McCloud might

A black and white photograph of a diesel locomotive leading a freight train

A McCloud River Railroad freight rolls thought Bartle, Calif., in July 1983. Lead unit No. 39 is the road’s sole SD38-2 while trailing unit 38 is the highest numbered of three SD38s. The logging and lumber road operated Baldwin diesels into the late 1960s. Jim Shaw photo […]

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Labor intensive

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Labor intensive Hundred-pound sacks of flour are stacked in a single-sheathed Rock Island boxcar at Minneapolis in 1939. The paper lining helps protect the bags. John Vachon, Library of Congress photo […]

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Innovation ended

Innovation ended

Hundreds of small towns had piggyback ramps through the 1960s, as seen here on the Minneapolis & St. Louis in 1959. However, moving one or two trailers at a time proved economically unviable. J. David Ingles collection […]

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Homemade muscle

Homemade muscle

Norfolk & Western Y6 2-8-8-2 No. 2130, one of the road’s distinctive homegrown designs, works near Elliston, Va., 20 miles west of the road’s headquarters in Roanoke. It was one of 35 such locomotives built 1936–40. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]

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Grain-hauling boxcars

Grain-hauling boxcars

A string of single-sheathed boxcars awaits coopering at an elevator on the Milwaukee Road in Sisseton, S.Dak., in 1939. Single-sheathed boxcars could be found in grain service into the 1960s. John Vachon, Library of Congress photo […]

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Model Railroader Photo of the Day: Bald Knob Junction

It’s a busy afternoon on Jay Polk’s N scale Arkansas Division layout. A pair of Missouri Pacific Alco road switchers wait at Bald Knob Junction for a St. Louis-San Francisco local, led by GP38AC no. 636, to enter MoPac trackage. Steve Crise photographed the scene. Model Railroader‘s Photo of the Day features images from our […]

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Georgia Steam

Gainesville Midland 2-8-0 No. 301 switches at Gainesville, Ga., in the 1950s. The two-story building above its stack is the road’s headquarters and former depot. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Model Railroader Photo of the Day: Southern Fast Mail

A silver and red model locomotive in a desert setting model railroad

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train no. 4, the “Southern Fast Mail,” hustles through Parmerton, Texas, on Jay Miller’s HO scale Panhandle & Santa Fe. Jay, a professional photographer from Dallas, Texas, digitally added the sky, wheat field, diesel exhaust, and dust using Adobe Photoshop. Model Railroader‘s Photo of the Day features images from our […]

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