History of the Texas & Pacific What grew to become the 20th century’s Texas & Pacific Railway sprouted from some of Texas’s earliest railroads. The Lone Star State’s pre-Civil War network included 11 operating companies. One of the earliest was the Texas Western Railroad, chartered in 1850 and soon renamed Vicksburg & El Paso. In […]
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Remembering the Texas & Pacific Railway
T&P’s 70 2-10-4 Texas type steam locomotives, built by Lima 1925-29, were the road’s biggest, most numerous, and best-known power. No. 636 rolls an extra east near Mineola, 79 miles east of Dallas, in 1951. R. S. Plummer History of the Texas & Pacific What grew to become the 20th century’s Texas & Pacific Railway […]
Superlative steam
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific had a fleet of 85 4-8-4 Northerns, largest in the country. Here, No. 5058 leads a westbound freight near Lawrence, Kans., in January 1952. Robert P. Olmsted photo […]
Man and machine
At Works Tower in Altoona, Pa., a fresh crew gets ready to take Chicago-bound Pennsylvania Railroad piggyback train TT1 west. Unseen, car inspectors check for loose tie-down bracing on the trailers. GP9 No. 7000 is preserved at the Cape May Seashore Lines in New Jersey. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Remembering Santa Fe Railway locomotives
Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. In May 2020, we celebrate the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Please enjoy a collection of locomotive images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include the Santa Fe’s iconic locomotives and classic scenic […]
N&W Y6a to return to St. Louis after five years in Virginia NEWSWIRE
Norfolk & Western Y6a No. 2156 will return to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis after five years in Virginia. It is at left in this May 2015 view of the reunion of N&W’s Y, J, and A classes in Roanoke, Va. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn After spending the past half-decade in Virginia, former […]
Remembering Santa Fe Railway freight trains
All this month — May 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include Santa Fe diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might […]
Remembering Santa Fe passenger trains
In May 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the Santa Fe Railway. Enjoy this photo gallery, originally published online in April 2015, as the perfect salute to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we did last […]
Remembering the Santa Fe Railway
F units dressed in Santa Fe’s incomparable Warbonnet paint scheme accelerate the Chicago–Los Angeles Chief away from its station and crew stop at Chillicothe, Ill., in early 1968. J. David Ingles History of the Santa Fe Railway The Atchison & Topeka Railroad was chartered in 1859 to join the towns of its title and continue […]
Gettin’ out of Dodge
In August 1968, two years before author Dierks’ ride and when the Boise City mixed carried a combine instead of just a caboose, Santa Fe train 174 is at Elkhart, Kans. Joe McMillan This wasn’t my first rodeo, so to speak. I had ridden mixed trains in Utah and Idaho, and, just four days ago, one in Kansas. […]
Remembering Pere Marquette Railway freight trains
All this month — April 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Pere Marquette Railway. Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include Pere Marquette diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time. You might also enjoy this […]
Treacherous tracks
A Denver & Salt Lake passenger train pauses at Arrow, Colo., on the original Rollins Pass line in 1905. At left is the main line west to Middle Park, which has a 4-percent grade. Today, Union Pacific freights and Amtrak’s California Zephyr bypass this treacherous trackage with Moffat Tunnel, completed in 1928. L. C. McClure photo […]