Horseshoe Curve

Children watch along a fence as a freight train passes

  Mention the name, “horseshoe curve,” and your mind will immediately think of the World Famous Horseshoe Curve nestled deep in the Allegheny Mountains west of Altoona, Penn. That shouldn’t be a surprise considering this landmark’s history and engineering marvel that’s been attracting visitors for 170 years, ranging from the curious to the most enthusiastic. […]

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TOFCEE SERVICE

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Trailer Train began acquiring 85-foot flatcars in 1958. This class F85A car, built by American Car & Foundry in 1958, carriers two Baltimore & Ohio 35-foot trailers shortly after delivery. Classic Trains collection […]

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Meet Michael Tylick

A silver and red toy train locomotive in front of a city skyline on a toy train layout

My first train set (or locomotive) was…? When I was quite young, my parents bought me a secondhand Christmas train set. My best recollection is that it was probably a Marx set with strange couplers and lithographed tinplate sides. There was a small 0-4-0 steamer, a silver Gulf Oil tank car, a tan baby Ruth […]

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RRHMA debuts repainted Santa Fe GE locomotive

SILVIS, Ill. — Santa Fe No. 537 sparkled in the paint booth of the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America shops during a Friday night dinner and unveiling of the repainted GE B40-8W at the former Rock Island Railroad Silvis Locomotive Shops. The RRHMA hosted its “Trains & Tractors” event on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19, […]

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Atlanta & West Point locomotives remembered

Smoking steam Atlanta & West Point locomotives with freight train

Atlanta & West Point locomotives were carefully curated alongside those of its sister roads.     Although much of the West Point roads’ 20th-century steam locomotive fleet looked like the “Georgian Locomotive” memorialized by H. Stafford Bryant Jr. in his book of the same name — a handsome, elegant group — perhaps the most interesting […]

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West Point Route passenger trains remembered

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West Point Route passenger trains: All through October 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the West Point Route: Atlanta & West Point and Western Railway of Alabama.     Please enjoy this photo gallery of West Point Route passenger trains, originally published online in 2017. […]

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Narrow gauge twilight

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Colorado & Southern 2-8-0 No. 73 follows 3-foot-gauge tracks toward the summit of Kenosha Pass, high above the canyon near Webster, Colo., on July 14, 1938. Soon these tracks of the South Park Line will be abandoned. R.H. Kindig photo […]

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Nickel Plate SD9 shines on Indiana Rail Experience cigar train

PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. — The Indiana Rail Experience operated its second cigar train using Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society passenger cars on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, on host railroad Indiana Northeastern. The “Rocky Patel Rolling Smoke Cigar Train” train operated behind Nickel Plate Road SD9 No. 358 in pull-pull fashion from Pleasant Lake to Hillsdale, […]

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Lehigh legacy

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Three Lehigh Valley Alco C420s fly the company flag at Treichler, Pa., in May 1974. The units were delivered in the mid-1960s in gray and yellow. Mike Bednar photo […]

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Ready for the spotlight: New York Central 3001

Man at podium surrounded by cameras in front of steam locomotive

The steam community is in a happy state of shock this week with the news that New York Central 3001, one of the NYC’s famed 4-8-2 Mohawk engines, might be restored to operating condition by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, operators of famed Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765. The announcement came Oct. 9 […]

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Budd RDC model types

Stainless steel rail passenger cars in snow

To win over the railroads with its new Rail Diesel Car (RDC), the Budd Co. wasn’t content with a single model type. In a time of declining passenger traffic during the post war years, the car manufacturer banked on multiple to meet the needs of either passenger, baggage-express or mail, as well as for all […]

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West Point Route history remembered

Streamlined diesel locomotive of West Point Route history with passenger train at station

  First the tracks were built east. Then west. Then west some more. Such were the uncertain beginnings of what became the West Point Route. Construction began on the banks of the navigable Alabama River at Montgomery, the capital. During 1834-41, 32 miles of standard-gauge track extended east toward both West Point and Columbus, Ga., […]

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