The big engine that couldn’t

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PRR J1 2-10-4 No. 6480 crests the hill in Irvington, heading east from downtown Indianapolis with a freight during the switchmen’s strike at Hawthorne Yard in the winter of 1951-52. Martin E. Biemer The winter of 1951–52 brought a new thrill for us railroad-crazy boys in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Irvington: Freight trains! Irvington, a […]

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Toledo Central Union Terminal

20141222

One of the last big-city stations to be built was Toledo Central Union Terminal, completed in 1950. Owned by New York Central, by far its heaviest user, TCUT also hosted B&O, Wabash, and C&O trains. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited still use it. Classic Trains coll. […]

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CB&Q Northern at Mendota

20141219

Burlington Route 4-8-4 No. 5621 on a westbound freight clatters across the Illinois Central diamonds at Mendota, Ill., as it slows for a coal and water stop in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Building the 3 x 7 Red Oak model railroad episode 2

Hand measuring off track section

The benchwork is built for the Model Railroader staff’s N scale Red Oak project. Next comes the tricky task of transferring the track plan to the foam tabletop. Get some tips from Model Railroader Video Plus producer David Popp, including a look at the layout’s styrene backdrop and the wiring channel around the tabletop. […]

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Building the 3 x 7 Red Oak model railroad episode 2

Hand measuring off track section

The benchwork is built for the Model Railroader staff’s N scale Red Oak project. Next comes the tricky task of transferring the track plan to the foam tabletop. Get some tips from Model Railroader Video Plus producer David Popp, including a look at the layout’s styrene backdrop and the wiring channel around the tabletop. […]

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IC’s original Green Diamond

20141211

Illinois Central’s first streamliner, delivered in 1936, was the Green Diamond, a fully articulated aluminum train built by Pullman-Standard and powered by Electro-Motive with a Winton diesel engine. It is pictured at 47th Street, Chicago, near the end of its regular run from St. Louis. Philip Korst Jr. photo […]

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Fast freight on the Nickel Plate

20141210

Well into the 1950s, the Nickel Plate Road believed its superb 2-8-4 Berkshires to be better than diesels for its fast freight service. Because it dieselized late, NKP had no freight cab units, only road-switchers. Don Wood photo […]

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Former Illinois Terminal Bloomington station razed NEWSWIRE

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A Norfolk Southern freight passes the structure just before its demolition on Thursday. Steve Smedley BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Like so many others before it, a former Interurban station has bit the dust, literally, as the former Illinois Traction System station and warehouse complex, located in the warehouse district south of downtown Bloomington, Illinois was razed […]

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