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Section: Locomotives
Historic Union Pacific Big Boy photos
FULL SCREEN Jim Shaughnessy The front half of Big Boy No. 4005 forms a wall of steel above a hostler at the Laramie, Wyo., engine terminal in August 1957. FULL SCREEN Jim Shaughnessy Battling up Sherman Hill, Big Boy No. 4011 exits the north tunnel at Hermosa, Wyo., with an eastbound freight in August 1957. […]
Richard Steinheimer’s Cajon Pass
Still the greatest show on earth: What’s changed on Cajon Pass since Trains magazine published Richard Steinheimer’s “Cajon Pass Revisited” in September 1974? Just about everything! Except the drama. In Locomotive 2013, authors David Styffe and Greg McDonnell look back at the classic Steinheimer photos and revisit Cajon today, as exciting a place as ever […]
Video: Illinois Railway Museum’s 2013 Diesel Parade
Only a few railroads or museums can boast of having operating cab units working on their property. Illinois Railway Museum easily tops them all with Fs, Es, stainless, freight, passenger, and executive cab cousins gathered in tiny Union, Ill. Check out some footage in the video below, showing the museum’s annual Diesel Parade held in […]
Photo Gallery: Inside Progress Rail’s New Locomotive-Building Plant
Locomotive Editor Greg McDonnell shows readers behind-the-scenes at Progress Rail’s Muncie, Ind., assembly plant. Muncie produces locomotives for both domestic and export markets, including these GT38ACs and SD70ACEs for Australia, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates. Read about the plant in “Made in Muncie” in Locomotive 2013. Order your copy now! FULL SCREEN Greg McDonnell […]
Big Boy story began in 1940
No. 4014 climbing Wyoming’s Sherman Hill, behind helper No. 4021, on June 25, 1949. R.H. Kindig When Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4014 takes to the rails again following restoration by Union Pacific, admirers of the huge machine would do well to remember two names: Otto Jabelmann and William Jeffers. It was Jeffers who, […]
EMD’s Plant 3 at Cleveland, Ohio
Read about EMD’s Plant 3 at Cleveland, Ohio, in “Not Built at La Grange,” an article from Classic Trains Special Edition No. 4, Diesel Victory (2006). Download the article by clicking on the underlined PDF below. […]
Norfolk Southern heritage: then and now
FULL SCREEN Top, photo courtesy of Norfolk Southern Corp.; bottom, Robert Palmer photo Top: The first NS heritage unit, ES44AC No. 8098, poses in Conrail blue at Altoona Shops on March 15, 2012. Bottom: Conrail SD60 6702, GP40-2 3220, and an unidentified GE lead a Philadelphia-to-Bethlehem iron ore train out of Black Rock Tunnel near […]
An A-OK roster
Arkansas & Oklahoma B23-7 No. 4062 leads a train to interchange cars with Union Pacific in Oklahoma City. John Leopard Although General Electric B23-7s dominate the Arkansas & Oklahoma’s roster, the railroad does use a few Electro-Motive Division locomotives and has previously even rostered a couple of Alcos. With heritages ranging from Santa Fe to […]
Pennsylvania Railroad patent drawings
See PDFs of the patent drawings covering elements of the Pennsy’s S2 turbine locomotive […]
Calculated drawbar horsepower curves for 4-8-4s
This graph shows the calculated drawbar horsepower curves for five classes in the first wave of 4-8-4s: Lackawanna Q-1, Canadian National U-2-a, Northern Pacific A, Santa Fe 3751, and Canadian Pacific K-1. Neil Carlson In the days of steam it was a normal practice to estimate the horsepower potential of a locomotive. Baldwin Locomotive Works […]
Glossary of steam locomotive terms
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 4-8-4 No. 602, named Governor Thomas Jefferson, rushes an 18-car passenger train toward Washington, D.C., near Four Mile Run, Va., in June 1940. C. W. Whitbeck Back pressure Back pressure is caused by the resistance of the exhaust steam exiting the cylinders. Overcoming this resistance represents negative work done by the […]
