Passenger power

20200403

Passenger cab units, like this twin-engine New York Central EMD E8, rode on six-wheel trucks with the center axle unpowered, denoted as A1A-A1A. EMD built 421 E8A units and 39 E8B units making it the second most popular model in the line behind the E7. Pictured is a late production E8, with stamped-metal grill along […]

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Circus style

20200420

Trailers were loaded and unloaded at mid-century “circus style” by means of a ramp at the end of a track and retractable bridge plates between cars. Here, a Southern Pacific trailer moves along a string of flatcars. Robert Hale photo […]

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Remembering Pere Marquette locomotives

1PM318

Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. In April 2020, we celebrate the Pere Marquette Railway. Please enjoy a collection of locomotive images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include the Pere Marquette’s iconic locomotives and classic scenic photos. You might […]

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Trains News Wire Digest for Saturday, April 11 NEWSWIRE

Metro_Crenshaw_1

Opening of LA Metro’s Crenshaw Line will be delayed until 2021 because of construction issues. LA Metro This Illinois Central equipment on display in Homewood, Ill., shown in 2016, will be relocated as part of a renovation of the city’s Metra and Amtrak station. TRAINS: David Lassen Saturday rail news: — Construction issues will delay […]

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Remembering Pere Marquette passenger trains

A train passing over a bridge

In April 2020, Classic Trains is celebrating the history, heritage, and splendor of the Pere Marquette Railway. Enjoy this photo gallery, originally published online in  October 2017, as the perfect salute to the PM. Return each week for another salute to the railroad of the month! See what we did last week for the Pere […]

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Remembering the Pere Marquette Railway

Two E7’s, just months old, stand outside the trainshed of Chicago’s Grand Central Station, ready to depart for PM’s hub of Grand Rapids, Michigan, with train 6, on June 21, 1947.

Two E7’s, just months old, stand outside the trainshed of Chicago’s Grand Central Station, ready to depart for PM’s hub of Grand Rapids, Michigan, with train 6, on June 21, 1947. Dave Wallace Chasing the spirit of the Pere Marquette When I first encountered the former Pere Marquette Railway as a boy in southwestern Michigan […]

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Big town, no main lines

MILWsiouxfalls

The Milwaukee Road was one of the big players in Sioux Falls. One of its hottest trains in the late 1940s was the daily-except-Sunday meat train to Chicago, seen passing a diesel switcher as it departs Sioux Falls. Mikado 508 carries an extra tender to reduce water stops. Henry J. McCord Growing up in an […]

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Remembering Clinchfield Railroad locomotives

A train sitting on the tracks

Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. In March 2020, we celebrate the Clinchfield Railroad. Please enjoy a collection of locomotive images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include the Clinchfield’s iconic locomotives and classic scenic photos. You might also enjoy […]

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Tidewater transience

20200310

Two Geeps (center left) bring a train into Chesapeake & Ohio’s sprawling coal storage yard at Newport News, Va. Cars are stored here until needed at the nearby port facilities where they are mixed with various other grades of coal while loading into oceangoing vessels. Chesapeake & Ohio, John B. Corns collection […]

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West Virginia varnish

20200317

Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 207 waits with train 1 at Thomas, W.Va., on April 29, 1951. From here, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, the train will run downhill through the Black Fork Gorge to Elkins. K. F. Merlin photo […]

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Spying on SPUD

20200305

St. Paul Union Depot Co. Vice President and General Manager Harry P. Congdon looks out on a Chicago Great Western F unit from the top floor of the yard office. At the time, the station was busiest between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. with 22 arrivals and 21 departures. Arthur F. Hager photo […]

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