Intermodal pioneer

20200302

New York Central’s Flexi-Van system, unveiled in spring 1956, employed truck trailers with detachable wheels that locked on special flat cars, saving time, weight, and height. Other railroads that bought into the concept included Illinois Central and Milwaukee Road. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]

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Katy critter

20200309

Missouri-Kansas-Texas MP15AC No. 58 is a 1980 product of EMD. The locomotive’s model designates the use of an alternator and rectifiers instead of the traditional generator to produce D.C. power for the traction motors. Other major U.S. buyers included Long Island Rail Road, Louisville & Nashville, Milwaukee Road, Seaboard Coast Line, and Southern Pacific. Lee […]

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Remembering Clinchfield Railroad freight trains

A black and white photo of K-4 2-8-2 Mikado heading down the tracks

All this month — March 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Clinchfield Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include Clinchfield diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might also enjoy this Clinch history […]

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Remembering Clinchfield Railroad passenger trains

A black and white photo of Clinchfield 4-6-2 No. 154 coming down the tracks

In March 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the Clinchfield Railroad. Enjoy this photo gallery, selected from the David P. Morgan Library collections, as the perfect salute to the Clinchfield. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we did last week for the […]

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Streamliner service

20200218

An Atlantic Coast Line laborer uses a long-handled brush to clean the windshield of E6 No. 520 at Florence, S.C. The locomotive is leading train 375, the Washington–Jacksonville Everglades. William D. Middleton photo […]

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Super C celebration

20200203

Santa Fe’s high-priority Super C freight between Chicago and Los Angeles debuted with much fanfare in 1968. High rates, charged to placate other Santa Fe customers, limited traffic, however. Santa Fe photo […]

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Swift service

20200227

Swift & Co. had a large soybean processing plant on the Nickel Plate Road at Frankfort, Ind. In this 1946 view, beans arrived by boxcar, with outbound soy meal loaded in sacks in boxcars (the boxcar in the background) and soybean oil loaded in tank cars. Nickel Plate Road photo […]

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Two cars to Tidewater

20200204

Eastern Gas & Fuel’s modern Wharton No. 2 mine southwest of Barrett, W.Va., will load 105 hoppers, including subject C&O 134594 and 47859, with coal on June 2, 1955. Trains’ Editor David P. Morgan tracked the cars from mine to ship in the April 1956 issue. W.A. Akin Jr. photo […]

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Premier power

20200228

Santa Fe FT No. 100 was not only the railroad’s first mainline freight diesel, but part of the first order for mainline freight diesel power by any U.S. railroad. Eventually, the railroad would use 320 of the Electro-Motive products to dieselize its transcontinental main line. Santa Fe photo […]

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San Francisco Zephyr

20200212

New EMD F40PH diesels lead the westbound San Francisco Zephyr east of Denver in June 1981. Amtrak acquired more than 200 such locomotives in multiple batches. Bob Johnston photo […]

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Seaboard Century

20200211

Seaboard Coast Line Alco C628 No. 2201 leads a mixed consist of locomotives at Colliers Yard near Petersburg, Pa., waiting for a cut of cars. The six-axle Alco was built in 1963 for the Atlantic Coast Line. Walter Gay photo […]

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Steam prototype

20200213

The 2-10-4 wheel arrangement, the “Texas type,” originated with a modified Santa Fe 2-10-2 — No. 3829, built by Baldwin in 1919. The railroad would eventually roster 36 additional Texas-type locomotives, built by Baldwin between 1930 and 1944. T.H. Cole Jr. photo […]

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