Classic Trains

CELEBRATE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN RAILROADING – WHEN GIANT STEAM LOCOMOTIVES, COLORFUL DIESELS AND STEAMLINERS SHARED THE RAILS. CLASSIC TRAINS COVERS THE 1930’S THROUGH THE 1970’S WITH REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPHY, DETAILED REPORTING AND FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS FROM PEOPLE WHO WORKED THE GREAT PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRAINS.

Steam bows out with a bang

Head End • A potpourri of railroad history, then and now

Reviews

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Getting the “Nips” to the PRR

There had to be a Penn Central • The greatest business failure in history was treated with the bitter medicine the railroad industry needed

The “informal” Southern? • In recent times Southern Railway’s diesel livery of black and offwhite with gold trim has come to be called the “tuxedo” scheme, which equates to formal dress. That image debuted, with large letters but minus the “SR” monogram, on SD24s in 1959. If the blackand- white scheme was formal, was the previous green-and-white garb, worn here by F7s northbound at Austell, Ga., in 1959, “casual dress”? That seems doubtful... “classic” would be more like it.

C&O was Virginia born and bred • Big on coal, Chessie’s road ran powerful locomotives and deluxe passenger trains

America’s last REAL STEAM   SHOW • OFTEN OVERLOOKED, GRAND TRUNK WESTERN WAS THE LAST RAILROAD IN THE U.S. TO EMPLOY STEAM DAILY IN FOUR TYPES OF REGULAR SERVICE

Last days OF THE Southern Belle • KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN’S FLAGSHIP WAS “FIRST CLASS” RIGHT TO THE END

Pipe train to MARYSVILLE • Recalling a memorable chase of a 2-8-0 in the final season of SP steam

Penn Central and its   predecessors • 50 years after one of railroading’s most consequential mergers, we look back at the Pennsylvania, New York Central, and New Haven railroads and the troubled product of their union — Penn Central

the DIXIE GOES the BACKWAY • HOW SHARING A FORTUITOUSLY TIMED PHOTO TURNED FROM RELUCTANCE TO PRIDE

Railroads, motor carriers, &   superhighways • The improvement and expansion of the nation’s highway network had profound effects on the rail industry, and not all of them were negative

Grand Avenue junction, Milwaukee, Wis. • Steam and diesel trains converge on September 28, 1951

A day and a half in   DU LUTH • Ore trains and more: a Twin Ports visit in 1974 yielded most items on our wish list

Cradle of railroad interest • Experiences in the Boston area as a boy and young adult helped me find my path to railroading

Unsung heroes of the north • Canadian National signal maintainers in the early 1950s souped up their track cars and found creative ways to bundle up

All four... • Caught short once, an N&W fireman sets out to teach his engineer a lesson

Weekend visits to Indiana • Trips to see relatives in the 1940s and ’50s provided opportunities for some Hoosier train-watching

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Nexus of the Great Third Rail

Chessie’s Virginia home • The C&O Historical Society maintains a big presence in Clifton Forge

The Canadian at Vancouver