Pioneer passenger diesel

Box-cab diesel locomotive

axle passenger diesels built in 1935. EMC had no factory of its own yet, so this one was assembled at General Electric’s plant at Erie, Pa. The Winton-engined pioneer is preserved at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. General Electric […]

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Improve short locomotive wiring in 7 steps

A short O gauge 0-6-0t steam switcher approaches a pair of track turnouts

Some of today’s short-wheelbase locomotives have issues with the prototypical switches and narrow-angle crossings that make an O gauge railroad look realistic. Here’s a quick fix that will allow any locomotive­ ­- even this economical Bethlehem Steel saddle tanker from Lionel – to perform reliably over the troublesome trackwork. THIS IS A PHOTO FEATURE. CLICK […]

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Remembering Seaboard Air Line locomotives

Diesel locomotive in a yard at the head of a train.

  All through March 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the stylish passenger trains, gritty freights, history, and now, hard-working locomotives of the Seaboard Air Line. Please enjoy this photo gallery of SAL images selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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Behind Amtrak’s new locomotive designs

Amtrak locomotive in new Midnight Blue paint scheme

WASHINGTON — “If you’re planning for a 50th anniversary, you’ve got to look at where you came from to see how far you’ve gone,” Amtrak’s Matt Donnelly tells Trains News Wire. Donnelly, the company’s lead brand communications specialist, and Devon Parsons, Blair Slaughter, John Skalski, John Dzedzy, and Seth Geist — equipment and rolling stock engineering […]

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Trains Magazine, Luckin Productions team up to produce EMD documentary

Diesel locomotive on turntable

The introduction of the FT diesel in 1939 would make fortunes soar for General Motors’ locomotive-building affiliate, Electro-Motive. The four-unit FT demonstrator, No. 103, was the prototype for, in the words of former Trains editor David P. Morgan, “the world’s first standardized mass-produced line of diesel freight locomotives with no equal in railroading.” However, the […]

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Digest: Caltrain adjusting schedules as of March 22

Caltrain logo

Caltrain schedule changes include two more weekday trains Caltrain will make schedule changes as of March 22, adjusting its weekday and weekend schedules to support regional transit connections. In a press release, the commuter railroad says the changes will maintain connections with BART at the Millbrae Transit Center to coincide with BART’s March 22 schedule […]

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B&O freight under wire

Road-switcher diesel locomotives with freight train

Two GP38s and a GP40 lead a Baltimore & Ohio freight out of Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac’s Potomac Yard in Arlington, Va., in April 1971. The train will soon enter Washington, D.C., via the “Long Bridge” over the Potomac River. The catenary is for Penn Central freight trains, which also use “Pot Yard.” David Ingles […]

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