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.

The classic Overland Route

HeadEnd • TOFC on the Tweetsie

Reviews

New from Kalmbach

Linking Chicago’s Neighborhoods II

Southern interurban lives on

Coming into Louisville • Semaphores hold Southern Railway train 153 at DI Tower in Louisville, Ky., so Monon 2nd 71 can proceed ahead of it into Kentucky & Indiana Terminal’s Youngtown Yard on January 30, 1966. The cabooses of both freights are out on K&IT’s bridge over the Ohio River. Three EMD SD35s and a GP7 are on the point of Southern 153, while four Alco RS2s are in charge of the Monon train.

The Challenger ruled the Overland Route • Union Pacific’s magnificent 4-6-6-4s left a stylish, indelible mark on America’s most historic main line

MODERN STAR OF A HISTORIC ROUTE • Often overlooked, and sometimes the victim of tragedy, a notable member of UP’s Streamliner fleet plied its historic path for three and a half decades

Big Boys that might have been • Union Pacific considered ordering a new class of oil-fired 4-8-8-4s for service on its line to Southern California

UNdriving the Golden Spike

SUMMER OF CHANGE ON DONNER PASS • In 1984, Southern Pacific workers replaced one of the last wooden snowsheds with a concrete structure

PhotoSpecial

UP’s Riverdale Yard, Ogden, Utah, May 12, 1969 • Eastward freight fleet ready to follow the City of Los Angeles/Challenger out of the UP-SP meeting point

BIG POWER in the West • After the steam era, UP and SP continued the tradition of massive, distinctive locomotives with turbines, double diesels, and diesel-hydraulics

Diesel-hydraulics

Checking Horseshoe Curve  off the bucket list • A SUNNY MORNING AROUND ALTOONA IN 1969 YIELDED A SUCCESSFUL FIRST VISIT

JDI’s bucket list

View from the apartment • CATCHING THE ACTION ON AN IMPORTANT READING LINE WITHOUT EVER LEAVING HOME

Farewell TO SOO LINE 7 AND 8 • Loss of service in the Upper Peninsula brought "friends" Out in droves

On-the-job training • New York Central’s management trainee program exposed me to computers, freight yard design, engine service, the Century’s obs car, and more. And in the Army, I worked with steam!

My summer romance with “Purchasing & Stores” • Recalling fondly a part-time career on the Santa Fe

NASA royalty aboard an Amtrak train • A 1972 Florida Special ride becomes memorable twice over

NextIssue

Temporary crossover

Rail heritage from Iowa to California • 10 must-see museums along the first transcontinental railroad

Burnham’s box in New Orleans