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Railroads Illustrated, Formerly CTC Board

CTC Board was recently sold and is now known as Railroads Illustrated, published by White River Productions which also produces over a dozen other magazines, including publications for a number of historical societies and organizations. While Railroads Illustrated continues to be printed monthly and holds the same theme like Trains and Railfan & Railroad in that it covers the current railroad industry, the magazine's main focus is photography which has not changed under White River Productions. However, with the change the magazine has shifted a bit towards the classic era, which will certainly appeal to many railfans, and has also gained a number of excellent and celebrated photographers such as Mike Schafer.

Fallen Flags, a name all too common now describing American railroads (just a bittersweet fact of the free market at work), is term meaning those railroads whose corporate name has been dissolved either through merger, bankruptcy, or liquidation. At one time in the United States there were nearly 140 Class I railroads (or those with at least $1 million annual operating revenue at that time) and today these are commonly known as the fallen flags or “classic” railroads. The older folks reading this can remember almost all of these in person, from the legendary Santa Fe with its famous Warbonnet paint scheme to the mighty Pennsylvania and this country’s first common carrier, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

Most of the fallen flags remembered today operated roughly until the 1970s before bankruptcy and mass-mergers (which began in the 1950s with the Norfolk & Western purchase of the Virginian Railway) did many in and dwindled the Class I numbers to just a handful.

While the glory days of railroads (when they were earning the most profits) extended from roughly the late 19th century to just after World War II, ask most railfans and the time period with which these railroads are best remembered extends from roughly the 1940s to the 1970s when the railroads began switching from steam locomotives to diesel-electrics (commonly known as “diesels”) and paint schemes and emblems abounded, giving each company its own, personal identity with which folks could relate to.

Streamliners were another part of the classic era and in terms of the history of rail travel and its "Golden Age," streamliners were a relatively late concept and lasted for only about forty years under private ownership until Amtrak was created in 1971 (and for several years Amtrak featured more "boxy" locomotive and car designs before returning to the streamliner concept in the 1990s).

For the first 100 years passenger trains were merely a means of traveling from Point A to Point B, fast and efficiently (and, for the most part, safely). During that time few luxuries or conveniences were added to trains as most merely included coaches with straight-back seats which were hardly, if at all, comfortable (something similar to school buses today). And, likewise, few of the trains had names and most were not famous.

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(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Northern Pacific to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

While I have never purchased Railroads Illustrated myself I have browsed through it occasionally and if you especially enjoy photography (and classic railroading) than this magazine will very much be the one for you. For more information about Railroads Illustrated please click here to visit their website. There, you can not only learn more about the magazine and White Rivers Productions but also how to order a subscription. As far as I am aware, you must contact them directly to order the magazine or find a bookstore or newsstand which happens to carry it as no other place online has it for sale.

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