Rock Island lives on in restored GP7 No. 1275 NEWSWIRE

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No. 1275 at NRE in Silvis, Ill. ELDON, Iowa – The Eldon Depot Museum has brought back a piece of the “Rock” with the renumbering and repainting of a GP7 in Rock Island colors. Members of the museum recalled working with Rock Island GP7 1275, which was well liked by engineers. To honor the unit, […]

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Close encounter with the B&OCT

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B&OCT 0-8-0 1703 hauls a string of cars from Grand Central Station, Chicago, to B&O’s Robey Street coachyard. Robert A. Caflisch In 1957 I was a 14-year-old, dismayed by the disappearance the previous year of the remaining Pacifics from commuter service on the Chicago & North Western through my hometown, Des Plaines, Ill. I knew […]

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Last ride north from Xenia

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PRR passenger service from Xenia north to Springfield, Ohio, — protected by an old gas-electric motor car — ended on July 21, 1953.  Harry V. Noble Xenia, my hometown in southwestern Ohio, was on the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis main line 16 miles east of Dayton. Xenia was also the base of a branch line north […]

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Thank you gift: Santa Fe

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  Thank you for being a loyal Classic Trains newsletter subscriber! Enjoy your love for classic trains to the fullest! Please enjoy a FREE gift: 27-page Article Collection we’ve set aside just for you! See downloadable files below for your FREE gift. Continue to enjoy the golden age of railroading on ClassicTrainsMag.com and enjoy these […]

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Learning the lingo at Flagstaff

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At Flagstaff, Ariz., where Santa Fe operator Elisa Lindenberg apprenticed in 1943, an operator hands up orders to an FT-powered eastbound perishables train in 1947. Joe Lynch The time was August 1943, the place, Flagstaff, Arizona. My mother, Elisa Ward Lindenberg, and I had come west because Zane Gray’s books had captivated her and she […]

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Get well soon

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Southern SD45 3134 leaves a pall of smoke over the depot area at Salisbury, N.C., July 17, 1977. Mike Small Growing up in close proximity to a main line, I’ve always valued speed and power in railroading. We lived about a mile south of Jamestown, N.C., where Southern Railway’s Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Ga., route […]

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Former DT&I Lima depot demolished NEWSWIRE

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Crews clear the last debris from the depot site on Wednesday. The trackage belongs to Indiana & Ohio. Eric Davis LIMA, Ohio – Northwest Ohio has lost a piece of its railroad history this month. Crews recently razed the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton freight depot in Lima, completing the job on April 15. The […]

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‘19 west, copy 4, Plains’

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Three NP F units lead a 12-car train 2, the Mainstreeter, through Plains, Mont., in summer 1964. The depot’s train-order signal projects above the third unit, while a mail pouch is ready to be snagged by No. 2’s RPO. Bruce Butler In the summer of 1964 I had just about the best summer job that […]

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