PRINCETON, Ill. — Amtrak marked the 75th anniversary of the launch of the California Zephyr today (Tuesday, March 19) with ceremonies in Chicago, Princeton, and Galesburg, Ill., as well as onboard today’s westbound departure from Chicago. In Princeton, at least 50 people were on hand when the train arrived to sing “Happy Anniversary” for the […]
Amtrak’s Hilltopper What had a locomotive on each end, two coaches in the middle, a crew of six, few passengers, and ran backwards for 30 of its 1,674-mile route between Boston, Mass., and Catlettesburg, Ky.? Amtrak’s Hilltopper — my first regular assignment as a passenger trainman, employed by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which operated […]
West Side Freight Line New York Central’s West Side Freight Line, more formally named the 30th Street Branch, was the only direct freight railroad into Manhattan. It was just 10 miles long but maintained to mainline standards, and was even electrified for three decades. Vital for freight, mail, and express into the 1960s, it afterward […]
Amtrak GP7 diesel locomotives served for decades in supporting roles for America’s passenger carrier throughout its network. Electro-Motive Division produced the 1,500-hp, four-axle GP7 from 1946 through 1958, making a total of 2,729 units, including five cabless B units, for more than 40 railroads. By the time Amtrak needed more support motive power […]
WICHITA, Kan. — Prints of a painting by renowned railroad artist John Winfield of Fort Worth, Texas, are now being offered by Wichita’s Great Plains Transportation Museum to help fund cosmetic restoration of Santa Fe FP45 No. 93, subject of the painting. Winfield’s work, “Warbonnet Renaissance,” shows the locomotive pulling a freight train through the […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — A track crew began restoring East Broad Top Railroad’s main line south of here this week, a first step toward reopening the narrow-gauge steam tourist line’s 20-mile route to Robertsdale, Pa., a former mountain mining center that produced the semi-bituminous coal that was EBT’s revenue-freight lifeblood for more than 80 years. […]
The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed. PRR photo […]
I got a late afternoon call to be the rear brakeman on train No. 1/146/05 (South Pool, Seattle to Portland, Ore.) on Aug. 5, 1979. We were at our away from home terminal of Portland. My crew that day was conductor Duke D., engineer Les M., and head brakeman Pete T. I was working the […]
Canaan Union Depot The past The story of this historic building traces back to the 1870s, a busy time for American railroads. Across the nation new lines were being built between cities and towns, often crossing over one another. One of these crossings happened in the small town of North Canaan. Located in the northwest […]
U.S. railroads introduced long-haul luxury coach trains in the 20th century to attract a more budget-conscious traveler. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the worst of the Great Depression in the U.S. was over, and railroads began to invest in new passenger equipment; both new diesel motive power, and a radical new […]
WAYCROSS, Ga. — CSX Transportation CEO Joe Hinrichs has debuted railroad’s latest heritage locomotive, this one honoring the Family Lines System, in a post on his LinkedIn account. It is the 11th locomotive in the CSX series, and like the others combines the current CSX scheme at the front of the locomotive with the predecessor […]
Railroad tell-tales At one time, railroad tell-tales were placed along the track on either side of low structures such as bridges and tunnels to warn crew members on top of the cars that they could not remain in a standing position while passing under the structure. Before the adoption of the air brake, and for […]
