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’s last great year

Classic Trains

Head End

Reviews

Archive Treasures treasured

FTs for the Fast Mail

No longer under the radar • Photographer John Bjorklund finally gets the attention he deserves

1944 Steam’s last great year • 75 YEARS AGO, AS RAIL TRAFFIC HIT ITS WORLD WAR II PEAK, MORE THAN 350 MAGNIFICENT STEAM LOCOMOTIVES TOOK TO THE RAILS

Monarchs of the Southwest • Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 2900-class 4-8-4, 5011-class 2-10-4

An engine with everything • Baltimore & Ohio EM-1 2-8-8-4

Muscle for the mills • Bessemer & Lake Erie H1G 2-10-4

In Canada, a throwback • Canadian National U-2-g 4-8-4, U-1-f 4-8-2

Conservatism on the CP • Canadian Pacific P2 2-8-2, G3 4-6-2, G5 4-6-2

Don’t say “Berkshire” • Chesapeake & Ohio K-4 2-8-4

More of Lima’s biggest • Chesapeake & Ohio H-8 2-6-6-6

Heavy freight and Hiawathas • Milwaukee Road S3 4-8-4

Built from B&M blueprints • Lehigh & Hudson River 4-8-2

More Northerns for the Rock • Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R-67B 4-8-4

Minor road Mikados • Western Railway of Alabama; Akron, Canton & Youngstown; Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf; Detroit, Toledo & Ironton

Encore for Big Emma • Louisville & Nashville M-1 2-8-4

Roanoke’s best ready for duty • Norfolk & Western class A 2-6-6-4

Power for the Pacific Northwest • Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland & Seattle Z-8 4-6-6-4

An AMC classic goes to war • Nickel Plate Road S-2 2-8-4

More Mohawks hit the warpath • New York Central L-4b 4-8-2

Borrowed, but still unmistakably Pennsy • Pennsylvania J1 2-10-4

PRR looks to the future • Pennsylvania S2 6-8-6 turbine, Q2 4-4-6-4 duplex

Reinforcing the Detroit arsenal • Pere Marquette N-2 2-8-4

Waging war in the Sierras • Southern Pacific AC-12 4-8-8-2

Curtain call for Union Pacific’s giants • Union Pacific FEF-3 4-8-4, 4664-5 4-6-6-4, 4884-2 4-8-8-4

MYSTERY at Barberton • Persistent research pays off to identify peculiar photos from the past

RESEARCH your own mysteries

Alcos in Dairyland • A weeklong 1964 odyssey concludes in northeastern Wisconsin

Clinchfield’s tunnel at Spartanburg, S.C. • F units use a three-year-old bore to pass under the Southern Railway main line on March 13, 1966

Northwestern exposure • John Bjorklund enjoyed shooting Kodachrome around Cascadia in the 1970s

A territory of my own • A stint at NYC headquarters in New York is followed by a trainmaster post in central Pennsylvania

Yellow diesel-hydraulic! • A young Southern Pacific fan is thrilled by the unexpected sighting of a novel diesel

Hoghead turns Cow Killer • A New Haven veteran recalls run-ins with farm animals and other adventures

Room service on the Pennsy • A young boy holds out for dinner on the Broadway

Cincinnati’s adaptable overhead

Three war babies still in steam • 1944-built Milwaukee 261, Nickel Plate 765, and UP 844 have had long excursion careers

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