Classic Trains Winter 2020

The fourth entry in the staff list at right, for Contributing Editor, marks the last appearance of the name J. David Ingles on a Kalmbach masthead. Its absence next issue will be a first since 1971. Dave, whose extraordinary tenure began 49 years ago when he came to Trains magazine as associate editor, passed away on October 4 at age 79 after a brief illness. “J.D.I.” held a number of positions with Trains over the decades, including a 1987–1992 stint as editor, a title he also held on the short-lived Trains Illustrated. From CLASSIC TRAINS’ launch in 2000 until his retirement in 2018, Dave and I were this magazine’s two principal staffers. As contributing editor, he played an active role in producing the magazine and its special editions until just days…

WE MISS … Tractors bustling around big stations towing carts loaded with mail and express shipments, as here at Kansas City. Linn H. Westcott Plow on a passenger train Delaware & Hudson wasn’t a road to stand on ceremony. If it had been, we probably wouldn’t be seeing a Jordan spreader coupled ahead of the RS2s powering the Laurentian at Rouses Point, N.Y., on a snowy day in March 1962. Richard E. Samsel, Richard Jahn collection Variety in St. Louis On the St. Louis Union Station ready tracks at 11 a.m. on November 20, 1953, are 11 engines of eight types from six roads: three Terminal Railroad Association Baldwin and EMD switchers, a Katy E8, a Cotton Belt FP7, a Nickel Plate PA, two PRR E8s, two NYC E7s, and an NYC 4-6-4. W. A.…

The Railroad Photography of Donald W. Furler By Scott Lothes. Center for Railroad Photography & Art, Madison, Wis. 216 pages. $60. The greats of railroad photography are well known. At least we thought they were. Enter the (re)-discovery of the work of Donald W. Furler, thanks to the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. First published in Trains in the 1940s and ’50s, and rarely since, Furler’s evocative photography provides a look at pre-diesel railroading. The book features 200 images of Northeast action, mostly steam in the 1940s and ’50s. A thorough biographical sketch supplements the detailed captions and provides insight into the man behind the camera. A welcome departure from other similar photo books is the inclusion here of maps with photo locations on the endpapers. CRP&A has a history of…

All aboard for a new online experience! We’ve launched a new website: Trains.com. Like our old site, it’s devoted to vintage photos, well-written histories, stories from railroaders and railfans, and more. Trains.com features faster loading, easier navigation, and curated sections. For a deeper experience, there’s the Trains.com membership plan. Members have access to all Classic Trains has to offer, much of which is not available to magazine subscribers. This includes our CT all-time digital magazine archive. You’ll also have access to all the videos, articles, and archives of Trains and our other rail publications. Try Trains.com — we think you’ll like what you see! Fallen Flags fly again “Fallen Flags Remembered” is back, with weekly updates including classic articles and new photo galleries. Blog Read the weekly blog by our columnist Kevin Keefe, who reflects…

Alco’s outlier, exported I enjoyed J. David Ingles’ article on the C420 [“Alco’s Outlier, page 36], and thought a note on the only exports (to Mexico) might be warranted: Ferro-carriles Unidos del Sureste Nos. 510–511. Sureste crews were always obliging to pose them for a portrait. No. 510 became Nacionales de México 5700, and 511 became NdeM 5701. — Paul Hunnell, Naperville, Ill. C420 speed test When I was in train service for BC Rail in May 1995, two ex-Lehigh & Hudson River C420s, 631 and 632, were assigned at South Yard in Prince George, British Columbia. When I worked the yard, we had the 631 and 632 as our usual power. Our work orders were to drill the C Yard, tear apart and build freights, and spot one customer south of town at Cale…

About 5½ miles out of Detroit’s Fort Street Station, Chesapeake & Ohio’s afternoon Pere Marquette to Grand Rapids crosses to the westbound main at Eagle Avenue in Rougemere, Mich., in August 1964. E8 4004 is one of 31 such units on the C&O’s roster. The three-unit set at the engine terminal is possibly for train No. 17-46, the Sportsman for Washington, D.C. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved C&O control of the Pere Marquette, the railroad for which the train is named, in 1928; C&O merged its Michigan subsidiary in 1947.…