Milwaukee Road passenger trains

A black and white photo of passengers loading a train

  All through November 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Milwaukee Road passenger trains selected from the image files in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was first published in September 2019. […]

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Thanksgiving in Toronto

Thanksgiving in Toronto was about to begin. Shortly before noon, two teenagers swung down from the Pacific’s cab. Just as they hit the station platform, two peeps came from the cab communication whistle. The fireman turned around, waving a good-bye, and Canadian Pacific train 326 was in motion — 11 minutes away from its final […]

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White River Junction

Steam and diesel locomotives with trains in curved yard

White River Junction A steam-powered, heavyweight passenger train passes freight JS4 departing the Boston & Maine’s White River Junction, Vt., yard with an A-B set of F units in 1947. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Train 447

Three diesel locomotives in yard

Train 477 Train 477 out of Chicago holds the westward main track at Butler, Chicago & North Western’s principal Milwaukee-area yard and site of the Wisconsin Division headquarters, in spring 1984. Chris Burger photo […]

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Dad was a closet railfan

Black-and-white photo of front end of steam locomotive emerging from enginehouse doorway

My father was a closet railfan. He didn’t hang around the tracks or take pictures of trains. On the other hand, he was always more than happy to take us kids to almost any railroad yard or station if we asked. And he never told us to stay away from the tracks, perhaps swayed by […]

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Milwaukee Road history

Color three-quarter-angle photo of streamlined steam locomotive with passenger train

Milwaukee Road history Milwaukee Road history begins with the Milwaukee & Waukesha Rail Road, which was chartered in 1847. Even before it laid its first rails in 1850, its name was changed to the Milwaukee & Mississippi. In 1851 it reached Waukesha, Wis., 20 miles west of Milwaukee. Its rails reached Madison in 1854 and […]

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Ambassador

Diesel powered passenger train on river bridge

Ambassador The northbound day train to Montreal, known as the Ambassador, crosses the Connecticut River near Windsor, Vt. It exemplifies the mixed consist the train carried of Boston & Maine, Central Vermont, and New Haven equipment. […]

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Train 4

Steam locomotive with passenger train

Train 4 Pere Marquette’s unnamed Grand Rapids–Detroit train 4 rolls through Trowbridge, Mich., in 1940. Locomotive 712 is one of 12 class SP-3 4-6-2 Pacifics built by Alco’s Brooks works in January 1921. Classic Trains collection […]

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Camelback ‘Comet’

Steam locomotive waits by water tower

Camelback Comet Jersey Central Camelback 592 (now preserved in Baltimore) pinch-hits for a regularly assigned 4-6-2 on the Blue Comet at Hammonton, N.J., in the 1930s. With drivers up to 86 inches, Atlantics ruled on fast trains in the 1890s and 1900s before Pacifics superseded them. Granville Thomas photo […]

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