Santa Fe trains 93, the West Texas Express, and 94, the Eastern Express, were the Amarillo–Lubbock connection for the San Francisco Chief. Between 1955 and 1965, the trains looked like this: an E8M (rebuilt from an E1), baggage-express car, coach, and sleeper. Fred M. Springer photo […]
An A-B-B-A set of Santa Fe FT diesels leads a westbound freight just below famous Tehachapi Loop in 1949. This train met an eastbound Southern Pacific freight at Walong siding on the Loop itself; steam from the SP train’s cab-forward helper is visible in the distance. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In 2014, Model Railroader magazine celebrates 80 years in publication. Coincidentally, 40 years ago MR Senior Editor Jim Hediger was just getting started as a staff editor when he was charged with shepherding the production of a custom-run boxcar to commemorate MR’s 40th […]
CSX intermodal train Q124 rolls northbound on the main line at Lineville, Ala., as a Herzog ballast train awaits in the siding on Sept. 30, 2011. Photo by Bradley Bates […]
Mini-mills provided half of U.S. and Canadian steel-making capacity in 2001. Their decentralized geographic distribution mirrored U.S. population density (with the notable exception of California), and did not work to the benefit of railroads. The remaining integrated mills primarily sold high-quality sheet steel to auto and appliance factories. Railroads included in this map: BNSF Railway; […]
Handsome Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 204 is ready to depart the road’s Hillen Street station in Baltimore with the daily train to Hagerstown, Md., in April 1951. Russ Wilcox photo […]
Norfolk Southern intermodal train No. 215 passes a stopped freight with Canadian Pacific power at Faulconer, Ky., on the CNO&TP First District on Feb. 29, 2016. Photo by Jeff Wagoner […]
Santa Fe’s Chief approaches the Lamanda Park siding on May 17, 1946. The fireman on the helper is ready to jump off and uncouple his 4-8-2 so it can move into the clear and let 4-8-4 No. 2921 continue east with train 20. Stan Kistler In early 1946, my family moved into a small house […]
FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress Santa Fe conductor George Burton tends the fire in the stove of his freight train’s caboose in March 1943. Burton lived in Chillicothe, Illinois, and worked the run between there and Corwith Yard in Chicago. FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress […]
Head-end traffic helped cover some of the costs of America’s passenger trains for many years. Contracts with the United States Postal Service covered the transportation of mail, while the Railway Express Agency (REA) provided a nation- wide package delivery service. Small-to-medium-sized railroads forwarded most of the mail in Railway Post Office (RPO) cars and packages […]
Watch Southern Railway 2-8-0 Consolidation No. 630 operating in main line excursion service out of Spencer, N.C., in June 2012. This locomotive’s sister, Southern Mikado 2-8-2 No. 4501, is the focus of a feature in the May 2014 issue of Trains. […]
In this polar vortex edition of Drew’s Trackside Adventure for March 2014, host Drew Halverson and the MRVP crew make their way along Canadian National’s Waukesha subdivision in eastern Wisconsin. They capture the railroad battling the elements and gravity over a 1-percent grade known as Byron Hill. In addition to the railroad action, the guys […]
