The Pennsylvania owned 22 Alco RS1s, acquired 1950–51. In this late 1950s view, No. 5620 idles at South Amboy, N.J., in the company of P5a electric 4709. Don Wood photo […]
Pennsy RS1
Era: 1946 - 1970
Reefer block of California potatoes
Santa Fe refrigerator cars loaded with potatoes from Kern County, Calif., head eastward at Topock, Ariz., in 1953. Even though it’s a solid train of one commodity, the cars have many different destinations. The train has just left California by crossing the Colorado River. Santa Fe photo […]
Mainstreeter near Missoula
Northern Pacific’s westbound Mainstreeter carries several head-end cars as it rolls near Missoula, Mont., in 1966, including four NP express baggage cars, a Union Pacific baggage car, and an RPO. Philip C. Johnson photo […]
Man in a hurry
Making 90 mph on an E7, a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road foreman of engines whistles for a grade crossing east of La Crosse, Wis., in July 1955. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
NOUPT’s new ticket counter
Passengers line up along the marble ticket counter just inside the front entrance of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal shortly after its opening in 1954. James G. La Vake photo […]
Ore train on a PRR branch
In September 1955, Pennsylvania Railroad M1 4-8-2 6894 leads an ore train west at Alexandria, Pa., on the road’s Hollidaysburg & Petersburg Branch, part of a route that enabled mainline trains to bypass Altoona. Unseen at the rear, a 2-10-0 pushes behind the cabin car. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Pacific Great Eastern 70-tonners
GE’s 70-tonner was ideal for the lightly constructed Pacific Great Eastern. The British Columbia road had six of them, two of which are seen on a mixed train in the early 1950s. Linn W. Westcott photo […]
Cleaning a grain boxcar
The Soo Line used what it called Mobile Cleaning Units — trucks with a power sweeper, power washers, and other cleaning and repair equipment — to clean and prep boxcars for grain shipment at its yards in Schiller Park (Chicago) and Shoreham (Minneapolis) in the early 1960s. The rig, with two workers, could clean a […]
Day’s end for a 4-4-0
Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 136 waits to enter the one-stall engine house at Norton, N.B., after bringing a mixed train in from Chipman in November 1953. In the background is one of the light bridges on the Chipman line that required the use of three little 4-4-0s. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
J-3a Hudson departing La Salle Street
New York Central J-3a Hudson 5414, modified with twin sealed-beam headlight and high-capacity centipede tender, departs La Salle Street Station, Chicago, with a local for Toledo on June 1, 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
Liberty Limited at Baltimore
GG1 4901’s nose door is ajar as it leads sister 4894 on the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited out of Baltimore in September 1954. The train came in from Chicago behind diesels; the track arrangement at Baltimore required it to be hauled backwards to Washington (note the observation car behind the second G). H. N. Proctor photo […]
Lima along Lake Erie
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 779 hurries west with a freight beside Lake Erie between Lorain and Vermilion, Ohio, in April 1957. The 8-year-old Berkshire was the last steam locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works. John A. Rehor photo […]
