New Mexico Rail Runner Express

Rail Runner

A stylized roadrunner, New Mexico’s state bird, decorates the locomotives and coaches on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. New Mexico Rail Runner On July 14, 2006, commuter rail service in Albuquerque began with the launch of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. Initial operations were phased in throughout 2006 on a 46-mile segment of […]

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Virginia Railway Express

Virginia Railway Express serves commuters in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., with an 83-mile system comprised of two lines and 18 stations. Service to Manassas began on June 22, 1992; service to Fredericksburg followed on July 20, 1992. Trains on both lines call at stations in Alexandria, Arlington (Crystal City), and Washington, D.C. (L’Enfant Plaza […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 0-8-0

Norfolk & Western 0-8-0 switcher No. 244

Norfolk & Western 0-8-0 switcher No. 244 holds the distinction of being the last U.S. reciprocating steam locomotive built for an American Class 1 railroad. It was the final steam engine to emerge from N&W’s Roanoke Shops, delivered to the railroad in December 1953. Norfolk & Western The first 0-8-0 was built in 1844 by […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 0-10-0

Duluth, Missabe & Northern 0-10-0 switcher

One of Duluth, Missabe & Northern’s mammoth 352,000-pound 0-10-0 switchers works the yard at Proctor, Minn., on September 15, 1951. J. C. Seacrest collection The first 0-10-0 was built in 1905 at Alco’s Brooks Locomotive Works as a hump engine for the New York Central. Over the next five years, New York Central took delivery […]

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Build a two-engine firehouse from kitbash remnants

Photos by Michael Raynor Once I finished building my Grand Central Station from two MTH bank structures (see the May 2006 issue of CLASSIC TOY TRAINS), I kept thinking about those great-looking leftover wall sections. After pondering the parts, I decided to shape the three unused bank walls, plus the roof section, to form a […]

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MTA Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North

On a July 1996 evening in New York City, Metro-North P32ACDM 202 wheels through Spuyten Duyvil with a northbound diesel-powered Hudson Line train, passing a now-retired 1100-series M.U. that has just departed the station. Matt Van Hattem MTA Metro-North Railroad provides commuter service on five routes covering 412 miles, serving 120 stations. Metro-North is the […]

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MTA Long Island Rail Road

Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road replaced its vintage – and worn out – diesel fleet with new locomotives from GM (both straight diesel and dual-mode diesel-electrics) and bilevel coaches. DE30 401, a regular diesel (the dual-modes are class DM30), hauls a string of new coaches through Lynbrook, N.Y., on the Babylon Branch at 12:35 p.m., […]

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OnTrack City Express

OnTrack

New York, Susquehanna & Western RDC M-5 arrives at the Armory Square station in downtown Syracuse, N.Y., with an OnTrack City Express shuttle on June 28, 1995. John Godfrey OnTrack City Express is a 3.5-mile rail shuttle serving Syracuse, N.Y., linking the Carousel Mall, Armory Square (downtown), Syracuse University, and Colvin Street (a flag stop). […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 2-6-0 Mogul

Canadian National 2-6-0 Mogul no. 86

Canadian National kept its fleet of Moguls in service the longest, until 1959. No. 86 was built in 1910 by the Canadian Locomotive Co. as Grand Trunk No. 1006, and renumbered twice, before it was photographed leading a mixed train through Ontario in July 1957. Herbert Harwood, Jr. The 2-6-0 was an outgrowth of the […]

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Trinity Railway Express

TRE

A Trinity Rail Express commuter train, operating with two self-propelled Rail Diesel Cars, makes a station stop at South Irving, Texas. Dallas Area Rapid Transit Trinity Railway Express provides passenger rail service between the Texas Metroplex cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. The 34-mile route serves 9 stations, and is anchored at each end by […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 2-8-0 Consolidation

Delaware & Hudson 2-8-0 Consolidation

On October 19, 1951, three Delaware & Hudson 2-8-0s shove a heavy freight out of Carbondale, Pa. Robert F. Collins The first 2-8-0 was delivered to the Lehigh Valley in 1866 for operation over the mountain grades of the railroad’s Mount Carmel Branch in Pennsylvania. The locomotive was built by Baldwin, but had been designed […]

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Steam locomotive profile: 2-8-2 Mikado

Northern Pacific 2-8-2 Mikado No. 1843

Northern Pacific’s last batch of 2-8-2s came from Alco in 1923. One member of the class, No. 1843, blasts through Thompson Falls, Mont., with a 73-car freight train on September 22, 1940. J. W. Maxwell The first true North American 2-8-2s were built by Alco for the Northern Pacific in 1904. (Experimental locomotives with the […]

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