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When SP cab-forward 4173 derailed on the turntable at Tucson, “suits” and laborers reported to the scene. R. S. Plummer, Gordon Bassett coll. I have been collecting old black-and-white railroad negatives for nearly 30 years. When I receive a new batch, it’s like Christmas, opening the package and sorting through the stuff. You never know […]
A pair of Kansas City Southern GP22ECO rebuilds, products of Electro-Motive’s repowering program, work westward toward Metro Junction near Denton, Texas, on Aug. 28, 2010. The train uses ex-Santa Fe rails to reach the junction. Steve Schmollinger photo […]
An eastbound Union Pacific freight smokes it up leaving Taylor, Texas, on a December 1995 day. On the point is a leased unit, Motive Power Industries, SD40M-2 No. 9037. The unit started out as Louisville & Nashville, SD40-2 No. 1237. J. Parker Lamb photo […]
On a hot summer night in the early 1960s, Rock Island E3 626 stands at Waterloo, Iowa, with train 190. Ahead 110 miles: Columbus Junction. J. David Ingles Sad to say, this story is true. Only the name of the guilty is omitted. Sad to say, I knew this man—and still do now. It happened […]
IRVING, Texas — The Trinity Railway Express fleet of F59PHs has begun returning to the Dallas-area commuter agency following upgrades at shops in Iowa and Pennsylvania. The units, jointly owned by Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, are being overhauled to meet Environmental Protection Agency Tier 2 standards. The entire seven-unit […]
Depot and diesel wear different heralds, but nothing is out of the ordinary as a Chicago Great Western freight ambles past the Rock Island station in Waterloo, Iowa, in June 1961. Richard J. Anderson A family visit took me to Waterloo, Iowa, on a June day in 1961, but it was good ol’ railfan instinct […]
The Santa Fe established a major shop complex at Albuquerque to maintain and repair steam locomotives. At their peak in 1940, the shops were one of the city’s largest employers, with 1787 workers. The shops declined as the Santa Fe dieselized, and, as the road’s last steam backshop, perfromed their final locomotive work in March […]
In Historic Trains Today, we bring you “Unburied Treasure,” the story about the McKinney Avenue Trolley Authority in Dallas. In 2010, MATA has six streetcars cars listed as in service, two undergoing restoration, and five more awaiting work. Learn more about these trolleys below. McKinney Avenue trolley No. 122 Rosie, Dallas. Ken Fitzgerald 122: RosieThe […]
Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., was named world’s largest rail yard by Guinness. The yard’s 2,850 acres includes two separate hump yards (eastbound and westbound) where freight cars are sorted and combined into new trains. From the top of the West Hump tower, watch cars move toward the crest of the hump, […]
Dan Czech clearly remembers the first time he laid eyes on Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard. “I flew out here at night. I looked out the window and said, ‘That must be the city of North Platte.’ They said, ‘No, that’s the rail yard.’” The young terminal manager, who once taught Navy SEALs how to parachute, […]
Amtrak’s Texas Eagle for Chicago charges through Terrell, Texas, on Oct. 14, 2008. Photo by Steve Schmollinger […]
Before the mega-merger movement of the 1980s, only a few U.S. Class I systems attained route-mileage in five figures. Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Milwaukee Road did so by spanning the transcontinental West, Pennsylvania and New York Central bulked up in the East, and Chicago & North Western and Burlington Route (if you include its […]
