Pennsylvania Railroad P5a electric 4737 brings a freight into Philadelphia from the west after a heavy snowfall in early 1958. The motor is passing the station at Overbrook, easternmost of the suburban stops on the Main Line to Paoli. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Fast freight on the Nickel Plate
Well into the 1950s, the Nickel Plate Road believed its superb 2-8-4 Berkshires to be better than diesels for its fast freight service. Because it dieselized late, NKP had no freight cab units, only road-switchers. Don Wood photo […]
Frisco heavy 2-8-2
The Frisco’s 4200-series Mikados of 1930 were among the most powerful 2-8-2s on any railroad. They were rated at 68,500 lbs. tractive effort — 78,100 lbs. with booster — and could wheel fast freights at 50 mph. Frank E. Ardrey photo […]
On creating the world’s largest fusee
Union Pacific’s City of Denver curves away from North Western Station in Chicago at the start of its run west. Sister streamliner City of Portland once made an unscheduled stop at Oak Park, 9 miles west. Wallace W. Abbey In spring 1955, I was working as a ticket clerk at Chicago & North Western’s Oak […]
Niagara on the run
New York Central 4-8-4 Niagara 6023 is near the end of its short life as it rambles through Millbury Junction, Ohio, (7.5 miles east of Toledo) with nine-car mail-and-express train X-78 in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
P5a’s on a PRR freight
Two Pennsylvania Railroad P5a electrics roll northward with a freight at Halethorpe, Md., in the 1940s. Early P5a’s had box-cab carbodies; later versions with streamlined bodies, such as this pair, were known as “P5a modifieds.” Frank Clodfelter photo […]
Hi-cubes and fruit cans
NYC RS3 8288 — a “little diesel” to the author as a pre-schooler — heads a westbound way freight along the Hudson River at Peekskill in 1959. Nine years later and 29 miles down the river a hi-cube car ran into trouble. Karl R. Zimmermann Between the 1910s, when the New York Central electrified its […]
Iowa Pacific purchases Illinois Central E units from CN NEWSWIRE
Nos. 100 and 101 running around an excursion train in Wisconsin in December 2012. Steve Glischinski CHICAGO – Iowa Pacific Holding is the top bidder for two Illinois Central E units from Canadian National. The two units, E9s Nos. 100 and 101 were put up for sale earlier this year after CN deemed them surplus. […]
SP piggyback train
For a time in the 1950s, Southern Pacific had the most extensive piggyback operations in the land. Here a train bound from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area climbs Santa Susana Pass near Chatsworth, Calif. Classic Trains coll. […]
Soo Line overnighter leaving Chicago
Handsome 4-8-2 No. 4018 marches away from Chicago’s Grand Central Station with Soo Line train 17 for Duluth, Minn., with cars for Minneapolis and Ashland, Wis., in May 1949. Harold Stirton photo […]
Tracks Ahead: Season 9 – Pennsylvania Railroad
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page This Tracks Ahead layout visit highlights Bill Kachel’s HO scale depiction of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad running under catenary between New York City and Pittsburgh. […]
Tracks Ahead: Season 9 – Pennsylvania Railroad
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page This Tracks Ahead layout visit highlights Bill Kachel’s HO scale depiction of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad running under catenary between New York City and Pittsburgh. […]