Dallas interlocking tower

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An interior view at Tower 19 near Dallas (Texas) Union Terminal shows the track diagram (“model board”) of the territory controlled by the tower and some of the levers that controlled the switches and signals. This is an electro-pneumatic interlocking, in which switches are operated by compressed air. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]

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Catching the Gulf Wind

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The sight of an approaching Seaboard E7 signaled adventure: a boy’s first train ride.  Wiley M. Bryan I don’t know how my fascination for trains began, but ever since I could remember, I had been drawn to their mystique. I like tracks, switches, sidings, and depots. I like everything associated with trains. So, in November […]

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Fall 2025

The fall 2025 cover of Classic Trains magazine, which features a steam locomotive in a black and white photograph

Welcome – Never stop learning Head End – A potpourri of railroad history, then and now Fast Mail – Letters from our readers True Color – Rush hour at Kansas City The Way It Was  – Tales from railfans and railroaders Looking Back – Santa Fe all the way […]

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Journeys on World War II troop trains

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A Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 leads a troop train east through California in 1946. George M. Speir In early May 1945, I boarded a troop train at Fort Knox, Ky., and headed west on the Louisville & Nashville, destination unknown. The war in Europe had just ended and my fellow 18-year-old replacement tank crewmen had been […]

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