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For much of the first half of the 20th century, the 2-8-2 Mikado was the dominant freight locomotive of the steam era. With its medium weight and medium power, it became the go-to, general-purpose engine — sort of the GP38 of its era. Consider how the World War I-era United States Railroad Administration divvied up […]
This is a list of locomotives we wish we could have preserved, the ones that got away. Gone, in some cases, before we even realized that they were on the endangered species list. Going from work-a-day diesel locomotives to denizens of deadlines, they didn’t make it to museums or public displays, just the junk man. […]
In the early 1960s, The Alco C420 diesel locomotive hit the market, part of the builder’s Century Series, a line of diesel locomotives designed to answer any operating requirement railroads could imagine. One of the designs was the Century 420, a four-axle, 2,000-horsepower diesel locomotive built upon the years of experience gained from earlier RS2, […]
The Amtrak GE P30CH locomotive is the spiritual successor to the GE U30CG passenger locomotive of 1967. Amtrak acquired 25 of the P30CH model, Nos. 700-724, between August 1975 and January 1976. The model designation led to the units’ nickname: “pooch.” It was essentially a U30C freight locomotive with a cowl body and […]
From the smallest narrow-gauge locomotive right up to Big Boy, steam locomotives capture the imagination and occupy a significant place in world history. The steam locomotive’s story runs far, wide, and deep. It continues to unfold today through preservation and restoration. Around every curve, there is another facet of the story waiting to be discovered. […]
Five worst paint schemes When it comes to a diesel locomotive’s paint scheme, I know what I like. I’m also 100 percent sure that no one else who follows the industry will agree with what I think of as the worst modern diesel locomotive paint schemes, and that’s okay. Below is my list of five […]
GP15D & GP20D A rare pair of Geep diesel locomotives, the GP15D and GP20D, looked like sure winners, but sank with hardly a ripple when they hit the market in the early 2000s. Locomotive builder MotivePower, Inc., based in Boise, Idaho marketed a light road-switcher concept in the early 2000s that should have appealed to […]
Note: This article corrects an earlier version that contained an error in the description of the SD70’s HTC-R trucks. See Comments for more information. Alaska Railroad’s SD70MACs make up the backbone of the railroad’s freight operations and they also power all the ARR’s long-distance passenger trains — wait, isn’t the SD70MAC a freight locomotive? Although […]
Genesee & Wyoming is undergoing the largest-ever transformation of its corporate locomotive fleet. A consent decree announced in January between the Environmental Protection Agency and G&W requires the company to remove and destroy 88 older locomotives, replacing them with locomotives meeting EPA emission standards [see “Genesee & Wyoming agrees to settlement …,” Trains News Wire, […]
Georgia Railroad locomotives included a mix of small steam designs and EMD models. By 1914 the Georgia Road was powered by an assortment of 4-4-0s, 0-6-0s, Moguls, Ten-Wheelers, four modern Lima 2-8-2s, and a pair of light Pacifics. A handful of all-steel baggage cars, RPOs, and coaches shared the car roster with a […]
In the steam era, perhaps no sight was as unconventional as an encounter with one of the Southern Pacific cab-forwards. These monstrous AC class 4-8-8-2 steam locomotives turned engine design almost literally on its head by flipping the position of the cab and the firebox to the front. As they would in the diesels that […]
When I began writing this Mileposts blog seven years ago, I told myself to avoid saying much about my favorite steam locomotive, Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225, which I worked on in college at Michigan State. The 1225 led me to a career, and I wrote a book about it. But there are plenty […]
