American Trains at Speed - Epic Trains of the United States - Model Railroad of Santiago Pineda

Published on December 22, 2024

Model trains are not only suitable for model railroading, but are also ideal for presenting the history of rail transportation in the United States. Railroads played a large role in the development of the United States from the Industrial Revolution in the Northeast to the settlement of the West.

Railroads not only increased the speed of transport, they also dramatically lowered its cost. For example, the first transcontinental railroad resulted in passengers and freight being able to cross the country in a matter of days instead of months and at one tenth the cost of stagecoach or wagon transport. With economical transportation in the West now farming, ranching and mining could be done at a profit. As a result, railroads transformed the country, particularly the West.

The North and Midwest constructed networks that linked every city by 1860. State and local governments often subsidized lines, but rarely owned them. However, the railroad system was largely built by 1910. After 1940, the replacement of steam locomotives with diesel electric locomotives made for much more efficient operations.

A series of bankruptcies and consolidations left the rail system in the hands of a few large operations by the 1980s. Almost all long-distance passenger traffic was shifted to Amtrak in 1971, a government-owned operation. Commuter rail service is provided near a few major cities, including New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

Freight railroads continue to play an important role in the United States' economy, especially for moving imports and exports using containers, and for shipments of coal and, since 2010, of oil. Like in any rich country, in recent years, railroads have gradually been losing intermodal traffic to trucking.

A special period in American railroad history covers the 1930s to 1960s, when passenger and freight traffic was at its peak. It was the time, when many railroads were not yet been driven out of business due to competition from airlines and Interstate highways. It was also the time, when trains were given their own names and became known throughout the whole country.

Finally, this was the period in which Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad or Western Pacific Railroad had their greatest boom.

Some of these 20th Century American Trains in 1/48 scale are collected by Santiago Pineda. Santiago is a passenger train collector focused on replicating transition era, named trains from the American Midwest in fine scale 1/48 models. Santiago’s collection is brass-based, with some plastic and aluminium models. Some prominent importers in his collection are Key Model Imports, Precision Scale, 3rd Rail, Protocraft, Oriental Limited and Golden Gate Depot.

The video footage was taken on Santiago’s model railroad layout. For Santiago, his modest model train layout, which depicts a generic American Midwest prairie landscape, is simply a space to display the model collection. The true backbone of his railway modeling activities are building and collecting.

Therefore, he has extensive experience presenting descriptive articles in publications such as “O Scale Trains”, “Railroad Model Craftsman” and “The O Scale Resource”. With his exacting attention to details, Santiago Pineda has effectively assisted importers in the production of several engine and passenger train projects.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daYRTpkRrFg

Picture Gallery

Hiawatha Milwaukee Road Train

The Hiawatha trains were a fleet of named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, also known as the Milwaukee Road, between Chicago and various destinations in the Midwest and Western United States. The first Hiawatha trains ran in 1935.

EMD GP7 Diesel-Electric Locomotive

The EMD GP7 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954. The GP7 was the first EMD road locomotive to use a hood unit design instead of a car-body design. Of the 2,734 GP7's built, 2,620 were for American railroads (including 5 GP7B units built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway), 112 were built for Canadian railroads, and 2 were built for Mexican railroads.

Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Class S-4 Steam Locomotive

Steam Locomotive CB&Q 4-6-4 Class S-4 was one of the strongest, most powerful steam locomotives. Number 4002, used by Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, was completed by Baldwin Locomotive Works in December 1930. It ran until about 1958.

EMC E5 Diesel-Electric Locomotive

The EMC E5 is a passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation and General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD). It was produced exclusively for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (“The Burlington Route”), and its subsidiaries between 1940 and 1941. The E5 was distinguished from the otherwise very similar E3, E4 and E6 by being clad in polished stainless steel to match the Burlington’s Zephyr trains. The E5 had a sloping “slant nose” design and was equipped with two headlights.

Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Steam Locomotive Number 3746

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe class 4-8-4 steam locomotive was built in May 1927 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The steam locomotive built for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) was referenced in documentation as type “Heavy Mountain” or “New Mountain” or “Mountain 4-wheel trailer”. These types of steam locomotives served in passenger duties until being retired in 1953.

Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad

The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line. The “Rock Island” once operated an extensive passenger service. The primary routes served were, for example, Chicago to Los Angeles or Chicago to Denver. In 1937, the Rock Island introduced diesel power to its passenger service. The Rock Island trains are hauled by an EMD E8, a passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD), once built from 1949 to 1954.

CB&Q Exposition Flyer Steam Locomotive

The Exposition Flyer was a passenger train jointly operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) and Western Pacific (WP) railroads between Chicago and Oakland, California, for a decade between 1939 and 1949, before being replaced by the famed California Zephyr. In 1939, the Golden Gate International Exposition opened on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. In response, the CB&Q, D&RGW and WP decided to operate a train that could take passengers to the event. Service on the Exposition Flyer began on June 10, 1939. In the beginning, the train used steam locomotives as motive power and consisted of the heavyweight Pullman standard cars. In later years, however, the train would operate using diesel power and in the final months of service, used streamlined passenger cars. The Exposition Flyer remained in operation until 1949. In 1949, the Exposition Flyer was replaced by the all streamlined California Zephyr, which operated over the same route.

Super Chief Train

The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as “The Train of the Stars” because it often carried celebrities between Chicago (Illinois) and Los Angeles (California). The Super Chief was the first diesel-electric powered cross-country passenger train in America. Back then, the Santa Fe intended the Super Chief to be the latest in a long line of luxury trains wedded to the latest in railroad technology. In the 1930s these included air conditioning, lightweight all-metal construction and diesel locomotion. The Santa Fe Super Chief was one of the last passenger trains in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist. The Super Chief maintained its high level of service until Santa Fe ceased all passenger operations on May 1971.

D&RGW Class L-105 Challenger Steam Locomotive

The powerful Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-6-6-4 L-105 Challenger Steam Locomotive & Tender, number 3704, is hauling a special train consisting of United States Mail Railway Post Office, Troop Kitchen Car and Pullman Troop Sleeper.

California Zephyr Motive Power

The California Zephyr was a passenger train that ran between Chicago (Illinois) and Oakland (California) via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, Winnemucca, Oroville and Pleasanton in the United States. It was operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) and Western Pacific (WP) railroads. In the beginning, the train used steam locomotives as motive power and consisted of heavyweight Pullman standard cars. In later years, the train used diesel power and in the final months of service used streamlined passenger cars. The California Zephyr was not immune to falling passenger travel in the 1960s. The last westbound California Zephyr to the west coast left Chicago on March 1970, and arrived in Oakland two days later. The original California Zephyr had operated for 21 years.

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