Amtrak GG1 meets an E60 in 1980, two years after the author’s ride behind one of each, plus a Conrail E44. Robert S. McGonigal As the murky fall afternoon began to lengthen, the Silver Meteor I was riding across northern New Jersey began to slow down. Then just east of Rahway, nowhere near a scheduled […]
Illinois Central SD40-2 No. 6015 leads Canadian National train 348 south past the tower at Barrington, Ill., on May 6, 2010. Photo by Chris Gus […]
Q Why do modern locomotive throttles still use notches?— Ben Redl, Williams Lake, B.C. A The primary reason is to help the locomotive’s engineer direct a specific response from the locomotive. Engine RPM speed must be increased gradually during normal operation. As the engineer demands more power from the locomotive by moving a notch at […]
Union Pacific’s Desert Victory and United Way tribute locomotives were the first to receive special paint schemes, in 1991 and 1994, respectively. John C. Benson Q I understand that Union Pacific ES44AC No. 7400 is the railroad’s 15th specially painted locomotive. What are the other 14 commemorative locomotives?— Wesley Chen, Irvine, Calif.A According to Union […]
A trio of General Electric-built GEVO locomotives powers an intermodal rain past North Guam, N.M., on April 11, 2011. The first two diesels belong to the class ES44C4, an A1A-A1A-trucked A.C. traction model built to perform to six-motor D.C. designs. Photo by Steven M. Welch […]
The spring flood waters have started to subside on the Mississippi River (as evidenced by the watermarks on the trees) at Gears Ferry Landing near Galena, Ill., as an eastbound BNSF “Z” train heads east toward Chicago on a cloudy and cool April 23, 2011. Photo by Steve Bauer […]
Seen from the North Shore Line bridge, a Milwaukee Road F7 4-6-4 rips through Rondout, Ill., with train 15, the Olympian, in March 1941. Frank Sellers At Christmastime 1940, when I was 15 years old, my widowed mother spent $4 of her hard-earned money to buy me a Kodak Brownie Special camera. I was thrilled. […]
Westbound Metra train No. 1249 stops under the rising moon at Clarendon Hills, Ill., on Metra’s BNSF Railway line. Two additional trains are visible about a mile away in the distance. Paul Hoffmann An inbound Metra express train rips past the Naperville, Ill., station leaving a “smoke tail” in its wake as a local can […]
NYC’s eastbound 20th Century Limited slows for a station stop at South Bend, Ind., in October 1962. Louis A. Marre On Saturday, February 17, 1962, a train wreck at Fonda, N.Y., on New York Central’s Water Level Route main line, blocked all traffic east and west. Because of this, westbound trains were to be diverted […]
Q My employer receives plastic pellets in rail cars. Recently, I saw a car that was marked with GATX on the opposite end from the reporting marks, which were different. Do the chemical companies own the cars, or are they leased? — Frank L. Mejean, Crawfordsville, Ind. A GATX Corp. is a leader in leasing […]
Q What does it mean when diesel locomotives are “isolated?”— Ray Russell, Naples, Fla. A “Isolating” a particular locomotive in a multiple-unit consist means that the prime mover is still running, but the main generator and electrical system for propulsion are disconnected. The locomotive will not respond to throttle settings and essentially is along for […]
Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2707 is moved to Brookside Park in Cleveland in the mid-1950s. C&O Q In the 1960s and ’70s, I saw a steam locomotive in Brookside Park near the Cleveland Zoo. A group removed it later. Was it restored or scrapped? — Larry Matus, North Ridgeville, Ohio A The locomotive in […]
