Conrail passenger trains: A small chapter for a big blue railroad

Conrail passenger trains: Conrail and Burlington Northern passenger trains in a Chicago rail yard.

Conrail passenger trains are probably the least known of all the aspects of the big blue railroad’s operations over time. As Conrail is the Fallen Flag Railroad of the Month for April 2022, please enjoy these Conrail passenger trains images from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Conrail started operations April 1, 1976 taking over […]

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Local train on the old BR&P

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

A Baltimore & Ohio class P-6 Pacific passes CM Tower at Du Bois, Pa., with Pittsburgh–Buffalo train 252 in September 1955. This is the old Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, which became part of B&O in 1932. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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EMC delivers first doodlebug motorcar

Gas-powered doodlebug motorcar with trailer for Gulf, Mobile & Ohio

The breakthrough The first Electro-Motive doodlebug motorcar to be delivered went to the Chicago Great Western in August 1924. Right from the first run, founder Hal Hamilton’s expectation that railroads would overload the equipment was confirmed. The gas-electric car and its transmission system had been rated and advertised as being capable of handling a 35-ton […]

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‘Coast Lines and Valley Freights’ book review

Coast Lines and Valley Freights book cover

“Coast Lines and Valley Freights” is a 348-page, 8 1/2 x 11-inch, hardbound volume with 630 color photos. It will quicken the pulse of any diehard Santa Fe fan. Covering the last three decades of the Santa Fe Railway in California, this superb book is an excellent and magical tribute to the Santa Fe and its […]

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Conrail history remembered

Blue diesel locomotives with train of open hoppers

Conrail history starts with Penn Central’s bankruptcy in 1970, a collapse that upset the entire railroad industry. Something had to be done — Penn Central could not simply be liquidated. It operated one-third of the nation’s passenger trains and was the principal freight carrier in the Northeast. Without PC, the industries of the area would […]

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Late-blooming narrow-gauge

New Berlin and Winfield Railroad

The New Berlin & Winfield was a 3-foot-gauge short line in central Pennsylvania extending from Winfield on the west shore of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to New Berlin. It opened in 1905, quite late for a narrow-gauge common carrier. NB&W 2-6-0 No. 2, photographed at New Berlin around 1910, went to Argent […]

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Excursion on the Ma & Pa

Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad

Between Dallastown Junction and Yoe, Pa., on the Maryland & Pennsylvania, railfans fill a flatcar outfitted with railings during a fantrip on Oct. 6, 1940. William M. Moedinger photo […]

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Delaware Lackawanna and Western locomotives remembered

Black and white image of a steam locomotive passing a depot.

Delaware Lackawanna and Western locomotives: All through March, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Please enjoy this photo selection of DL&W locomotives selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Lackawanna steam locomotives were top-notch among Northeast coal-hauling roads. The railroad’s last steam locomotive ran in […]

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“Check out the new Diesel!”

Seaboard Airline Railroad

People line up to tour the cab of brand-new Seaboard Air Line E4 passenger diesel No. 3001 in 1938. SAL’s 14 A units and 5 B units were the only Electro-Motive units to carry the E4 model designation. Louis A. Marre coll. […]

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