GLENMONT, N.Y. — Two historic New York Central electric locomotives are finally safe after a 4½-hour ballet to lift and shift them 200 feet on a Hudson River island on which they were stranded, dodging a torrent of heavy truck traffic. The Danbury (Conn.) Railway Museum announced Thursday night (Dec. 29) that Phase 1 of […]
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Cool railroadiana, a dandy depot, and train repair parts on Bob’s Train Box 86
This episode, host Bob Keller shows an old New York Central coal service directory. It was a book the railroad gave to customers and those that needed to know the details of its lines in the Appalachians that served mines and loadouts. Then The host shows off a resin depot that looks at home on […]
Santa Fe Hi-Level step-down coach
Santa Fe Hi-Level step-down coach A passenger ascends the central stairway into the upper level of one of the Santa Fe’s 1956 double-deck Hi-Level coaches. The low window beyond the man standing shows that this is one of the “step-down” cars with an end stairway for access to standard-height cars. Santa Fe photo […]
Wreckage of SP boat used to build Lucin Cutoff reappears as Great Salt Lake shrinks
SALT LAKE CITY — A boat used by Southern Pacific to help build its route across the Great Salt Lake has resurfaced as a result of the lake’s shrinking water level. KTVX-TV reports the W.E. Marsh No. 4, which first set sail on the lake in 1902, has reappeared as the lake’s water level reaches […]
P&LE Berkshire
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie 2-8-4 No. 9401 leads a southbound freight through the station at Beaver, Pa., in June 1948. The seven P&LE Berkshires, delivered in May and June 1948, were Alco’s last steam locomotives. Richard J. Cook photo […]
New Belpaire firebox emerges for PRR K4s steam engine No. 1361
ALTOONA, Pa. — The first new Belpaire steam-locomotive firebox built in Altoona in 76 years is taking shape at the Railroaders Memorial Museum. Over the last week, employees of consultant FMW Solutions LLC and volunteers have fabricated a new firebox for former Pennsylvania Railroad Class K4s 4-6-2 steam passenger engine No. 1361 (PRR Juniata Shops, […]
News photos: CNJ 0-6-0 makes holiday appearance
MINERSVILLE, Pa. — A largely overlooked steam locomotive in Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region is Central Railroad of New Jersey 0-6-0 switcher No. 113 (American Locomotive Co., 1923), owned and operated by the nonprofit Railway Restoration Project 113 of Minersville, Pa. The engine runs only a few times a year, mostly for Santa Claus trains, pulling […]
GG1 and P70s
Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4907 leads a southbound train at Aberdeen, Md., in about 1949. The six-car consist contains four modernized P70 coaches, a diner, and a parlor car. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
Cincinnatian at Cincinnati
In a September 1952 view at Cincinnati Union Terminal, passengers board Baltimore & Ohio’s Cincinnatian for Detroit. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Big Emma at rest
Louisville & Nashville class M-1 No. 1988, one of 42 “Big Emma” 2-8-4s Baldwin and Lima built for the road during 1942–49, rests between runs at Corbin, Ky., in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
“The Abe” departs Chicago
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio E7s 101A and 103 lead train 3, the Abraham Lincoln for St. Louis, away from Chicago Union Station. Classic Trains coll. […]
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas logo’s heritage
Missouri-Kansas-Texas logo underwent subtle changes throughout the railroad’s history. But its origin is more interesting than these iterative changes. In his history of the Katy, J. Parker Lamb mentions the different incarnations of Katy’s corporate herald over the years, but where did the road’s uniquely shaped emblem come from? According to Freeman Hubbard in his […]