Missouri Pacific 4-6-2 6621 and St. Louis-Southwestern 4-6-0 663 await their next assignments at the Memphis Union Station engine house in October 1950. James G. La Vake photo […]
MoPac 4-6-2, Cotton Belt 4-6-0
Train Topic: History
Tours of New York’s Grand Central Terminal resume after two-year hiatus
NEW YORK — Tours of Grand Central Terminal are resuming for the first time since being halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with global tour provider Walks as the new operator, Metro-North Railroad and City Experiences have announced. Tours will be held starting at 3 p.m. daily, with $35 admission for adults and $30 for […]
Electro-Motive Division tunnel motor diesels
Electro-Motive Division tunnel motor diesels Electro-Motive Division tunnel motor diesels solved a tricky problem. Locomotives operate in all climates, from scorching desert heat to frigid Canadian winters. An ample supply of fresh air is always required for cooling and combustion purposes but when trains operate through long tunnels or snowsheds at slow speeds, the ability […]
Abilene & Smoky Valley, Heritage Rail Management announce collaboration plans
ABILENE, Kan. — The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad will collaborate with a management subsidiary of American Heritage Railways to expand its operations, strengthen ridership, and advance the non-profit’s mission of education and historic preservation. The collaboration will be in the form of a multi-year agreement with Heritage Rail Management, which provides consulting, management, and […]
Best-selling first-generation Electro-Motive diesel locomotives
The best-selling first-generation Electro-Motive diesel locomotives came from the switcher, cab unit, and road switcher product lines. The company that would dominate locomotive construction from the 1940s through the 1970s had humble beginnings, contracting the construction of motor cars at other companies’ plants in the 1920s. The Electro-Motive Corp. was purchased by General Motors in […]
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 […]
Biggest steam switcher: Union Railroad’s 0-10-2
The biggest steam switcher stood head and shoulders above the rest. In the steam era, switch engines came in basically three sizes: 0-4-0, 0-6-0, and 0-8-0. They ranged from diminutive shop switchers — typically 0-4-0s, pretty much a pre-1900 machine — to huge switchers such as Indiana Harbor Belt’s three U-4a class 0-8-0s […]
Northern Pacific’s Banana Nut Bread recipe
Northern Pacific’s Banana Nut Bread immediately caught my eye as a recipe worth re-creating. The railroad wanted to waste as little as possible, so using overripe bananas in a banana bread was a sensible idea. It also reused milk that had gone sour (though you don’t need to keep old milk in your fridge—see tips […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas locomotives remembered
Missouri-Kansas-Texas locomotives were modernized under the watch of President Matthew Sloan in the 1930s. They were mostly built before World War I, with higher boiler pressures and superheaters. As a light-rail granger road set in mostly prairie country, Katy needed only modernized engines. Premier mainline power was 154 Mikados and 62 Pacifies, with yard work […]
Amtrak San Diego service through the years
Amtrak San Diego service has seen a gradual increase since startup. Amtrak operated two daily trains on the San Diego to Los Angeles route when it started service on May 1, 1971. The trains retained the San Diegan branding inherited from the Santa Fe, which continued to operate freight service over the line. […]
Rare New York Central electric locomotives still threatened
GLENMONT, N.Y. — Red tape, a gas pipeline utility, and a lawsuit have combined to delay and further threaten the rescue of two historic New York Central electric locomotives stranded for three decades along the Hudson River south of Albany. The Danbury Railway Museum of Danbury, Conn., has been working for nearly a year to […]
Now arriving, Wally Abbey’s magnum opus
Some books seem to have a will of their own. Nothing, not the passing of decades, not even the passing of the author, will keep them down. If the story is compelling enough — and if it is blessed with passionate believers — the story will win out. That’s how I feel about “The Diesel […]
