It’s been said that Milwaukee Road’s class F6 4-6-4s, built 1930–31, looked like they were going fast even when standing still. There does seem to be a rakish “leaning-forward” quality to this photo of nearly new No. 6402. MILW […]
Milwaukee racer
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
Fastest hogger on the slim-gauge
A predecessor of this Rio Grande engineer made a daring Chama–Durango run in 1923. A. C. Kalmbach My grandfather, Marvin Rhodes, lived for almost a century, and he spent more than half of his long life working out of Durango, Colo., on the narrow-gauge lines of the Denver & Rio Grande Western. He hired out […]
Small town railroading in the early 1950s
For many years small towns were a major source of traffic for railroads all across the country. Long before anyone ever heard of freeways, the railroads moved all sorts of carload and less-than-carload lot (LCL) freight that kept the local businesses and nearby agricultural economy going. A local station agent-operator was the railroad’s representative who […]
C&O at Elkhorn City
The Chesapeake & Ohio and Clinchfield met end-to-end at this yard at Elkhorn City, Ky. In this misty 1973 scene, a C&O train is ready to head north with a string of hopper cars from the Clinchfield. Tony Koester photo […]
L&N steam power at the 1956 Kentucky Derby
Watch video of big Louisville & Nashville steam locomotives on special trains into Louisville for the 1956 Kentucky Derby from the Herron Rail Video program Reflections of American Railroading. […]
L&N steam power at the 1956 Kentucky Derby
Watch video of big Louisville & Nashville steam locomotives on special trains into Louisville for the 1956 Kentucky Derby from the Herron Rail Video program Reflections of American Railroading. […]
Pennsy’s “Big Engine” in the snow
The Pennsylvania’s one-of-a-kind class S1 6-4-4-6 duplex drive No. 6100 shrugs off an early Chicago winter snow storm as it pauses at Englewood Union Station with the eastbound Manhattan Limited in November 1939. Harold Stirton photo […]
WM Pacific at Baltimore
Handsome Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 204 is ready to depart the road’s Hillen Street station in Baltimore with the daily train to Hagerstown, Md., in April 1951. Russ Wilcox photo […]
Helping the helper crews at Lamanda Park
Santa Fe’s Chief approaches the Lamanda Park siding on May 17, 1946. The fireman on the helper is ready to jump off and uncouple his 4-8-2 so it can move into the clear and let 4-8-4 No. 2921 continue east with train 20. Stan Kistler In early 1946, my family moved into a small house […]
The cat’s out of the bag
Anything in the path of fast-moving N&W class J was sure to sustain significant damage. W. A. Akin Jr. Back in the glory days, the speed limit for passenger trains on Norfolk & Western’s Bristol Line was 65 mph. Several of the trains, including 45 and 46, the streamlined Tennessean, did considerable station work en […]
Cosmetic restoration completed on Wabash E8 No. 1009 NEWSWIRE
No. 1009 Norfolk Southern CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Norfolk Southern has completed the cosmetic restoration of the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s Wabash E8 No. 1009. The unit was the 10,000th diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division, commemorated on June 14, 1951, at its La Grange, Ill., facility. The locomotive saw service pulling streamliners such […]
Burlington Route – Video
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