Ron Ziel as he appeared in 1975 for a wedding announcement. The announcement includes a note that he and his wife, Elizabeth McAtic, had no time for a real honeymoon since they were about to spend six weeks in Africa imaging steam locomotives. Ron Ziel IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Ron Ziel, whose book “The Twilight […]
The Metroliners: Trains that changed the course of American rail travel By Bruce Goldberg and David C. Warner White River Productions, P.O. Box 48, Bucklin, MO 64631; 124 pages, hardcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches; $59.95 shop.whiteriverproductions.com Recounting the history of the Northeast Corridor’s first premium service in a breezy narrative that knows what to […]
Empty refrigerator cars race across the Union Pacific in Nebraska in the early ’50s. A UP conductor in Idaho talked his way out of a jam when his reefer train blocked a crossing, but got into trouble when he tried to enter the produce business himself. Linn H. Westcott Within any group, whether depicted in […]
N&W four- and six-motor EMDs rest at Crewe, Va., in 1981, three years after author Siik became acquainted with similar units during a strike on former Nickel Plate lines in Ohio. Curt Tillotson Jr. It happened nearly four decades ago, but still fresh are my memories of following the ghosts of 2-8-4 Berkshires and Bluebird […]
FULL SCREEN John F. Bjorklund, Collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art In its early days, Amtrak relied solely on equipment provided by its member railroads. The passenger carrier is barely two months old in this Independence Day view from Chicago in 1971, where train No. 18, the eastbound Super Chief-El Capitan, still […]
Listen to train announcements at Pennsylvania Station, New York, recorded on November 11, 1963, from the archives of Semaphore Records, 202-255-4043. […]
Watch video clips of SP 2-10-2s, Daylight 4-8-4s, cab-forwards, and more from the Herron Rail Video program Glory Machines Vol. 1. […]
Listen to train announcements at Pennsylvania Station, New York, recorded on November 11, 1963, from the archives of Semaphore Records, 202-255-4043. […]
Watch video clips of SP 2-10-2s, Daylight 4-8-4s, cab-forwards, and more from the Herron Rail Video program Glory Machines Vol. 1. […]
Seventy-five years ago on Nov. 25, 1939, Electro-Motive Corp.’s FT demonstrator diesel locomotive No. 103 left its birthplace at the company’s La Grange, Ill., plant. Nobody, not even its builders, knew what the new creation could do. True, the 17-year-old Electro-Motive had been a pioneer in diesel propulsion for railroad use, having built a successful […]
On West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad, engine crews with three Shay locomotives signal each other with whistles for moves and stops. Steve Sweeney Q In the days of steam, when railroaders didn’t have radios or other one-to-one communication, how did the engineer on the lead locomotive communicate to the engineers in the “helper” locomotives as […]
As part of America’s bicentennial celebration, the American Freedom Train spent 21 months touring the country, displaying 500 artifacts of the nation’s history — ranging from George Washington’s copy of the Constitution to a moon rock — to more than 7 million visitors in 48 states. That journey, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016, was […]
