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Magazine: Trains Magazine
Ron Ziel, author of classic steam railroading volumes, dies at 77 NEWSWIRE
Ron Ziel as he appeared in 1975 for a wedding announcement. The announcement includes a note that he and his wife, Elizabeth McAtic, had no time for a real honeymoon since they were about to spend six weeks in Africa imaging steam locomotives. Ron Ziel IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Ron Ziel, whose book “The Twilight […]
Charlie’s Trackside Postcards – Columbia Gorge: A Tale of Ten Tunnels
In this last leg of their trek to the Columbia River Gorge, Charlie and Tom Danneman keep the cameras rolling to capture the various tunnels and trains along the BNSF main line. You’ll enjoy the numerous run-bys they captured before returning to Portland, Ore. […]
Progress Rail EMD Tier 4 units heading to first customer NEWSWIRE
FORT WORTH, Texas — Progress Rail is shipping the first two production SD70ACe-T4s to Union Pacific this week. They will be the first EMD Tier 4 units ordered by a customer to be placed in revenue service. The locomotives, UP Nos. 3012 and 3014 were shipped from Bombardier’s Sahagun, Mexico, plant, arriving in Laredo on […]
Galvanic corrosion
This coal hopper, seen in Butler, Wis., has a main body built from aluminum and a center sill made of steel. Freight-car makers use non-conductive materials to separate the metals and prevent galvanic corrosion. Steve Sweeney Q There are aluminum-body Talgos and aluminum-body coal cars, both with steel center sills. High school chemistry teaches that […]
First Brightline train on FEC rails NEWSWIRE
A special Brightline train is set to complete its more than 3,000-mile journey from California to south Florida this week. The train was on Florida East Coast rails for the first time today in Jacksonville, Fla., with FEC milepost 0 immediately behind the train. Eric Hendrickson JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first new trainset for a […]
Chicago: the video!
Chicago is still the North American railroad capital, and Trains Magazine takes you there with this all-new DVD production. You’ll see heavy freights, fast passenger runs, and the transit system that takes a major city to work. Be sure to check out the companion issue: Chicago, America’s Railroad Capital. Both are available in January! […]
Trains Presents: North Shore Scenic Railroad
Trains Magazine Assistant Editor Brian Schmidt takes you along for a look at the North Shore Scenic Railroad‘s operations in September 2016. The railroad, part of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, operates excursion trains on its line between Duluth and Two Harbors, Minn., with historic equipment from the Upper Midwest’s fallen flags. You’ll see Duluth, […]
Baltimore yards and rail lines, 1948
It was an act of sheer audacity that made Baltimore the cradle of American railroading. Baltimore’s topography of hills broken by short, steep valleys was exactly wrong for a canal, and the city’s outlet to the west, the National Road, was expensive and slow. So city leaders proposed a railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio, to […]
1990s B units
Santa Fe management ordered 23 GP60B units in 1991 for road service. Today, these four-axle veterans still ply BNSF Railway rails, but mostly on local jobs. Bob Miller Q I was watching railroad videos of the 1990s and saw locomotives without cabs in various consists. I rarely see these units on the main lines of […]
Book Review: The Metroliners: Trains that changed the course of American rail travel
The Metroliners: Trains that changed the course of American rail travel By Bruce Goldberg and David C. Warner White River Productions, P.O. Box 48, Bucklin, MO 64631; 124 pages, hardcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches; $59.95 shop.whiteriverproductions.com Recounting the history of the Northeast Corridor’s first premium service in a breezy narrative that knows what to […]
Southern Pacific RDC to return to California home for the holidays (and stay) NEWSWIRE
Former Southern Pacific Budd rail diesel car SP-10 on a flat car in Texas on Nov. 17. RDC SP-10 Facebook page GALVESTON, Texas —Somewhere in the West this Thanksgiving, there is a Southern Pacific Budd rail diesel car on its way home. RDC SP-10 began the long journey from the Galveston Railroad Museum back to […]
