News Photo: Bicentennial SD45-2 on the move

Red, white, and blue locomotive on intermodal train

Former Santa Fe bicentennial diesel No. 5704 is on its way to its new home in California. Photographer William Tollett caught the SD45-2, restored to its mid-1970s paint scheme earlier this year, on Thursday, June 23, at Panhandle, Texas, on BNSF Railway train ZPLKLAC6-22. The locomotive was donated to the Southern California Railroad Museum in […]

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Historic ex-PRR high trestle at Safe Harbor opens to public

Parallel high and low bridges as seen from roadway

SAFE HARBOR, Pa. — Where electric-powered freight trains once rumbled high above the Susquehanna River en route between the East Coast and Midwest, hikers, bikers, and runners now catch breathtaking views of soaring bald eagles from the 150-foot-high Safe Harbor trestle. Opened earlier this month to public use as part of the planned 29-mile-long Enola […]

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Former C&O roundhouse in Ohio faces demolition

Aerial view of roundhouse with turntable

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Chesapeake & Ohio roundhouse dating to 1927 is facing demolition by CSX Transportation, although nothing is scheduled and a preservation group has been trying to save the building. The Columbus Dispatch reports the brick structure at Parsons Yard on Columbus’ Far South Side, was built as a 27-stall roundhouse but […]

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Old trainshed on the CV

Central Vermont Railway GP9

Nearly new Central Vermont GP9 4557 leads freight train 201, whose first car is a baggage car, through the old wooden trainshed at Essex Junction, Vt., in 1957. The venerable structure was demolished by 1960. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]

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Southern Railway locomotives remembered

Steam locomotive hauling a freight train.

Southern Railway locomotives: It’s time to celebrate the sleek lines and power of Southern Railway locomotives. Please enjoy this photo gallery selected from files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have selected one Fallen Flag to honor. A Fallen Flag is a railroad whose name and […]

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Southern Railway freight trains remembered

Above, head-on photograph of a black locomotive leading a long freight train forward the camera.

Southern Railway freight trains remembered: All through June 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the grit, panache, and charm that was the Southern Railway. As part of the celebration, please enjoy this freight train photo gallery as the perfect accompaniment. Each month since October 2019, Classic Trains editors have showcase one “Fallen Flag” railroad — […]

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Southern Railway passenger trains remembered

A black and white profile view of two trains with workers nearby

Southern Railway passenger trains remembered All through June 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Southern Railway. Please enjoy this Southern Railway passenger train photo gallery selected from the files in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was first published in March 2019. Only from Trains.com! […]

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Early Pennsy piggyback

Pennsylvania Railroad Keystone Merchandise Service

A single-axle Pennsylvania Railroad trailer with the “Keystone Merchandise Service” logo on the front is positioned on a flatcar in Chicago in 1954. Soon the PRR led the formation of Trailer Train, known today as TTX. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]

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Bicentennial Santa Fe locomotive to be displayed in Kansas City

Red, white, and blue diesel

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Santa Fe No. 5704, the SD45-2 locomotive cosmetically restored to its bicentennial paint scheme, will be displayed at Union Station Kansas City June 14-19 to coincide with the convention of the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society on those dates in Overland Park, Kan. The locomotive, which has been donated […]

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Doubleheaded Pennsy 2-10-4s

Pennsylvania Railroad coal train

Pennsylvania class J1 Texas types 6486 and 6488 move Lake Erie-bound coal north out of Columbus, Ohio, in September 1955. PRR’s 125-strong J1 fleet of 1942–44, based on a Chesapeake & Ohio design, accounted for more than a quarter of all 2-10-4s built. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Stories working as a railroad fireman

  Working as a railroad fireman: It was the end of summer. Billy, Wimpy, and I had finished cleaning up after the last threshing job and watched Mr. Hedrick slowly drive the rig out to the road and head west to the winter storage building behind his blacksmith shop. The rig consisted of a Huber […]

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