CP coming round the bend

Two high-horsepower GE locomotives approach Elm Grove, Wis., with eastbound Canadian Pacific coke train 852. The train is descending the subcontinental divide. (Water west of the divide flows into the Mississippi River, while water east of the divide flows into Lake Michigan.) Photo by Matt Van Hattem […]

Read More…

Roger Williams new employer

Amtrak inherited from Penn Central these self-propelled Rail Diesel Cars with distinctive front ends built for the New Haven Railroad’s Roger Williams. Budd Co. delivered six RDCs in an A-B-B-B-B-A formation to the New Haven in 1956. The slapped-on Amtrak logo from this February 1975 view would be replaced four years later with the company’s […]

Read More…

Streetcar Sundays

ZCSSP03_02-low

Philadelphia Transportation Co. PCC car 2115 cruises east on a Route 56 run along Erie Avenue in 1955. Mert Leet My dad worked as a trolley operator for the Philadelphia Transportation Company. Stationed at the 10th and Luzerne carbarn, he was one of a legion of veterans who found work on the PTC after World […]

Read More…

“Silver Chalet” history

TRN-AT1111_01

The Silver Chalet, once part of the Western Pacific’s California Zephyr, rests outside Quad/Graphics’ Sussex, Wis., printing plant Nov. 24, 2004. Cody Grivno Q I saw a private car named “Silver Chalet” at Union Station in Washington, D.C. It had an odd-looking observation platform. Can you tell me its history and who owns it now?— […]

Read More…

Video: Athearn Genesis HO scale EMD GP9

This HO scale Electro-Motive GP9 diesel-electric locomotive features a SoundTraxx Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. The HO locomotive model is part of Athearn Trains’ Genesis series. See and hear the Athearn Genesis HO scale GP9 as we run the locomotive model on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]

Read More…

Video: Athearn Genesis HO scale EMD GP9

This HO scale Electro-Motive GP9 diesel-electric locomotive features a SoundTraxx Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. The HO locomotive model is part of Athearn Trains’ Genesis series. See and hear the Athearn Genesis HO scale GP9 as we run the locomotive model on the Model Railroader club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. […]

Read More…

The snowplow photographers’ blog

beecher

Wisconsin & Southern Jordan spreader WSOX 9 shatters a drift near Minnesota Junction, Wis., on Feb. 3, 2011. William R. Beecher Jr. William R. Beecher Jr. Fond du Lac, Wis. The snow stopped. The sun actually rose under glorious high pressure after two solid days of blizzard that left Central Wisconsin under almost 2 feet […]

Read More…