Super Power premier

Steam locomotive produces smoke on fast train

Super Power premier The era of modern steam power dates to Lima’s development of Super Power and the Boston & Albany Berkshire (2-8-4), which hauled freight through its namesake mountains. But the B&A locomotive’s small (63-inch-diameter) drivers failed to take advantage of its boiler to generate steam fast enough for high-speed service. Number 1421 is […]

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Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway: A History

Road-switcher diesel locomotive in foreground, articulated steam locomotive in background

No. 231, one of Missabe’s famous 2-8-8-4s, passes two brand-new successor SD9s at Proctor Yard in May 1959. Marvin Nielsen History of the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range From 1938 until it was purchased by Canadian National in 2004, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway was “King of the Iron-Ore Haulers.” Its job was […]

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Pride of the fleet

Passenger trains meet on curve under signal bridge

Pride of the fleet The Super Chief, which originated the Warbonnet paint scheme, quickly became Santa Fe’s signature passenger offering after its introduction in 1936. Here, it meets the Pekin Express at Chicago’s 15th Street Tower in an undated photo. Photo by Wallace W. Abbey […]

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Remembering Seaboard Air Line locomotives

Diesel locomotive in a yard at the head of a train.

  All through March 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the stylish passenger trains, gritty freights, history, and now, hard-working locomotives of the Seaboard Air Line. Please enjoy this photo gallery of SAL images selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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Landmark former PRR tower facing demolition

Train passing brick tower in snow

MG Tower, a landmark on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Pittsburgh Line through the Allegheny Mountains, is reportedly facing demolition by current owner Norfolk Southern 27 years after its closure. The tower was built to help the Pennsylvania deal with the increased demand to transport war materials, troops, civilian passenger trains, and regular freight shipments.  In […]

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Study will consider conversion of Milwaukee Road 261 to burn oil

Steam locomotive pulls passenger train

MINNEAPOLIS – The Friends of the 261, the non-profit organization that owns and operates Milwaukee Road S-3 class 4-8-4 No. 261, has launched a study to consider converting the locomotive from coal to oil firing. Friends of the 261 President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg said the group is conducting a feasibility study and […]

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Museum volunteers return Northern Pacific SD45 to operation

Newly restored diesel in Northern Pacific paint

DULUTH, Minn. — Volunteers at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum have returned Northern Pacific SD45 No. 3617 to operating condition. The locomotive was started up and moved under its own power at the museum on Feb. 27, the first time it has operated in more than 14 years. The locomotive was donated to the museum […]

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