“COVERED WAGONS.” “CARBODY UNITS.” “STREAMLINERS.” “F UNITS.” Call ’em what you will, when you’re talking the F-for-freight series from General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division, you’re talking the most famous diesel in railroading. Maybe “F” should stand for Face. It’s the famous “bulldog nose” that did it. It hit the road with FT demonstrator quartet 103, “the […]
Texas & Pacific 600 was from the first group of 2-10-4’s. In 1919 Santa Fe purchased a group of 2-10-2’s. One of them, No. 3829, was built with an experimental four-wheel trailing truck, but was otherwise identical to the rest of the group. The experiment was inconclusive: No. 3829 was not converted to a 2-10-2, […]
One of Nickel Plate’s handsome Berkshires leads a westward freight across the Grand River bridge in Painesville, Ohio. No. 802 was originally built for the Wheeling & Lake Erie in 1937, then went to work for the Nickel Plate Road in 1949 when the NKP leased the W&LE. John A. Rehor In 1920, when American […]
The Streamlined Era For the industrial designer, no object was as enticing, dramatic, or attention-getting as the streamlined passenger train. Pulling together contemporary aeronautical theory and function, American designers in the 1930s created a whole new breed of streamlined trains with names such as Zephyr, Comet, Mercury, and 20th Century Limited — names that implied […]
TRAIN-WATCHING HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TWIN CITIES HIAWATHA LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT LINE Runs from: Warehouse District/Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis along Hiawatha Avenue to MSP International Airport and Mall of America in Bloomington, 11.6 miles. Train frequency: Trains run daily, every 7-8 minutes during rush hours, every 10 minutes between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, every […]
Scenic highlight of a ride on the Panama Canal Railway is the Montelino Causeway across Gatun Lake. Bob Johnston The Panama Canal Railway Company is like a steel chameleon. It runs a successful passenger operation serving different types of travelers. Then, with the issuance of a simple track warrant, the railroad changes in an instant […]
The Metroliner leapt out of the starting gate in January 1969, beat the airline competition, and became a way of life for rail travelers throughout the Northeast. In the June 2006 issue of Trains Magazine, author Bruce Goldberg examines Metroliner’s distinguished career, from its launch by Penn Central to its stewardship under Amtrak, which nurtured […]
Q What does the name “Soo Line” mean? Is it an acronym, an abbreviation, or something else? I’ve asked many rail enthusiasts and gotten many different answers. – Reed Newlin, Maryville, Ill. A The Soo Line got its nickname from its original full name, the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie. “Sault,” pronounced “Soo,” […]
Interurbans Interurbans were electric railroads running between cities, often of lighter construction than “steam” railroads. They had their own rights of way through the countryside but usually ran in streets when in town, often sharing tracks with city streetcars. Trains consisted of one (sometimes more) cars. Passengers were their primary focus, though some lines came […]
One enduring symbol of railroading’s past is the red-and-white diamond herald of the Railway Express Agency. Today one finds reminders of REA only at museums or old depots, but it once was a major element of the American scene – the FedEx of its day. Formation of the REA Express service is the prompt and […]
Norfolk & Western’s Jawn Henry (named for the legendary “steel-drivin’ man”) was the last of a handful of U.S. experimental steam turbine locomotives, which appeared as a response to the diesel-electric locomotive’s overall superiority to conventional steam power. Turbines first came into use for steamships and power plants around 1900, and their advantages over reciprocating […]
BNSF Railway Company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. created on September 22, 1995, when BN bought AT&SF’s corporate Parent. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway merged into Burlington Northern Railroad on December 31, 1996, and BN renamed Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. Name shortened to BNSF Railway Company in 2005. Atchison, Topeka & Santa […]
