Athearn HO SD40-2 diesel Athearn recently introduced a “new” SD40-2 to replace the firm’s earlier model, which has been available since 1983. Most notably, the new locomotive offers near-scale size plastic handrails, molded in appropriate colors. Also, there are three variations of dynamic brake housings as well as exhaust stack and radiator intake screens that […]
Westerfield HO Milwaukee Road composite gondola One of the biggest initial concerns in assembling a resin car kit is building a square body from the flat components. However, in recent months we’ve been seeing more one-piece resin bodies, and with the introduction of this upgraded model of a Milwaukee Road composite gondola, Westerfield has launched […]
Kadee HO 50-foot PS-1 boxcar This sharp-looking ready-to-run model of a 50-foot PS-1 boxcar follows the same construction style and features the same high level of detail as Kadee’s successful 40-foot PS-1. Pullman-Standard began building 50-foot versions of the PS-1 in 1948. The increased capacity and large door opening of the longer car helped it […]
We have nothing special planned for June 6, 1957 — the 13th anniversary of the D-Day invasion — but it turns out to be a memorable day for the Daily family. My dad is an engineer on the Nickel Plate Road working out of Frankfort, Ind. I am a 22-year-old, newly promoted engineer on the […]
John was one of the many engineers I fired for on passenger trains on the Southern Pacific between Sparks and Carlin, Nev., after World War II. He made his firing date in 1912, and his engineer’s date in 1920. In those days, running a passenger train was like a miracle, for there were 149 engineers […]
At 1:45 p.m. on a sunny spring afternoon in 1955, the pace of activity at the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy depot in Brookfield, Mo., quickened. Due at 1:57 was train 36, the Chicago-bound Kansas City Zephyr — a streamliner led by two sliver E8’s. Automobiles began arriving and discharging passengers and their baggage. Station personnel […]
It goes without saying that the smooth handling of Seaboard Coast Line’s Florida streamliners was a matter of personal pride for the line’s customarily well-tenured passenger engineers, and never more so than when an office car containing the railroad’s top brass was added to the consist. Even so, a road foreman of engines always rode […]
KAAABOOM! I woke in my roomette with a start as the car lurched forward a couple of feet. Caaaa-lank, clank, clunk! Then three violent jerks the other way. I didn’t have to look at my watch or raise the shade to know that cars were being cut from the train at Buffalo Central Terminal. I […]
The silver bunk car marked “D&RGW” rests on the stockyard spur next to Cisco siding, windows open to the night breeze. Inside, the track-gang members lie sleeping on top of their blankets, the blistering head of the eastern Utah desert sun still lingering in the outfit. From the west comes the low whine of diesel […]
In the 1940’s, a rookie Southern Pacific locomotive fireman was always glad to see on the board that he had drawn duty on a 5000-series 4-10-2. In the years to come, the same fire-boy would probably fire all types of engines. He would be accepting engine assignments as they came, without a flicker of apprehension […]
In the winter of 1943, I was assigned to the firemen’s extra board at Des Moines Iowa, on the Rock Island’s Iowa Division. Because of a shortage of firemen I was called for a trip west to Council Bluffs with engineer Earl Beach. We had a good trip west to Council Bluffs. On the return […]
On the Norfolk & Western, when you qualified for passenger service as a fireman or engineer, the Road Forman of Engines’ office put a “p” by your name on the seniority roster. This told the world that you had the right to warm the appropriate seatbox on a locomotive on any passenger train on your […]
