The Katy-Frisco Texas Special, a favorite conveyance for the Katy president’s business car, arrives in St. Louis in 1956. Fred Scott My railroad-related career started in 1941, when I was hired as a stenographer by the South-Western Freight Bureau in St. Louis. It was readily accepted for a young man who had studied shorthand and […]
Pelle Søeborg is a model railroader known for his ability to create ultra-realistic scenes. His main modeling focus is modern-era railroading in the California desert, but his techniques are useful whatever your modeling subject. This article collection includes two track plans: one for a shelf layout and another for Pelle’s 11′-6″ x 22′-0″ Union Pacific […]
POMONA, Calif. – Trains Editor Jim Wrinn interviews Union Pacific steam manager Ed Dickens on moving 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014 across the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in and on to Cheyenne. […]
Athearn Trains HO scale GE ES44AC GEVO diesel locomotive A mainstay of today’s main lines, the General Electric Evolution Series (GEVO) ES44AC is now available as part of the Athearn Genesis line of superdetailed HO scale locomotives. We tested a BNSF and a Union Pacific version. Both models feature prototype-specific detailing and a SoundTraxx Digital […]
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 […]
Union Pacific moved No. 4014 across the fairgrounds in November in anticipation of January’s move from the park. Jim Wrinn POMONA, Calif. – The long awaited day when Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will return to the national rail system is at hand. Mark Jan. 26 as a red letter day in the history […]
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 […]
An eastbound Union Pacific intermodal freight enters Rainbow Canyon near Elgin, Nev., on Nov. 3, 2006. For 20 miles the train will follow the Meadow Valley Wash up the steep grade to the former division point at Caliente, Nev., on the Los Angeles & Salt Lake route. Photo by Robert Jordan […]
With so much talk about Union Pacific’s effort to restore Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014, the world wants to know … what is a wristpin? Listen in as UP steam boss Ed Dickens Jr. talks about this 50-pound plus hunk of metal without which a live, steaming Big Boy would grind to a halt. […]
Two Norfolk Southern GE ponies, with Union Pacific train Z-CHEM in tow, gallop out of North Lake, Wis., on their journey to Minneapolis, Minn. The Triple Crown train is one of the few that operates off NS rails. Photo by Matt Krause […]
Athearn Genesis GP50 diesel locomotives Not to be confused with the earlier Ready-to-Roll model, this Genesis-series GP50 from Athearn features all-new tooling for both Phase I and Phase II versions and many prototype-specific details. Our test samples came equipped with feature-laden SoundTraxx Digital Command Control decoders. A DC version with a DCC socket that accepts […]
Check out additional material related to Bob Johnston’s “Intermountain Odyssey” article in Classic Trains’ Special Edition No. 13, All Aboard! Movies View clips from the 8mm movies that Bob Johnston took during the 1963 NRHS Intermountain Limited convention. Transportation Notice See the Burlington Route’s original Transportation Notice for the Aug. 26–Sept. 7, 1963, Intermountain Limited NRHS […]
