Northern Pacific Railway locomotives

  All through May 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the style, glamour and grit of the Northern Pacific Railway. Please enjoy this NP locomotive photo gallery sourced from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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Iron mule

Coal hopper moves along unloading trestle alongside ship

Iron mule An unseen “iron mule” between the rails propels a coal car, with a brakeman aboard, toward a dumper at Newport News, Va. The C&O, along with rivals Norfolk & Western and Virginian, moved millions of tons of coal to be transloaded to ships in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Chesapeake & Ohio […]

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Illinois steam survivor

Profile of steam-powered freight train on truss bridge over wide river

Illinois steam survivor Wabash 2-6-0 576 creeps west across the Illinois River at Meredosia, Ill., in September 1954. The bridge famously limited the use of diesel locomotives on the railroad’s branch to Keokuk, making this operation a late era Midwest steam outpost. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Doug Harrop’s Utah

Sun highlight diesel locomotive exhaust of train in curve

Doug Harrop retired from Union Pacific in 2003. He hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1967 in Arizona. He left the management ranks a decade later to return to Utah to enter engine service out of Ogden. Known for his photographic coverage of Utah, Harrop’s enthusiasm for railroads took him across the continent. He […]

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Intermodal engineering

Wooden ramp to load trailers and vehicles onto railroad flatcars

Intermodal engineering Wood planks were common for building piggyback ramps. Large planks formed rub rails (well-used judging by the scars) along the edges, with a notch for the flatcar coupler and a steel bridge plate on the right. Classic Trains magazine collection […]

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Midwest memories

Black diesel switcher with boxcar

Midwest memories The sun shines down on Northern Pacific-painted S2 705 at Jamestown, N.Dak., on NP S2 705 in early 1970, just eight weeks after the creation of Burlington Northern. J. David Ingles photo […]

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Cody’s Trackside Finds

Four red CN high-cube distributed braking cars in the middle of an intermodal train.

Welcome to Cody’s Trackside Finds, a new series on Trains.com, where we’ll look at interesting locomotives, freight cars, structures, or details that I’ve come across while railfanning. In these entries, I’ll provide some background information on the subject, give you some modeling tips, and most importantly, encourage comments from the Trains.com community. Do you have […]

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Terminal Station

Exterior of stone station on street corner

Terminal Station Daniel Burnham designed the Southern Railway’s monumental Terminal Station in New Orleans in 1908, just after his Washington Union Station opened. Terminal faced Canal Street at Basin until it was razed in 1956. James G. La Vake photo […]

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Northern Pacific Railway freight trains

  The Northern Pacific Railway is Classic Trains‘ Railroad of the Month for May 2021. Please enjoy this freight train photo gallery sourced from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. Only from Classic Trains! […]

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Route of the Rockets

Shiny new diesel locomotive

Route of the Rockets The 1,600-hp Alco RS3 was an all-time best-selling road switcher with more than 1,200 built from 1949 to 1956. Rock Island No. 492, built in 1951, operated in Chicago area commuter service. Rock Island photo […]

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Hudsons meet

Steam-powered passenger trains meet in station on curve while a passenger watches

Hudsons meet New York Central 4-6-4 5447, its 1938 streamlining battered and partly removed, meets another streamlined Hudson at Chicago’s Englewood station in 1946. Paul Eilenberger photo, Harold Stirton collection […]

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Twin Cities Zephyr

Shovel-nose streamlined diesel with passenger train in street

Twin Cities Zephyr Led by 1936 power unit 9905 Zephyrus, the Burlington’s Twin Cities Zephyr swings into the downtown La Crosse, Wis., depot circa 1939. Slow street running was an obstacle in the speed war with rivals Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road. Elden H. Hunter photo […]

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