If you’ve been trackside in the past five or six years, you’ve probably noticed blue metal signs at grade crossings. These are called Emergency Notification System signs, or ENS for short. The top two lines of the sign read “Report problem or emergency.” Hazard may be used in place of problem in some instances. Below […]
All through June 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, grit, and grandeur that was the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Please enjoy this Jersey Central locomotive photograph gallery selected from the image archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
You have to be tough to survive the railroad. Just look at any train crew, mechanic, or switchman. Just look at any piece of motive power or rolling stock. Just look at this trio of Western Pacific diesel locomotives awaiting their next call to duty in this Stockton, Calif., roundhouse scene in August 1965. […]
All through June 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, grit, and glory of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Please enjoy this Jersey Central freight train photo gallery selected from the archive files of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Only from Classic Trains! […]
One in an occasional series on Senior Editor David Lassen’s favorite Chicago-area railfan locations Railfanning LaFox, Illinois Well west of Chicago, in a still mostly rural area with suburbia gradually encroaching, is La Fox, Ill., on Union Pacific’s Geneva Subdivision. There’s barely a community to speak of, but it does have a Metra station. […]
General Electric’s 4,400 hp C44-9Ws were, by far, the most popular D.C. traction locomotives the company every produced, with almost 3,600 copies built for North American customers. Sales began in the early 1990s just as A.C. traction was taking hold in the industry. Many railroads were still either wary of the new A.C. technology and […]
I was hired as a yard clerk for the Southern Pacific in San Jose, Calif., in April 1960. On my first day, I was ushered into the general yardmaster’s office and given a short talk on safety. The general yardmaster, an old head named Ralph Fanning, stood behind his desk and regarded me suspiciously. […]
History of the Central Railroad of New Jersey At its peak, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the self-proclaimed “Big Little Railroad,” operated only about 700 route-miles, but in keeping with its densely populated region, totaled over 1,900 miles of track, two-thirds in New Jersey. CNJ’s Central Division extended from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, on […]
All through June 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Jersey Central passenger trains, first published online in February 2019. Only from Classic Trains. […]
New York Central’s 275 4-6-4 Hudson-type engines are among the most celebrated of all steam locomotive classes. As the top passenger power of one of the most passenger-oriented railroads from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, the J-1, J-2, and J-3 classes were in the public eye like few other groups of engines. That […]
All through May 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the style, glamour and grit of the Northern Pacific Railway. Please enjoy this NP locomotive photo gallery sourced from the archives of the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. Only from Classic Trains! […]
Trains Senior Editor David Lassen spends much of his free time in the Chicago area. This is the first in a series of Trains.com articles on his favorite rail photography locations. UPDATED Dec. 15, 2021, with removal of shoofly. BNSF Railway’s celebrated “racetrack” — the triple-track mainline of the Chicago Division between downtown Chicago and […]
