This Map of the Month appeared in the August 2003 issue of Trains magazine. Where does a railroad go? Might seem like the most basic of questions. But with trackage rights and service alliances, a railroad’s franchise — its sphere of influence — may extend far beyond the outermost mile of track it owns. […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the December 2005 issue of Trains magazine. Among the many hazards of running trains at high elevations in North America are the difficulties of snow, ice, and avalanche. This was well illustrated in Washington state where the Great Northern crossed the Cascades at Stevens Pass, named for John F. […]
Long hood first, Wisconsin Central SD45 No. 7514 leads the rock train southbound through Vernon, Wis., on Jan. 2, 2007. Photo by Karl Riek […]
Near the end of its San Francisco–L.A. run, SP GS-2 4-8-4 4415 rolls “Overnight Merchandise” train 374 through Glendale. Herb Sullivan In 1954, when I was 14 years old, my family moved to within a few blocks of Southern Pacific’s Glendale Tower north of Los Angeles. I soon became friends with the second-trick towerman, and […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the May 2004 issue of Trains magazine. If a system map is an archaeological record of mergers, acquisitions, abandonments, and line sales, then a crew-district map is the record of all of these, plus technological change and traffic pattern change, with a great deal of law and contract negotiations […]
This Map of the Month appeared in the January 2004 issue of Trains. Al first glance, this looks like the route map of an airline. In reality, it’s BNSF Railway’s merchandise freight traffic network (i.e., cars not moving in unit trains from one common origin to one destination). It’s no coincidence they look the same, for […]
Great Northern Railway’s St. Paul, Minn.-Seattle transcontinental main line, now part of BNSF Railway, was built in the early 1890s as the northernmost such route in the United States, crossing the Continental Divide in the Lewis Range at Marias Pass, 5,213 feet above sea level. The Great Bear Wilderness in Lewis and Clark National Forest […]
This Map of the Month was featured in the June 2003 issue of Trains magazine. We know railroads experienced a lot of traffic growth since they were deregulated in 1980, but where? And more importantly, which lines did better or worse than average? This map of western main lines compares the growth rate in tonnage […]
HO Scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division F3A and B diesel locomotives. New paint scheme: Denver & Rio Grande (passenger scheme). Five-pole skew-wound motor with dual flywheels, separately applied prototype-specific details, and magnetic knuckle couplers. A unit: Direct-current model, $169.98; with SoundTraxx Digital Command Control sound decoder, $269.98. A-B set: DC models, $309.98; with DCC and sound, […]
This HO scale Alco C-630M diesel locomotive model from Bowser Trains features a SoundTraxx Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. See and hear this locomotive as it hauls a freight train through Bay Junction on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]
This HO scale Alco C-630M diesel locomotive model from Bowser Trains features a SoundTraxx Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder. See and hear this locomotive as it hauls a freight train through Bay Junction on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]
A westbound Z-train roars through West Chana, Ill., on the BNSF Aurora Sub. Photo by Nathan Beecher […]
