In the early 1950s, two E8s ease New York Central train 24, the Knickerbocker, out of St. Louis Union Station at the start of the train’s journey to New York. Wayne P. Ellis photo […]
NYC’s Knickerbocker departs St. Louis
Magazine: Classic Trains
Pennsy P5a in the snow
Pennsylvania Railroad P5a electric 4737 brings a freight into Philadelphia from the west after a heavy snowfall in early 1958. The motor is passing the station at Overbrook, easternmost of the suburban stops on the Main Line to Paoli. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]
Steam locomotive profile: 2-6-6-4
During the latter half of the 1920s the single expansion articulated locomotive had evolved into a very capable machine. It could lug a heavy train over mountain grades, and in flat terrain it could run at the same speed as a 2-8-2. But railroad locomotive superintendents grappled with an unanswered question. Could a simple articulated […]
The 2-8-4 Berkshire-type steam locomotive
It isn’t much of a stretch to proclaim the 2-8-4 Berkshire-type steam locomotive as the “poster child” of the Super Power era of steam locomotives. “Berkshire,” “Kanawha,” “Big Emma” — regardless of what they were called, the wheel configuration helped advance steam technology through size, speed, and power. The development of the Berkshire all started […]
IC’s original Green Diamond
Illinois Central’s first streamliner, delivered in 1936, was the Green Diamond, a fully articulated aluminum train built by Pullman-Standard and powered by Electro-Motive with a Winton diesel engine. It is pictured at 47th Street, Chicago, near the end of its regular run from St. Louis. Philip Korst Jr. photo […]
Fast freight on the Nickel Plate
Well into the 1950s, the Nickel Plate Road believed its superb 2-8-4 Berkshires to be better than diesels for its fast freight service. Because it dieselized late, NKP had no freight cab units, only road-switchers. Don Wood photo […]
Interlocking tower at Shawano, Wis.
A brick interlocking tower guards the crossing of Soo Line (left to right in photo) and Chicago & North Western trackage in Shawano, Wis. Gordon Odegard photo […]
Frisco heavy 2-8-2
The Frisco’s 4200-series Mikados of 1930 were among the most powerful 2-8-2s on any railroad. They were rated at 68,500 lbs. tractive effort — 78,100 lbs. with booster — and could wheel fast freights at 50 mph. Frank E. Ardrey photo […]
SP piggyback train
For a time in the 1950s, Southern Pacific had the most extensive piggyback operations in the land. Here a train bound from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area climbs Santa Susana Pass near Chatsworth, Calif. Classic Trains coll. […]
Steam locomotive profile: 2-6-6-6 or Allegheny
In 1940, the Chesapeake & Ohio needed new locomotives to meet a burgeoning demand for transportation. Its biggest engines were a fleet of single expansion 2-8-8-2s, purchased in the mid-1920s to haul coal on its line across the Alleghenies, where tunnel clearances prevented the use of anything larger. In the 1930s, C&O embarked on rebuilding […]
Soo Line overnighter leaving Chicago
Handsome 4-8-2 No. 4018 marches away from Chicago’s Grand Central Station with Soo Line train 17 for Duluth, Minn., with cars for Minneapolis and Ashland, Wis., in May 1949. Harold Stirton photo […]
GM&O RS1 at Joliet
The engineer of a Gulf, Mobile & Ohio RS1 eyes the photographer as his locomotive clatters across the Rock Island diamonds at Joliet, Ill., in 1951. The Alco and a caboose are bound for GM&O’s South Joliet yard. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
