By the early 1960s, railroads began reclaiming auto traffic from highway trucks with long two- and three-level auto racks on flatcars. Here, new Thunderbirds and other Fords are loaded aboard a Western Pacific tri-level car built by ACF. American Car & Foundry […]
In the only known photo of legendary engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones at the throttle of a locomotive, Jones and fireman J. W. McKinnie are ready to take Illinois Central 2-8-0 638 out for a break-in run after a shopping at Water Valley in summer 1898. Less than two years later, Jones perished in a […]
The flood of Powder River Basin coal that became so important to successor Burlington Northern began modestly on NP, with a 1969 contract to move coal from Colstrip, Mont., to Cohasset, Minn. In July 1969, a Cohasset-bound train pauses in Mandan, N.D. Duane Durr collection […]
A Railway Express Agency truck, along with a cart with milk cans, transfers express into a messenger car, while in the background, mail bags are loaded and unloaded from an RPO car along the Monon in 1948. Photo by Linn Westcott […]
More in this issue WELCOME •J. David Ingles, 1941-2020 FAST MAIL •Letters from readers on our Fall 2020 issue THE WAY IT WAS •Tales from rail fans and railroaders BUMPING POST •FEC’s Miami station HEAD END •A potpourri of railroad history, then and now TRUE COLOR ‘Pere Marquette’ passing Rougemere MILEPOSTS Commentary by Kevin P. […]
Welcome to Trains.com, the new home for Classic Trains Magazine online and for all the content we publish on BIG trains from the 1920s through the 1970s. In this video, Trains.com Executive Producer David Popp talks about how to log-in to the new Trains.com website so you can get the most out of a Classic […]
A Canadian Pacific FP7-F7B set picks its way out of Toronto with a 13-car unnamed train No. 11 for Sudbury, Ontario, in 1964. The 260-mile run took just shy of six hours and 50 minutes to complete. Photo by J. David Ingles […]
All through March 2021, Classic Trains is celebrating the style and service of the Seaboard Air Line. This week, we re-present a version of a photo gallery of SAL passenger trains that first appeared in June 2015. Only from Classic Trains! […]
Sixty-odd years ago, I was a youth living in Palmyra, Wis., where my father, Ben Eller Sr., was the station agent for the Milwaukee Road. Palmyra, 42 miles west of Milwaukee, was on the Madison Division, the original line to the state capital via Milton and Janesville. When I was 12, I got braces on […]
Welcome South of the border, the show went on Head End A potpourri railroad history, then and now Fast Mail Letters from readers on our Winter 2020 issue True Color Canadian Pacific “Royal Hudson” Mileposts Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe The Way It Was Tales from railfans and railroaders Car Stop Winnipeg trolleys Classics Today […]
Question: In the days when passenger trains carried open-platform observation cars, which passengers were allowed to occupy the platform? Was this subject to permission of the conductor, payment of an extra charge, or was it simply on a first-come, first-served basis? — John W. Eiszner, Indianapolis Answer: Open-platform cars and their successors, the round and […]
History of the Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard’s beginnings date to 1832, when the Portsmouth & Roanoke was chartered to build from Portsmouth, Va., to Weldon, N.C. Opened in 1834 the companies’ backers saw great potential to link the North with the South’s agricultural and forest products and with its developing potential for industry. P&R […]
