Santa Fe train 76 and 17 tons of sand

atsf_pa_61

Santa Fe PA No. 61, whose long nose may have saved its crew 14 years later, in 1951 flies green flags on the point of First 24, the Grand Canyon, at Caliente, Calif. Stan Kistler On December 22, 1965, I was the engineer on Santa Fe Railway Los Angeles–San Diego train 76, one of the […]

Read More…

Boarding the cars at Guthrie

lne8787eaststlouis

Louisville & Nashville E8 No. 787 leads the head-end cars and lone coach of Evansville–St. Louis train 10 out of East St. Louis in May 1968.  R. R. Wallin, George W. Hamlin coll. “No, that train doesn’t stop here. You’ll have to go up to ‘Hoptown’ to get it,” was the less-than-helpful information from the […]

Read More…

Train watching in the 1960s

What would it have been like to spend one day at a perfect train-watching spot in the 1950s and 1960s? This 30-page download takes you back in time, with contributors sharing their experiences from memorable trips across the United States. This free guide provides plenty of pictures, too, with classic railroad photos from a bygone […]

Read More…

Growing up along the Burlington

CBQEunit

An E unit leads a train through Berwyn, Ill., on a lazy day in August 1963. Such scenes were part of daily life along the Burlington’s triple-track main west of Chicago. Larry Kostka It didn’t matter how often you rode the trains, or even if you did at all. Growing up in the postwar era […]

Read More…

Electric Railroads

The electrification of U.S. railroads has long been a vision for the future that’s never reached its full potential. From 18th century technology development, to early 20th century progress on major electric traction projects, the United States was a world leader in railroad electrification. But electrification expansion projects were halted during World War II and, […]

Read More…

W. A. Eby, PRR engineman and foster dad

WAEby

Like many old steam men, PRR engineman W. A. Eby disliked diesels, but he manages a smile in the cab of S12 No. 8734 working the Bellefonte local in 1957. Michael Hauk collection I never knew Walter A. Eby, my dad’s foster father. He passed away in 1963, when I was two years old. I […]

Read More…

Great Trains Heartland

Great Trains magazine cover

Also in this issue Great Trains in Photos: MISSOURI RIVER EAGLE, pg. 2 JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY, pg. 7 TEXAS SPECIAL, pg. 18 MEADOWLARK and WHIPPOORWILL, pg. 28 TIPPECANOE, pg. 38 CINCINNATIAN, pg. 46 LAKER, pg. 58 MAPLE LEAF, pg. 68 DETROIT ARROW, pg. 82 BANNER BLUE and BLUE BIRD, pg. 100 ILLINOIS TERMINAL’S TRAINS, pg. […]

Read More…