Locomotives and trains featured in this edition include:
New York Central 3011 and two other GP-40’s are on a freight near Cold Spring, NY in March 1966. Central bought 105 of them between December 1965 through November of 1967. They were built by EMD and designed for freight.
New York Central 5408, a Class J-3a Hudson (4-6-4) is arriving at Lafayette, IN on February 5, 1956. Central owned 275 Hudsons in three classes. Engine 5408 was one of 50 Class J-3 engines, referred to as Super Hudsons, all built by the American Locomotive Company in 1937 and 1938. Almost all Hudsons, were used in mail and passenger train service.
New York Central 6011, a Class S-1b Niagara (4-8-4) built in January 1946 by the American Locomotive Company, is leading a westbound passenger train through South Chicago, IL on March 21, 1953.
New York Central 3812 and 3709 (RF-16A-B) leads a freight through Maudville, OH on January 25, 1966. These units were built and put in service in 1952. Central owned 18 cab units and eight boosters (B Units). The cabs were referred to as “sharks” because of their appearance. All were 1,600 horsepower units.
New York Central 7900, an 0-8-0 switcher, is at the small Scotia, NY engine terminal in May 1959. Scotia is located a few miles northwest of Schenectady, NY.
New York Central 4064 (two EMD E8A’s) are the power for combined Trains #19 and #11 on June 17, 1956. The westbound Lake Shore and the Southwestern Limited have stopped at the Springfield, MA depot, to load express and mail. New York Central purchased 50 of these 2,250-horsepower passenger units from EMD between 1951 and 1953. They were excellent locomotives; some of them survived into the Penn Central era.
In 1923 New York adopted the Kaufman Act which mandated the electrification of all railroads in New York City. The New York Central ran steam to Croton-Harmon, NY then changed to electric power for the 32.7 mile run to Grand Central Station. Motor 236, a Class P-2b, one of 20 built by General Electric in 1955, waits a call. Locomotive exchange continued for several years after the end of steam locomotive operations.
New York Central 597, an EMD SW-1, is on a local freight, making a set out at Kalamazoo, MI in August 1964. The Central had 103 of these small 600-horsepower switchers. They were very durable and were ideal for smaller terminals. 597 was built in 1949, and it is still handling what it was supposed to do, no major rebuilds, no reengining,
New York Central 4015 (E-7A-E8B-E7A) is on the New England States operating on the Boston and Albany, a New York Central subsidiary, in September 1962. The New England States was scheduled to operate as a daily train except Sundays between Boston and Chicago. Westbound it was Train #27, scheduled to leave South Station, Boston, MA at 2:30PM, with arrival in Chicago at 7:45AM the next morning. Eastbound Train #28 would leave Chicago at 2:30PM and arrive in Boston at 9:20AM the next morning. Today, Amtrak operates a train on about the same schedule. That is the Lake Shore Limited.
New York Central 1760 and two F-7A’s, in concert with a Fairbanks-Morse CFA16-4 (a C-Liner) are starting to pull on an eastbound freight at East Saint Louis, IL in November 1962. Central had a 242-unit fleet of F-7A’s purchased between 1951 and 1953. Many of those engines continued to work well into the 1969-1976 Penn Central era. Some even served Conrail, showing up in Conrail blue paint in the early 1980s for a service life totaling more than 30 years. In contrast, Central only bought 12 C-liners in 1952, and all were retired twelve years later. Dependability makes a difference.
New York Central Class J-3a Hudson (4-6-4) 5446 has been pressed into service without full streamlining at Chicago, IL on November 13, 1941. This locomotive was most likely involved in a collision and suffered a damaged front end. But for now, it is back in service and still being kept close to possible repair facilities in Chicago. It well could be in this condition for a while, as the debacle at Pearl Harbor is only 24 days away.
New York Central 4053 and 4108, an EMD E-8A and an E-7B, are sitting at the Michigan Central depot in Detroit, MI on December 5, 1961. The Central was looking into a color change away from the gray used on their passenger locomotives, and this one, called Jade Green, was selected and applied to these two units plus E-8A 4083. This color was apparently not to NYC’s liking, as the units went back to gray paint and there were no more experiments, The Jade Green colors were, however, used by a subsidiary railroad, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, on freight cars and cabooses.
Mor Railroad Titles
Tide-mark publishes a notable group of train calendars featuring classic images of steam locomotives and great named trains of railroads across the United States. Calendar titles for 2025 include: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Denver Rio Grande Railroad in Colorado Narrow Gauge, Gulf Mobile & Ohio, Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, Rock Island, Santa Fe Railway, the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. Classic trains are also pictured in Great Trains featuring paintings by artist Gil Bennett and in Howard Fogg’s Trains. Contemporary trains are the focus of the Railroading! calendar that offers 24 spectacular full-color images of trains from across North America. Tide-mark also publishes the Streetcars and Trolleys calendar with classic images from a wide range of cities in the U.S., as well as the new San Francisco Cable Cars title.
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