Read J. David Ingles’ two-part Alco FA study, “Alco’s Big Bid to Be Best,” published in June and July 1975 Trains magazine. Download each article by clicking on the underlined PDFs below. […]
Section: Railroads
Train-watching in Bellevue, Ohio
Railroad enthusiasts from across the country flock to Bellevue, Ohio, for its train-watching opportunities. The city offers many safe locations to view the action, endless variety on Norfolk Southern and Wheeling & Lake Erie trains, and a small-town atmosphere that’s hard to beat. This video shows a sampling of train-watching in Bellevue, including NS and […]
Photo gallery: Amtrak’s Michigan Line track improvements
FULL SCREEN Ties await installation on the unused brick platform at Chelsea, Mich., east of Jackson. FULL SCREEN A Norfolk Southern tie gang finishes up for the day east of Chelsea. FULL SCREEN One mile further east, a tamper pushes gravel under and around newly installed ties at Chelsea, Mich. FULL SCREEN A laser beam […]
Colorful variety
It’s a warm Oct., 1, 2013, morning as CSX train K931-01 is coming off the Plymouth Subdivision in its namesake Michigan city with 52 empty stone hopper cars from Lansing behind BNSF No. 4992. In the distance, CSX No. 2741 waits for open track. Photo by Chris Paciocco […]
Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 11 – British Columbia, Canada
Drew goes west and heads north of the border to British Columbia, Canada, with MRVP’s Kent Johnson and pal Mike Danneman in tow. After following the BNSF main line in Idaho, the guys cross the border to railfan Canadian Pacific’s picturesque Winderemere subdivision. Along the way, Drew and the crew catch industrial switching action, hard-working […]
History According to Hediger: Al Kalmbach’s Gulch Route Passenger Cars
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In this episode, MR Senior Editor Jim Hediger shares insights related to two custom-built O scale passenger cars owned by Model Railroader magazine founder Al Kalmbach in the early days of the hobby. In the course of examining the amazing craftsmanship, Jim also […]
Great Photography in Bad Weather
FULL SCREEN Mark Llanuza The headlights of an eastbound Metra train slice through the rain and heavy fog setting in over Elgin, Ill., in November of 2012. FULL SCREEN Mark Llanuza An early morning mix of rain and sleet greets commuters as they board a Metra train at the Bartlett, Ill., station in 2012. FULL […]
Kansas City tonnage: 1971 and 2003
Chicago might have more trains, and St. Louis a big shiny arch, but Kansas City is the ton-mile king, with over 1 billion tons passing through the city (or above it, on flyovers) in 2003. That is 15 percent more tons than Chicago. What is remarkable about K.C. is its sheer growth, from 378 million […]
Trains 2014 Photo Contest
Robert Jordan took this aerial image of Canadian Pacific train No. 270 at Bellevue, Iowa, and won grand prize for Trains 2012 photo contest. Trains‘ 2014 photo contest theme is “Sequence.” Sequential art can be traced back to cave drawings, and more recently in comic books. Well-known photographer Elliott Erwitt published a 2011 book called […]
The electric social train
The “Crandic” interurban was a safe way for University of Iowa students to travel to and from parties at Cou Falls, 15 miles north of Iowa City. Crandic car 120 is near the Cou Falls station shelter in May 1944. Classic Trains coll. The Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway, universally known by the abbreviation […]
Cajon Pass Extra
In October 2013, Trains sent me to Southern California to attend the first-ever Association of Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums meeting, to see Union Pacific’s preparatory work for moving Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 AND to get material for the February 2014 article in the magazine: “Cajon Pass Unplugged.” I spent weeks before and after […]
Sounds and images: Raising a Northeast Corridor drawbridge
FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston Amtrak bridge operator Merrill Perkins controls the Northeast Corridor’s Niantic River movable bridge from a tower at the end of the structure. Push-button controls make this bridge easy to operate. FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston The previous Niantic River movable bridge had been built by the New Haven Railroad in 1907, and […]
