Two Great Northern E7s skirt Puget Sound at Richmond Beach, Wash., with the eastbound Empire Builder in April 1953, two years after its re-equipping. Soon, F units will replace the Es. David W. Salter photo […]
Richmond Beach
Subscription: Subscription - CTR
Inside scoop
The truss bracing in the sides of cab units helped support the locomotive’s weight, so cab units required a thinner underframe compared with switchers and road switchers. This is an F unit being assembled at EMD’s La Grange, Ill., plant. Electro-Motive Division photo […]
Hummingbird
Louisville & Nashville’s Hummingbird passes between the engine terminal and coach yard as it backs towards New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in 1954. Visible at left are locomotives of Illinois Central and Kansas City Southern. James G. La Vake photo […]
Helping the Chief
Santa Fe 2-10-2 No. 1680 assists the 15 passenger cars and three diesels on train No. 19, the Chief, at Wootton, Colo., on the climb up Raton Pass on June 17, 1950. R.H. Kindig photo […]
Four-builder lineup
A General Electric U25B leads EMD, Alco, and Fairbanks-Morse units on Norfolk & Western train KB6 near Hull, Ill., in October 1964, just weeks after N&W leased the Wabash. J. David Ingles photo […]
Enola bound
Pennsylvania Railroad M1 class 4-8-2 No. 6987 heads a freight toward Enola Yard near Harrisburg, Pa., in July 1955. The railroad had 301 such locomotives in the M1 and M1a classes built in-house and by Baldwin and Lima. Don Wood photo […]
Dual service
St. Louis-San Francisco 4-8-2 No. 1503 works train No. 3 at Southeastern Junction just west of Lindenwood Yard southwest of downtown St. Louis in December 1942. The railroad had 30 such locomotives built by Baldwin between 1923 and 1926 that served in both freight and passenger service. William Barham photo, Don Wirth collection […]
Fall 2024
Welcome – The intermodal revolution Head End – A potpourri of railroad history, then and now Fast Mail – Letters from readers on our Summer 2024 issue Mileposts – Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe True Color – Contrasts at LaGrange Sequence – Milwaukee Road mail train Short Rails – East Jordan & Southern Classics Today […]
Deshler doings
Baltimore & Ohio train No. 355, the Toledo–Cincinnati day local, passes under the home signals protecting the road’s Chicago Division diamonds as it pulls away from its Deshler station stop. Ahead, a 2-10-2 backs toward its train after taking water from the standpipe at the station. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Beloit built
Fairbanks-Morse introduced its “Consolidation Line” of freight and passenger diesels in 1950. Available in cab and booster versions rated at 1,600, 2,000, and 2,400 hp, the line cataloged 14 models. These are CPA24-5 models with a two-axle truck up front and three-axle truck at rear. Robert M. Stacy photo […]
A run at the hill
At Bayview Junction, Ontario, trackmen watch Canadian National 4-8-4 No. 6234 pass with Toronto–Windsor train No. 83 on August 29, 1958. The Northern has just backed its train from Hamilton to the junction and is gathering speed for the climb up the Niagara Escarpment. Art Weber photo […]
Western Maryland in Black Fork Gorge
Pacific 208 leads Western Maryland’s daily passenger train between Elkins, W.Va., and Cumberland, Md., around one of the many sharp curves in Black Fork Gorge, a few miles west of Thomas, W.Va., circa 1950. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
