New movie recreates New York’s Penn Station NEWSWIRE

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Penn Station in 1957 was recreated on a former Lunar Module assembly plant on Long Island for Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Motherless Brooklyn,” combining both live action and visual effects. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures In a scene set in the recreated Penn Station, director and star Edward Norton, as Lionel Essrog, eyes production director Beth […]

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Remembering Boston & Maine Railroad locomotives

2-8-4 steam locomotive as seen obliquely from the front.

Starting in October 2019, Classic Trains editors will celebrate the heritage, history, and lore of famed (and infamous) railroads. We start this series with the beloved Boston & Maine. Please enjoy a collection of images located in the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include B&M’s iconic locomotives and scarce builder’s photos. […]

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Granger scene

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At terminal elevators, grain doors were stacked, collected, and sorted by the Western Weighing and Inspection Bureau for shipment back to originating railroads. These doors are stored by Milwaukee Road outside-braced boxcars. Library of Congress photo […]

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Factory fresh

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  Railway Express Agency bought 500 new steel plug door reefers from American Car & Foundry in 1947-48. They initially wore a green and aluminum scheme, but were repainted all green in the 1950s. American Car & Foundry photo […]

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Long hidden Moffat Cup emerges in Colorado NEWSWIRE

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The Moffat Cup, long stored, is now on display at Denver’s Union Station. John Crisanti 1904 cup was a gift for building a railroad across the Rockies. John Crisanti DENVER — It was a historic day for Colorado railroad history on Friday when a giant silver cup made out of pure silver weighing 230-pounds with […]

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‘Jump, kid, jump!’

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Switching at night could be hazardous, especially when some dodgy moves were attempted. Robert Hale In the middle of 1960 or ’61, during a summer break from Texas Western College in El Paso, I was working the extra board on the New Mexico Division of the Santa Fe. One night I was the pin-puller on a […]

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Visitors increase at Golden Spike, Steamtown NEWSWIRE

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‘Jupiter’ and No. 119 replicas recreate the 1869 ceremony at the Golden Spike National Historic Park in Utah. Jim Wrinn PROMONTORY, Utah – More than 38,000 people made the pilgrimage to the Utah desert in three days in May to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike that completed the First […]

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Rail attorney, historian Byron Olsen dies NEWSWIRE

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Byron “Barney” Olsen and his 1977 Town and Country Station Wagon in Dresser, Wis. in 2008. Steve Glischinski ST. PAUL, Minn. – Byron “Barney” Olsen, who balanced a career in railroad law for Great Northern, Burlington Northern and Soo Line while pursuing his interest in streetcar and railroad history, died in St. Paul last month […]

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Photographer Ralph Hallock dies NEWSWIRE

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Ralph Hallock aboard the Allis-Chalmers Co. private car ‘Queen of Scots’ (ex-Missouri-Kansas-Texas No. 403) in 1979. Hallock wrote about his experiences with the car when he was with A-C in the Fall 2017 issue of ‘Classic Trains.’ SANDPOINT, Idaho – Ralph E. Hallock, who began contributing photos to Trains in the late 1940s, died Aug. […]

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Railroad Fair

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The Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948–49 included modern equipment displays and a pageant featuring a reenactment of the 1869 Golden Spike ceremony, seen here. B.L. Stone, Krambles-Peterson Archive […]

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