Action may be required on your Trains.com account in order to continue accessing content. Click here to learn more.
In the late 1960s and in to the ’70s, I had numerous rides on Toledo, Peoria & Western freight trains in both directions out of Peoria, Ill., where I grew up. The TP&W interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors 108 miles east at Effner, Ind., and with the Santa Fe 114 miles west […]
Sunset on the swamp Framed by trees heavy with Spanish moss, the eastbound Southern Pacific Sunset Limited crosses a bayou near Morgan City, La., about 80 miles west of New Orleans, in 1958. Diesels and streamlined cars came in 1950. Classic Trains collection […]
Altamont Pass(enger) During its 924 miles on the Western Pacific, the westbound California Zephyr passes through the barren hills of Altamont Pass, Calif., on March 15, 1953. W. E. Malloy Jr. photo […]
Steel-side classic Pacific Fruit Express’s largest class of steel reefers was the 5,000 cars of R-40-23 starting in 1947. They had improved Dreadnaught ends, fans, and steel running boards. Mainline Photos photo […]
Detroit diesels In March 1965 near Detroit, New York Central GP40 3039 leads two sisters south on the Dearborn Branch as they approach the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton crossing at Schaefer Tower. Henry G. Goerke photo […]
Vest pocket streamliner Union Pacific’s original streamliner, the little M-10000 of February 1934, is at Chatsworth, Calif., on the Southern Pacific during its national tour. Gerald M. Best photo […]
Collection elevator This small collection elevator near Bayneville, Kans., typical of the thousands of wooden country elevators that were once common across the Midwest and West, is loading a boxcar, while two trucks wait with incoming wheat at the start of the grain rush in June 1952. The small elevator isn’t as wide as the […]
Steam queen For a few years in the late 1930s, the steam queens of New Haven’s Shore Line were 10 class I-5 4-6-4s. The handsome Hudsons’ wheel-balance woes prompted NH to begin acquiring a fleet of 60 DL109 diesels in 1941. Here, an I-5 roars west with the Merchants Limited at Sharon, Mass. Wayne Brumbaugh […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A San Jose rail historical group has announced plans to relocate a Southern Pacific steam locomotive, roundhouse, and turntable to the Pacific Locomotive Association’s Niles Canyon Railway in Sunol, Calif. The California Trolley and Railroad Corp. will move partially restored Southern Pacific 4-6-2 No. 2479, along with the roundhouse and its […]
Postwar ‘El Cap’ A Santa Fe publicity photo shows the inside the postwar El Capitan. In 1956, the all-coach train was re-equipped with innovative new “Hi-Level” double-deck cars. Santa Fe photo […]
Black Fork Gorge Seven Western Maryland 2-8-0s — two up front, three at midtrain, and two ahead of the caboose — urge a 78-car eastbound train up the twisting grade through the Black Fork Gorge toward Thomas, W.Va. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Williamsport-bound At Fassett, Pa., just south of the New York state line, I1 4315 gets a roll on a Williamsport-bound freight. Rugged, simple, powerful, and compact, the I1’s served for four decades. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
