ClassicTrainsMag.com 5A potpourri of railroad history, then and now
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The “final answer”
in diesel design?
In May 1960 TRAINS, Editor David P. Morgan, reflecting on the evolution
of diesel locomotive design as road-switchers with low noses were
coming into vogue, wondered if the “final answer will be a more or
less streamlined cab followed by a hood.” In fact, English Electric
was already working on such units for railways in Africa (left) and
Australia. In 1973, Canada’s Montreal Locomotive Works’ M420 intro-
duced the concept to North America. Railroads in the U.S. were slow
to embrace “wide-nose” units, but by 1993 most Class I carriers had
ordered them, and the few holdouts soon joined the club too.
East African RailwaysWE MISS...
Local, “circus-loaded” piggyback ramps like
this single-track example in Des Moines. C&NWBig Boy’s big com eback
The impossible dream of generations of railfans came true in early May when a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steamed for the first time since 1959.
Union Pacific’s Cheyenne, Wyo.-based steam crew completed the job just in time for No. 4014 to depart on May 4, with 4-8-4 844, on a
five-day trek to Ogden, Utah, where the two engines starred in a “Spike 150” ceremony. The pair returned to Cheyenne May 19, then
4014 began a Midwest tour July 15. The engines made a breathtaking sight at Granger, Wyo., just after sunrise May 6. Robert S. McGonigal