Forget your prewar Standard gauge electric-outline locomotives. I don’t care how large or flashy or colorful those slab-sided toasters are, they can’t hold a candle to the King Salami of big trains – the No. 400E 4-4-4. The size, look, and color of this model set a standard in its day for power and authority. […]
Type of Train: Steam Locomotive
Lionel O gauge “B6” 0-4-0
Stepping into the “wayback” machine, Lionel’s 0-4-0 steam switcher is a model of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s B6-class 0-6-0. Just before World War II, Lionel made several variations of its B6 switcher, two of which – Nos. 1662 and 1663 – used 0-4-0 instead of 0-6-0 wheel arrangements. The model was in and out of the […]
Trains News Wire Preservation Digest for Monday, March 30 NEWSWIRE
Work continues on former Milwaukee Road E9A No. 32A by the Friends of the 261. Friends of the 261 The Wabash Valley Railroad Museum is saving this New York Central boxcar built in 1922 and rebuilt in 1939, and seeks donations to offset the costs of its move. Wabash Valley Railroad Museum While the COVID-19 […]
Boston & Maine transition-era, freight train photo gallery
Our sister magazine, Classic Trains, named Boston & Maine the railroad of the month for October 2019. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M steam-powered freight trains through time. […]
Northern California museum restoring Climax locomotive NEWSWIRE
The Roots of Motive Power museum is inspecting this 1922-built Climax locomotive to determine if it can be restored to operation. Kyle Stockman Holmes Eureka Lumber No. 4 during its operating career. Martin E. Hanson collection WILLITS, Calif. – A rare Climax locomotive is under restoration on the West Coast. Holmes Eureka Lumber No. 4, […]
Campaign to return No. 1309 to service receives $10,000 grant NEWSWIRE
A new grant will fund placing the boiler back onto the wheels of Western Maryland Scenic No. 1309. Tishia Boggs CUMBERLAND, Md. — Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has received a John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust grant for $10,000, which will pay to have two heavy duty cranes set the boiler of 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 […]
$10k is needed to rewheel America’s last Baldwin NEWSWIRE
Western Maryland Scenic is within $10,000 of rewheeling the last Baldwin locomotive built for domestic use. Tishia Boggs CUMBERLAND, Md. – With donations to steam America’s last Baldwin from Trains readers topping $71,000, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad said Sunday it is within $10,000 of wheeling 2-6-6-2 No. 1309. “On behalf of the Western Maryland Scenic […]
West Virginia varnish
Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 207 waits with train 1 at Thomas, W.Va., on April 29, 1951. From here, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, the train will run downhill through the Black Fork Gorge to Elkins. K. F. Merlin photo […]
Southern steam
Gainesville Midland 2-10-0 No. 207 switches tank cars at Oconee Height, Ga., in April 1957, just northwest of Athens. The 1924 product of Baldwin was involved in a serious derailment in 1954, turning over in the incident. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Steam for speed
The clouds of smoke from double-headed steam locomotives illustrate a disadvantage to riding behind them — particularly with open windows. Here a troop extra rolls east of Staple Bend, Pa., on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh–Philadelphia main line. Several distinctive troop sleepers are in the consist. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
Tehachapi cab-forward
Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 cab-forward No. 4203 works hard in pusher service on Tehachapi Grade near Woodford, Calif., in August 1948. SP commissioned the specially designed locomotives to minimize crews’ exposure to tunnels in the lengthy tunnels and snowsheds on its system, a benefit that did not always apply to locomotives further back in the train. […]
MoPac Mountain
A Missouri Pacific Mountain-type 4-8-2 rolls an 83-car train under the coaling tower at Gurdon, Ark., in 1952. Soon, diesels would render the locomotive, and coaling tower, obsolete. The railroad had 29 such MT-73 class engines, Nos. 5308–5316 and 5335–5344, built by Alco between 1921 and 1930. All were retired by the end of 1956. […]