GP39

Three quarter view of dark blue diesel locomotive with light yellow lettering

GP39 Chesapeake & Ohio No. 3909 is a GP39. It looks like a GP38 but it /has a single turbo stack in front of the dynamic brake fan. The GP39 was an “in-between” locomotive, using a smaller (12-cylinder) turbocharged 645 engine rated at 2,300 hp, putting it between the GP38 and GP40. It never became […]

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CP Pacific type

Trains line up side-by-side at urban passenger station

CP Pacific type One of Canadian Pacific’s 173 G3 Pacifics steams east out of Calgary station with a regional train in June 1949. One track over, a mountain observation car has just been added to the westbound Dominion’s tail. Walter H. Thrall Jr. photo […]

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Geared for success

Geared steam locomotive reverses with coal cars

Geared for success Brimstone’s 3-truck Shay No. 35 pulls coal in Tennessee. Lumber railroads were the primary users, but a few coal-haulers used Shays and/or the two other popular geared locomotives in North America, Heislers and Climaxes. Dwight Smith, Jim Wrinn collection […]

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SPUD switcher

Center cab diesel switcher with cars along passenger platforms

SPUD switcher St. Paul Union Depot 44-ton 441, built by GE in 1941, works its namesake Minnesota passenger terminal. The locomotive’s size and weight would allow one-man operation under the “90,000-pound” rule of the 1937 National Diesel Agreement labor rules. Classic Trains collection […]

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Soldier Summit

Streamlined passenger train rolls into valley alongside yard tracks filled with hoppers

Soldier Summit The eastbound California Zephyr catches the morning sun at Soldier Summit, Utah, in August 1959. Ahead: a full day of breathtaking scenery on the Denver & Rio Grande Western, which the train used for 570 miles of its 2,518-mile, three-railroad route. Fred Matthews photo […]

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State of the art

Diesel locomotive set leads a freight train through hills and under a signal bridge

State of the art A classic A-B-B-A set of EMD FTs — the state of the locomotive art in 1940 — lead a Santa Fe freight over Southern California’s Cajon Pass. Santa Fe photo […]

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Western Pacific Railroad: Locomotives

Black-and-white view of diesel road-switcher locomotive

  All through August 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and splendor that was the Western Pacific Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of locomotives selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Trains.com! […]

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Grain, the old-fashioned way

Men load bags of grain from platform into open boxcar

Grain, the old-fashioned way Through the end of the 1800s, a lot of grain was shipped in 100-pound sacks. Here, workers load grain sacks into wood boxcars in Minneapolis around 1900. Minneapolis Public Library collection […]

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Roosevelt Road

Multi-colored diesels move passenger train under signal bridge and out of downtown landscape

Roosevelt Road Evidence of Penn Central’s pre-1968 legacy — New York Central, Pennsylvania, and PC-painted units — is clearly visible in this 1970 view of LaSalle Street Station. Chicago’s famous Roosevelt Road provided a great view of the downtown passenger terminals. Harold A. Edmonson photo […]

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‘Golden Spike Centennial Limited’

Rear of passenger in underground terminal

‘Golden Spike Centennial Limited’ High Iron Co. observation car Mountain View brings up the markers on the Golden Spike Centennial Limited prior to departure from Track 34 at New York’s Grand Central Terminal on May 3, 1969. The car once ran on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited. Don Wood photo […]

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