Q Why do automobile rack cars have TTX Co. reporting marks but also bear a logo from a railroad? – Gary Gergye, Marietta, Ga. A This started in the early 1960s when autoracks first came into use. Flatcars, with TTX reporting marks, were pulled from the Trailer Train pool, but the racks were purchased by […]
Section: Railroads
Bound Brook, N.J., March 17, 1976
Wanting to get a look at the Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley just before they disappeared into Conrail, future Classic Trains magazine Editor Rob McGonigal spent several hours on March 17, 1976, at CNJ’s Bound Brook station. Here is his train log. 08:51 Reading RDC2 9165 and RDC1 9164, Crusader, eastbound 08:55 CNJ GP7 1524 […]
Online Bonus: “The case of the elusive C-Liners”
The Spring 2005 issue of Classic Trains includes two stories regarding Fairbanks-Morse’s C-Line diesels: “A new dress for opposed pistons” (page 52) and “Why to C-Line fell on its face” (page 56). As an online bonus, we’ve scanned an article from the July 1972 issue of TRAINS magazine called “The case of the elusive C-Liners”. […]
Post-World War II East Broad Top timeline
East Broad Top 2-8-2 No. 12 pulls into Orbisonia station for another load of riders on Oct. 14, 1960, during the narrow-gauge’s reopening weekend. Don Wood photo June 24, 1951 Last of seven chartered railfan trips, dating to 1936, operates on EBT. Jan. 1, 1952 C. Roy Wilburn, who eventually would lead the railroad’s day-to-day […]
Louisville & Nashville: Still reliable after all these years
It was on March 5, 1850, that the Kentucky legislature approved a charter for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. The first through train operated between L&N’s namesake end points in 1859. Had it not been for dynamic leadership, vision, money, and some luck, the L&N might not have matured beyond this original route and […]
The Berkshire: Fast-Freight Legend
In 1920, when American railroads emerged from 26 months of government control, the prevailing philosophy of freight-train operation was to hang as many cars as possible behind a locomotive and send it out to drag its way along the line. Three locomotive types were ideal for drag freight: 2-10-2, 2-6-6-2, and 2-8-8-2. The 2-10-2 and […]
The General
Pennsylvania Railroad’s coast-to-coast air-rail service, run jointly with the Santa Fe and Trancontinental Air Transport, was championed by PRR president Gen. William Wallace Atterbury. (A promotional video clip of that service is available on our site. See the link at the bottom of this story.) The Winter 2003 issue of Classic Trains magazine takes an […]
Wabash Railway Steam Locomotives in the 20th Century
Wabash No. 2924 was the last of the road’s 25 4-8-4s, all built by Baldwin in 1930. Classic Trains coll. The Wabash of 1900 was part of the empire that George Gould inherited from his father Jay. Its lines linked Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines, and formed major hubs […]
New York, Chicago & St. Louis: the Nickel Plate Road
In 1879 and 1880, a syndicate headed by George I. Seney, a New York banker, assembled the Lake Erie & Western Railway, a line from Fremont, Ohio, to Bloomington, Ill. After a dispute with the New York Central System about the routing of freight, Seney decided to build a line to connect the LE&W to […]
Baltimore & Ohio timeline
Baltimore & Ohio timeline: 1827 Charter approved 1828 Official start of construction on July 4 1830 Scheduled service begins, Baltimore-Ellicotts Mills, May 24 1831 Service begins to Frederick, Md. 1832 Service begins to Point of Rocks, Md. 1835 Service begins on Relay-Washington branch, construction having begun in 1833 1837 Potomac River bridged at Harper’s Ferry, […]
Marketing the Golden State Limited
By 1919, a three-orange logo had replaced the single piece of fruit that adorned the covers of Golden State travel booklets. The lavish title page of a 1902 Rock Island route guide to its new cross-country passenger train, the Golden State Limited. Rock Island and Southern Pacific inaugurated the train on November 2, 1902. “Every […]
Carolina circle
Seaboard’s coach-only mail train, No. 5, at Hamlet, N.C., behind E7 3041 and SDP35 1113. J. David Ingles It’s 300 miles from Knoxville, Tenn., to Raleigh, N.C., as the crow flies. But Classic Trains senior editor J. David Ingles parlayed a round trip between the two cities to 1039 miles on a spring weekend in […]
