Office cars Prior to Amtrak, railroads had coupled company owned business and office cars to the rear of passenger trains for the convenience of executive and management personnel. The usually spotless and well maintained fleet of comfortably furnished cars also served as sales offices on wheels for the railroad’s industrial development and traffic departments, allowing […]
The decades-long effort to advance the design and technology of steam locomotives constantly circled back to the idea of “make it bigger.” Articulated engines took that notion and doubled it both figuratively and literally. The results were roughly 3,000-built machines of epic proportions with the strength and flexibility to haul either slow drags through mountainous […]
Strictly speaking, Grand Trunk Western is not a “fallen flag.” GTW still reports to regulators as a separate Class I railroad, but since Jan. 1, 1996, GTW has been submerged in the identity of its parent, Canadian National. These days, operation and management of GTW are integrated with the 2,650-mile former Illinois Central and […]
Rotary snowplow I missed my fair share of calls in my railroad career, but I only remember one with a specific date. That would be Jan. 12, 1993. Only two times have I ever seen a rotary snowplow in action, both happened to be the same week in January of 1993 but on different railroads. […]
California’s high-speed rail Rod Diridon Sr., 85, a crusader for high speed rail, grew up in the small Northern California town of Dunsmuir. There, he worked for the Southern Pacific during summers and vacations when he was a college student, starting in the late 1950s. The steam era was ending, but steam-era technology was […]
Consolidation 3127 rambles along Baltimore & Ohio’s former Buffalo & Susquehanna near West Bingham, Pa., in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Let’s travel abroad During a Trains Magazine photo charter at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in fall 2024, a group of British and European photographers decided to travel abroad to the U.S. to join Trains staff at the D&SNG and, in the days following, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic with Pete Lerro of […]
Pennsylvania Railroad T1 technology The Pennsylvania Railroad had a reputation for blazing its own path, setting a standard different from the rest of the railroad community. Such is the case with its T1 class 4-4-4-4 duplex locomotives. In spring 1942, prototypes Nos. 6110 and 6111 were quietly rolled from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Pennsy […]
Photographer Bob Krug Bob Krug’s visit to the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire certainly fits the description of going the extra step to creating a great railroad image. With Mountain Washington transitioning primarily to biodiesel locomotives for motive power, Krug wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to photograph one of its two […]
CPKC will receive some much-needed motive power help starting next year in the form of a 170-unit order of new locomotives from Wabtec. The railroad has been heavily spending on capacity work across its combined system to support new traffic and motive power has been in short supply to move tonnage across its network. The […]
In general terms, America is not a country with great affinity for nationalization. The machinations of the American economy are diametrically opposed to the principles of nationalization. However, that doesn’t mean that the U.S. has never dabbled in the practice. The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) is an example. In the interest of clarity, I’ll […]
In November 2021 I wrote about modeling a boxcar storage scene based around an ex-Milwaukee Road car in Milbank, S.D. This time around we’ll take a look at a car in the Minnesota Northern RR (MNN) yard in Crookston, Minn., my hometown. Back in 2016 I was invited to the National Model Railroad Association Thousand […]
