Liberty Limited at Baltimore

20190312

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 […]

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Lima along Lake Erie

20190311

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 […]

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0-4-0T amid smoke and steam

20190315

Four-wheel saddle-tanker No. 3, a 1910 product of Alco’s Cooke works, is enveloped in clouds of smoke and steam at the Colorado Fuel & Iron facility in Birdsboro, Pa., east of Reading, in September 1957. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]

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Challengers on Helmstetter’s Curve

20190304

Western Maryland 4-6-6-4s up front and at mid-train lift a freight upgrade around Helmstetter’s Curve in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Today, Western Maryland Scenic Railway tourist trains still traverse this landmark a few miles west of Cumberland, Md. George C. Corey photo […]

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Belt Railway C424s

20181002

Alco built a total of 190 Century 424 road-switchers during 1963–67. Nearly half went to Canada, and a quarter to Mexico. Of the 53 built for U.S. customers, 6 were for the Belt Railway of Chicago, which used them until 1999. Harold A. Edmonson photo […]

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Three-way race on the B&M

20181012

Just out of Boston’s North Station, three Boston & Maine trains have crossed the Charles River drawbridges and approach the Charlestown Avenue bridge in mid-1947. From left: a 4-6-2 with a beach special, an E7 with the Alouette for Montreal via Canadian Pacific, and another 4-6-2 on the Boston section of the Green Mountain Flyer, bound for […]

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UP 2-10-2 on the run

20181023

The 2-10-2 Santa Fe type wasn’t generally known for speed, but Union Pacific 5015 looks like a real racehorse heading west across Nebraska with empty reefers in the late 1940s. Linn W. Westcott photo […]

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UP Challenger type

20181009

Union Pacific introduced the 4-6-6-4 Challenger type in 1936 when it received 15 engines from Alco. UP eventually owned 105 of the 252 4-6-6-4s produced; No. 3937 is from the road’s final order, delivered in 1944. Art Stensvad photo […]

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