Has any class of homebuilt, remanufactured mainline steam locomotive ever performed as brilliantly as the Reading T-1 4-8-4? Given the long lives of four from its illustrious class of 30 engines, I’d say no. I came to this conclusion during recent a visit to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, which has announced that ex-RDG […]
The Fore River Railroad, a 2.5-mile short line in Quincy, Massachusetts, has defied the odds by surviving and thriving for 122 years. Originally established in 1903 to serve a new shipyard, the railroad was formally incorporated in 1919. Despite the shipyard’s closure in 1986, the Fore River Railroad continues to operate, thanks to a combination […]
I’ve been around long enough to have caboose memories. Am I really that old? I guess so. When I transferred to Amtrak after 10 years with Seaboard Coast Line, my former freight railroad, we still employed full crews of five persons — an engineer, fireman, and brakeman on the head, with a conductor, and flagman […]
When the long-anticipated “Hill Lines” merger finally created the Burlington Northern on March 2, 1970, it was time not to mourn the loss of a favorite, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, but to embrace and record the details of the changeover. I had been through this six years before, when the Norfolk & Western […]
Having six intercity passenger terminals at one time, and that doesn’t include the electric interurbans, is a muscle flex to Chicago’s claim as the nation’s railroad capital. That is also why former Trains and Classic Trains Senior Editor J. David Ingles made regular visits to document whatever was left, prior to Amtrak’s formation in May […]
There are standard-gauge tracks close by, but they can’t be seen here, since they’re underground in this neighborhood. We’re at Columbus Circle in New York’s borough of Manhattan, on Thanksgiving Day in 1951, Nov. 22. How can that be deduced? Well, that’s the famous Macy’s parade that’s passing down the street, complete with a […]
Talk of Burlington Northern passenger trains inevitably conjures visions of green E units toting bilevel stainless steel coaches at rush hour. But BN has history, albeit brief, with conventional intercity passenger service. This spanned from its March 1970 inception to the May 1, 1971, startup of Amtrak – just days less than 14 months. […]
Beginning in the early 2000s, the rail industry was introduced to something not seen before, new-build six-axle locomotive lease fleets. CIT Group was the first to purchase, acquiring 40 EMD SD9043MACs in late 1999 and early 2000. This was followed by 25 new General Electric AC4400CWs in 2001 and another 35 AC4400CWs in 2004. The […]
Well, I left everybody hanging with the end of my last story, the Cascade Tunnel adventure. The adventure continued even after my conductor, Chris, and I left our freight train inside the 7.9-mile-long Cascade Tunnel after the ventilation failed and hurried our light engines to daylight — and fresh air. Once outside, Chris and I […]
When created, Burlington Northern had a greater extent than any other U. S. railroad: Vancouver, British Columbia, to Pensacola, Fla. If you crossed North America from east to west, you had to cross BN rails or get your feet wet in the Gulf of Mexico or find your way around the north side of […]
It was an oddball branch line with a just-as-odd history that is still worth recounting. The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch was built in 1905 to connect Carbon Junction, Colo. (just outside of Durango to the southeast), and Farmington, N.M. It was a modest, 47.68-mile standard gauge line (later narrow gauge) that followed the […]
A frequent question from railfans is why? Why are some diesels destined for scrap? Why does your favorite locomotive go off the breaker’s yard? Why do some engines get shuffled off this mortal coil while others continue for decade after decade? There is a multi-part answer to that, and it involves bureaucracy, the economy, mechanical […]
