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.

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Classic Trains

HeadEnd

Jim Wrinn led Trains Magazine with passion • Editor, 61, dies after more than 17 years at helm of magazine

GE passenger U-boats: Diesels that didn’t • The U28CG and U30CG models did what they were designed for, but only for one railroad

Reviews

More ‘Train Time at Townsend’ • Letters from readers on our Spring 2022 issue

Dramatic demonstration • Winter storm clouds hang over Berwyn, Ill., as Electro-Motive’s GP35/DD35 demonstrator set rolls west along the Burlington’s triple track “Racetrack” between Chicago and Aurora on Dec. 7, 1963. The consist includes a forward-facing GP35-DD35 pair, F unit carbody Test Car ET-909, a rear-facing GP35-DD35 pair, and a dyna-mometer car. History knows that only western giants Southern Pacific and Union Pacific went for the cabless DD35, or any EMD double diesel model for that matter. But on this day, the future is still bright for big power from the century’s biggest builder of diesel locomotives.

EMD hung its hat on the 567 • Electro-Motive’s first in-house developed prime mover was a blockbuster success

EARLY ELECTRO-MOTIVE • The formative years of mid-century’s No. 1 locomotive builder

MINIATURE MODEL 40 • A LITTLE CRITTER FROM A BIG MANUFACTURER HAS HAD A REMARKABLY RESILIENT LIFE

Underdog GP30 • THIS BELOVED MODEL STILL COULDN’T BREAK THROUGH ON SOME CLASS I RAILROADS

Aerotrain and the GP9 • FANTASY VERSUS REALITY FOR TWO EMD PRODUCTS

FUNKY FREIGHT ELECTRICS • LOCOMOTIVES BUILT FOR A FUTURE THAT NEVER CAME

ONE-UNIT WONDERS • REFLECTING ON THE MYRIAD OF SINGLE LOCOMOTIVE ORDERS OF DAYS PAST

NYC freight operations in Manhattan • New York Central’s first tri-power locomotive works on the West Side Line in 1936

Archive Treasures EARLY YEARS IN THE FINAL DAYS • A TEENAGER’S LOOK AT THE END OF STEAM IN THE NORTHEAST

ADVENTURES of an amateur station agent • WORKING ON THE ESCANABA & LAKE SUPERIOR IN UPPER MICHIGAN WAS AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE

AN ESCANABA & LAKE SUPERIOR HISTORY LESSON

THE DO-IT-ALL 2-8-2 MIKADO • This ubiquitous steam locomotive was at home pulling freight or passenger loads

Preserved Great Lakes EMDs • Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth holds a significant collection of EMD products from the upper Midwest

Fort Collins’ Birney cars

The customer is always right • A different side to EMD’s customer relations

NextIssue

Getting the score before transistor radios • Learning about an extra service on the 20th Century Limited

Counting noses • Recounting a family train trip to Abilene on the eve of Amtrak

Fit for a king