of 4-8-4 steam locomotive in action

All through October, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the gritty, coal-hauling, Pennsylvania-based Reading Company railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Reading freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Reading Company, as a railroad, disappeared into Conrail more than 40 years ago. But it is still possible to […]

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Sketching with Steve: Working facing-point and trailing-point turnouts

Several sketches of a short train on a track with different turnout configurations.

A turnout is where one track becomes two. The single track, where the movable point rails let a train choose between routes, is called the point end of the turnout. The two-track end, where the closure rails cross at the frog, is the frog end. And which end is which can make or break a […]

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Reading Company freight trains photo gallery

Black-and-white photo of steam locomotive with freight train

Reading Company freight trains are Classic Trains editors’ focus in this photo gallery.   All through October, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the gritty, coal-hauling, Pennsylvania-based Reading Company railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Reading freight trains selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Reading Company, as a railroad, […]

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Reading Company: A railroad history

Color photo of side-by-side noses of two road-switcher diesel locomotives

Reading Company, as a railroad, disappeared into Conrail more than 40 years ago. But it is still possible to “take a ride on the Reading.” This can be done when playing the board game Monopoly, or (more literally) by boarding a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority commuter train in the Philadelphia area. Today, the Reading (pronounced […]

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Iowa Pacific Railroad equipment in late 2021

A maroon and yellow-stripped cab unit under clear, sunny skies.

ALAMOSA, Colorado — Iowa Pacific Railroad equipment rolled out of Alamosa in the San Luis Valley bound for days of fun, music, and beer in the Colorado mountains until just a few years ago. The Illinois Central colors of Iowa Pacific Holdings and the trains of the San Luis & Rio Grande added to the […]

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Wood-burning steam locomotive special event

4-4-0 Eureka and 2-6-0 Glenbrook doublehead on a mixed train for fans. The location is Ferguson’s trestle. Jim Wrinn

Wood-burning steam locomotive event in 2021 Wood-burning steam locomotive trains were the highlight of a September 2021 celebration of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad that is automatically a step back in time to the 1920s. With the inclusion of the older locomotives, the clock turned back further, to about 1900. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed […]

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Lima-Hamilton Locomotives: Diesels that didn’t

Black-and-white three-quarter-angle photo of road-switcher diesel locomotive .

Lima-Hamilton locomotives history Lima-Hamilton locomotives were built out of Lima, the youngest and smallest of the Big Three steam builders. The Ohio manufacturer was synonymous with steam at its best, and it upheld the steam standard to the bitter end. Even as legions of diesels were rolling off the erecting floors of competitors, Lima Locomotive […]

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New Haven Railroad locomotives

Black-and-white photo of the noses of two streamlined diesel locomotives.

  All through September 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. This week, editors have selected images from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library to highlight the locomotives of the New Haven. Included in these are electric, diesel AND steam locomotives. Enjoy! […]

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Beebe-Morgan Letters: Seeking publicity and sharing book publishing details

Color dust jacket and book: "Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car'.

Lucius Beebe-David Morgan correspondence project Between 1961 and 1966, prolific railroad book author Lucius Beebe and Trains editor David P. Morgan exchanged a flurry of letters, telegrams, and postcards, up to the week before Beebe’s death on February 4, 1966. The contents of this volume of correspondence regarded many things, including the art of book […]

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