ALTOONA, Pa. — Pennsylvania Railroad Class K4s 4-6-2 steam passenger locomotive No. 1361 will be restored to operating condition under a $2.6 million campaign announced Thursday by the Railroaders Memorial Museum and its partner, engineering consulting firm FMW Solutions LLC. Making the announcement was C. Wick Moorman, chairman of a newly reconstituted museum board and […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Durango & Silverton set to go coal-free in 2021 season
DURANGO, Colo. — In a break from its 140-year history, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad appears to be on the way to running an entire season without using a coal-burning locomotive. The Durango Telegraph reports the railroad is set to handle the season with two steam locomotives converted from coal to oil firing, […]
Central Railroad of New Jersey, locomotives
All through June 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, grit, and grandeur that was the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Please enjoy this Jersey Central locomotive photograph gallery selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
Quebec winter
Quebec winter In February 1954, a Canadian Pacific light Pacific on a westbound local freight pants in the siding by the Cookshire, Quebec, depot, waiting for doubleheaded Mikados on a grain train to clear. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
South Schenectady smoke show
South Schenectady smoke show Delaware & Hudson 4-6-6-4 No. 1510 drifts downgrade with an eastbound freight seen from a perch on New York Central’s West Shore bridge in South Schenectady, N.Y., on May 14, 1950. Photo by William D. Middleton […]
Union Pacific releases first information on Big Boy’s 2021 tour
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will return to action Aug. 5, beginning a 10-state tour to include Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. In a message today, UP said the full itinerary has not yet been set, but offered this information where and when the locomotive […]
Nashville Steam lift scheduled for June 17
NASHVILLE — Former Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 No. 576 will get a big boost next week, thanks to two cranes that will suspend its 220,000 pounds about eight feet in the air. The locomotive’s wheels and trucks – the same ones made famous as a backdrop to a photograph of Johnny Cash on […]
The story of smoke: trial and error at Lionel
The year 1946, when both the A.C. Gilbert Co. and the Lionel Corp. brought out their first full lines of electric trains for the postwar era, saw both heralding new locomotives equipped with a mechanism capable of producing smoke. Another milestone in the quest to market more realistic miniatures had been achieved. Truth be told, […]
Pennsy power
Pennsy power A Pennsylvania Railroad M1 4-8-2 and a pair of PA passenger diesels, both assigned to helper service, are seen at Ralston, Pa., on a damp May 4, 1957. Note the crewman climbing the steam locomotive. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
U.S. Sugar interested in acquiring second steam locomotive
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Sugar Corp. is interested in buying and restoring to operation an Atlantic Coast Line steam locomotive currently on display in Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Daily Record reports. Locomotive No. 1504, a class P-5-A 4-6-2 built by Alco in 1919, would be declared surplus by the city council, which would also rescind its […]
Articulated study
Articulated study Pittsburgh & West Virginia 1102, from the first group of 2-6-6-4s, is in as-built condition at Rook, Pa., in May 1940, with footboards and tender booster. The 132-mile railroad had seven such locomotive. Nos. 1100–1102, built 1934, had boosters on rear tender truck, which were removed in 1944. Harold K. Vollrath collection […]
New York Central 4-6-4 “Hudson” No. 5344 in four photos
New York Central’s 275 4-6-4 Hudson-type engines are among the most celebrated of all steam locomotive classes. As the top passenger power of one of the most passenger-oriented railroads from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, the J-1, J-2, and J-3 classes were in the public eye like few other groups of engines. That […]