Click the image to download a PDF of this article as it would appear in TRAINS magazine. Mouse over photos in the PDF for bonus information and click hyperlinks to go to websites. While on a Caribbean cruise a few winters ago, my wife and I discovered a remarkable tourist railroad that operates on 18 […]
Two Norfolk Southern six-axle GEs haul BNSF office cars south on the former Southern Railway main line at Spencer, N.C. in October 1999. The train was on an inspection tour for TTX, the freight car company. Jim Wrinn photo […]
A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter The pride of Sandusky, Ohio, is the huge Cedar Point Amusement Park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie north of downtown. The pride of Cedar Point, at least for railfans, is its 2-foot-gauge steam-powered railroad. On June 26, 1966, Cedar Point was a […]
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train No. 9243 threads through Ragan Interlocking in Newport, Del., on its way south to Newark passenger station. Norfolk Southern train H5G with 17 empty autoracks bound for Chrysler Yard waits in the siding on Sept. 14, 2009. Michael S. Murray photo […]
In Historic Trains Today, David Lustig tells of seven cool diesels you can visit in museums today. Here are four more examples of neat historic locomotives you can see, and in some cases, ride behind. Wisconsin Central GP30 No. 713 rests between assignments at Waukesha, Wis., on May 3, 1989. The ex-Soo Line unit rides […]
An Amtrak conductor in Denver Union Station checks in passengers heading east on the California Zephyr, Sept. 2, 2008. Bob Johnston Many Amtrak conductors and sleeping car attendants are eager to help Amtrak maximize revenue by letting coach passengers know when their train has unsold roomettes and bedrooms available. As Trains’ July 2010 Passenger column, […]
Soldiers and citizens pose in front of the Union Pacific depot in North Platte, Neb., on April 27, 1898. Union Pacific Museum Before there was a burning man festival, North Platte threw the biggest party in the West, when Union Pacific tracklayers made a winter camp with miners, traders, Mormon emigrants, and stagecoach drivers in […]
Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., was named world’s largest rail yard by Guinness. The yard’s 2,850 acres includes two separate hump yards (eastbound and westbound) where freight cars are sorted and combined into new trains. From the top of the West Hump tower, watch cars move toward the crest of the hump, […]
Dan Czech clearly remembers the first time he laid eyes on Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard. “I flew out here at night. I looked out the window and said, ‘That must be the city of North Platte.’ They said, ‘No, that’s the rail yard.’” The young terminal manager, who once taught Navy SEALs how to parachute, […]
Preservation of former railroad stations takes many forms, from visitor centers and museums to offices and restaurants. Ciddici’s Pizza of Albany, Oregon, retains most of the original exterior features of the Oregon Electric structure, especially the “OER” logo. Scott Lothes The locomotive John Bull, donated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1884, was the Smithsonian Institution’s […]
Three BNSF Railway diesels pull train CATMCXEO-88 past Chillicothe, Iowa, on a snowless Dec. 4, 2006. The train is crossing BNSF’s busy ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy route across southern Iowa, a key coal route for BNSF. Photo by Craig Williams […]
A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter Looking as proud as ever, CN 4-8-4 6205 rides the turntable at London, Ont., in July 1959, headed for the ash pit, the dead line, and oblivion. Ken Kraemer photo By spring 1959, steam locomotives were just about gone from regular service on most […]
