Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works Wheel arrangement: 2-8-2 Mikado Build date: March 1923 Why it’s important: Grand Canyon Railway’s 4960 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The O-1A class 2-8-2 Mikado No. 4960 was ideally suited for powering fast freight trains across Burlington’s mostly level Midwest routes. With the arrival […]
Last month Trains sat down with Stefan Loeb, Norfolk Southern’s vice president of first and final mile markets, to discuss how local service can help the railroad grow. The position was created in April, when Loeb joined NS from shortline holding company Watco, where he was chief commercial officer [see “Norfolk Southern names intermodal and […]
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Isn’t amazing how a single vintage photograph of a store that stocked electric trains can serve as a time machine to carry us back several decades. Pictures like this one are scarce, and so we at Classic Toy Trains know how fortunate we are to be able to share it with you. Our gratitude goes […]
LUCERNE, Switzerland — One of these days, I will give a visit to the Swiss Museum of Transport all the time it deserves. This was not that day. I’ve now been to the museum — the most popular in Switzerland, with about 530,000 visitors a year — twice. Both times, it has been far too […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific’s freight car and locomotive inspection and maintenance practices pose a “significant risk to rail safety,” the head of the Federal Railroad Administration said in a letter sent Friday to top railroad executives. FRA Administrator Amit Bose said the agency conducted a focused inspection of UP’s mechanical operations and rolling stock in […]
What was your first train set (or locomotive)? My first O-gauge trains were two Lionel and one Marx locomotives and cars. My grandfather built a through truss bridge and box to put everything in. I have a number of cars and a few turnouts. I’ve added to the collection a little over the years. We […]
Keep your diesel cool Cooling has always been one of the most important aspects of a locomotive. Simply put, the higher the horsepower, the more cooling a locomotive needs. With the implementation of emission regulations over the last several decades, the amount of cooling has increased to meet requirements at each of the four levels […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — Last October, BNSF Railway had filed a suit over a start-up airline’s effort to use the name “Northern Pacific.” As of Sept. 8, 2023, a temporary outcome has surfaced. Northern Pacific Airlines (NPA) has received a preliminary injunction — a “temporary relief” to keep things the way they are until the […]
Editor’s Note: Former Classic Trains Senior Editor J. David Ingles rode the Georgia Railroad mixed train with his wife, Carol, on Oct. 22, 1975. Wednesday morning was dawning clear but crisp as we left the motel, and our taxi driver had no trouble making the 7-mile trip to the Harrisonville Yard “passenger station” […]
Montreal Locomotive Works RSC24 diesel locomotives were “conceived of cannibalism.” So went a claim in the April 1977 issue of Trains. Montreal Locomotive Works had encouraged Canadian National to upgrade its older, 1,600 hp road switchers with new 12-cylinder, 251-type prime movers. Four of its 244-type prime movers were recycled into the new RSC24 […]
OLTEN, Switzerland — Just about every railfan knows what it’s like to have one of those days when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. So it was for me today in Olten. This is not a city high on the must-see list for most vacationers. It doesn’t even warrant a mention in […]
