Summer 2000

Classic Trains is a quarterly magazine celebrating the “golden years of railroading.” Each issue covers the North American railroad scene from the 1920s to the late 1970s with extraordinary photographs and compelling writing. Giant steam locomotives, colorful streamliners, down-home local trains, great passenger terminals, recollections of railroaders and train-watchers . . . they’re all in […]

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Digest: Virginia port receives $20 million for rail expansion

Tuesday morning rail news: Norfolk, Va., port receives $20 million for rail expansion project The Virginia Port Authority will receive $20.2 million in Port Infrastructure Development funding from the U.S.Department of Transportation to complete rail expansion at its Norfolk International Terminals. The Suffolk News Herald reports the money will support building two new four-track sections for its […]

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Workaday Baldwins

Chesapeake Western, a 54-mile T-shaped west central Virginia road, employed three 1946 Baldwin DS-4-4-660s, two of which drill cars at Harrisonburg, site of the Southern Railway interchange, on November 5, 1958. CW, under Norfolk & Western control after 1954, also reached C&O at Staunton. Bob Krone photo […]

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New model trains for the week of July 16, 2020

See the latest HO, N, Z, and large scale model railroad products from Broadway Limited Imports, DCCconcepts, ScaleTrains.com, and more! HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division F units. F3A: Southern Pacific (orange and black, one road number). F7A and F7B: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (F7A, F7B, and F7A-B set in one number each); Great Northern […]

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New model trains for the week of July 9, 2020

HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP38-2 diesel locomotive. Canadian National (red, white, and black with Illinois Central reporting marks); Canadian Pacific (with large herald in two road numbers, small herald in one number); Illinois Central Gulf (orange-and-white and orange-and-gray schemes, two numbers each); Missouri Pacific (1972 as-delivered paint scheme); Soo Line (red “SOO” lettering on […]

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Locomotive profile: Alco’s C630 diesel electric locomotive

Norfolk & Western C630 No. 1134 at Roanoke, Virginia. Rick Johnson C630 •YEARS BUILT: 1965-1969 •MANUFACTURERS: Alco, Montreal •OPERATED ON: Atlantic Coast Line, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio, Louisville & Nashville, Norfolk & Western, Pacific Great Eastern, Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading, Southern Pacific, others •NAMES: C630, M630 •QUANTITY: 133 •HORSEPOWER: 3,000 •KNOWN FOR: The […]

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Locomotive profile: Alco’s C630 diesel electric locomotive

Norfolk & Western C630 No. 1134 at Roanoke, Virginia. Rick Johnson C630 •YEARS BUILT: 1965-1969 •MANUFACTURERS: Alco, Montreal •OPERATED ON: Atlantic Coast Line, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio, Louisville & Nashville, Norfolk & Western, Pacific Great Eastern, Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading, Southern Pacific, others •NAMES: C630, M630 •QUANTITY: 133 •HORSEPOWER: 3,000 •KNOWN FOR: The […]

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New model trains for the week of February 27, 2020

Bachmann HO scale 2-10-0 Russian Decapod steam locomotive HO scale locomotives 2-10-0 Russian Decapod steam locomotive. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Erie; St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco, with doghouse); Western Pacific; and painted black but unlettered. Dual-mode TCS WOWSound decoder; Keep-Alive capacitor; Chuffinity technology; cog V-belt flywheel drive; metal motor bearings; separately applied stack, domes, cab, […]

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Locomotive profile: 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotive

Strasburg Rail Road 4-8-0 Mastodon-type steam locomotive No. 475 pulls a tourist train in Pennsylvania. Jim Wrinn 4-8-0 •YEARS BUILT: 1890s to 1935 •MANUFACTURERS: Brooks, Rogers, Alco, Baldwin, Norfolk & Western •OPERATED ON: Jersey Central, Lackawanna, Union Pacific, Winston-Salem Southbound, Norfolk & Western, Delaware & Hudson, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Illinois Central, Missouri Pacific, Southern […]

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Locomotive profile: 4-6-2 Pacific type steam locomotive

Blue Mountain & Reading Pacific-type 4-6-2 No. 425 in Pennsylvania. Jim Wrinn 4-6-2 •YEARS BUILT: 1902 to 1948 •MANUFACTURERS: Alco, Baldwin, Lima, Santa Fe, Baltimore & Ohio, Canadian Locomotive Co., Chicago Great Western, Milwaukee Road, Delaware & Hudson, Great Northern, Illinois Central, Lehigh Valley, Louisville & Nashville, New York Central, Norfolk & Western, Pennsylvania, Reading, […]

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Locomotive profile: 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive

Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 pulls an excursion in Virginia. Jim Wrinn 4-8-4 •YEARS BUILT: 1926 to 1950 •MANUFACTURERS: Baldwin, Lima, Alco, Canadian Locomotive Co., Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal, Norfolk & Western •OPERATED ON: Most sizable railroads that provided fast freight and passenger service •NAME: Northern •QUANTITY: 1,115; Canadian National had more than 200 […]

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33 railroad places you need to visit in the East

A Florida East Coast train. TRAINS: Tom Danneman A version of this list was previously published in the November 2015 issue of Trains Magazine. 1 RAHWAY, N.J. Google Image search Six tracks abreast proclaim speed and intensity on the Northeast Corridor. 2 THURMOND, W.VA. Trip Advisor entry Classic 20th century coal and railroad town deep in the […]

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