All this month — August 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include L&HR diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might also […]
Section: Railroads
Remembering the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway — a history
History of the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway The Lehigh & Hudson River Railway was a bridge route in the most literal sense. For much of its lifetime, New England freight moving via the 6,747-foot-long (including approaches), 212-foot-high Poughkeepsie Bridge over the Hudson River at that New York town was L&HR’s essential lifeblood and key […]
Remembering Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo locomotives
Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. In July 2020, we celebrate the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo. Please enjoy a collection of locomotive images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include the TH&B’s iconic locomotives and classic scenic photos. […]
Trains Presents: Geared steam locomotive show at Cass, W.Va.
Cass Scenic Railroad reopened in June 2020 with a splash of geared steam. Climax No. 9 kicked off things with a photo charter, then lead a pack of Shays for side-by-side running and a five-chime whistle to let everyone know that steam is alive and kickin’ in the Mountain State! […]
Trains Presents: East Broad Top revival
The phenomenal narrow gauge of the Northeast, the East Broad Top, is coming back. Nine years after it was closed and almost six decades since it shut down in the 1950s as a coal hauling railroad, the EBT has reopened and is on track to reopen in steam in 2021. Here’s a report from our […]
Workaday Baldwins
Chesapeake Western, a 54-mile T-shaped west central Virginia road, employed three 1946 Baldwin DS-4-4-660s, two of which drill cars at Harrisonburg, site of the Southern Railway interchange, on November 5, 1958. CW, under Norfolk & Western control after 1954, also reached C&O at Staunton. Bob Krone photo […]
West Point Route Mountain
Western Railway of Alabama 4-8-2 No. 186, was built for Florida East Coast in 1924, storms east out of Montgomery, Ala., with the Crescent Limited for Washington and New York in November 1941. Together the WRofA and Atlanta & West Point formed the West Point Route. Photo by A. C. Kalmbach […]
“The ankle-view train”
An article about the Pennsylvania Railroad’s new Keystone train in October 1956 Trains magazine (reprinted in 2015 in Classic Trains’ special edition More Trains of the 1950s) was titled “The Ankle-View Train” because of the unusual perspective the low-profile coaches afforded their riders when stopped at high-level platforms. This scene at Newark, N.J., explains all. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]
Taking it to the streets
Led by 1936 power unit 9905 Zephyrus, the Twin Cities Zephyr rolls down Second Street in La Crosse, Wis., circa 1939. The slow street running was an obstacle when competing with Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road for Chicago to Twin Cities traffic. Elden H. Hunter photo […]
Streamline steam
The Canadian National’s 4-8-4 U-4s were striking machines from any angle. Colors were black with green stripes, cab, and tender, accented by gold trim and white tires. This scene is at Spadina roundhouse in Toronto, on March 10, 1957. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
Steam over the Red River valley
Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 No. 240 leads a northbound local passenger train across the big bridge over the Red River south of Winchester, Ky., in May 1952. Photo by Ed Theisinger […]
SD45 hood comparison
Erie Lackawanna bought both EMD’s standard SD45 (No. 3602, right) and the lengthened version designated SDP45 (3639, left). The extra space at the rear of the SDP45 was intended to house a steam generator for passenger service, and the additional space between the trucks accommodated a tank for fuel oil and one for water for […]