Fall in Wisconsin

C&NW E8 near Devil's Lake in Baraboo, Wisconsin

A C&NW E8 leads the Chicago–Rapid City, S.Dak., Dakota 400 past the shimmering waters of Devil’s Lake on October 7, 1956. Today, Wisconsin & Southern freights pass through this scenic state park, located 3 miles south of Baraboo. Photo by William D. Middleton […]

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Georgia sun

Southern Railway SD35 3055 and CP30 2585 at Pengram Shop

Southern Railway SD35 3055 and GP30 2585 have their high noses out in the Georgia sun at the end of their journey through Pegram Shop in Atlanta in March 1967. The railroad had 100 SD35s and 120 GP30s. Photo by Walter A. Appel […]

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Shark nose style

Baldwin shark-nosed DR-4-4-15

Baldwin’s shark-nosed DR-4-4-15 demonstrator set appears in a 1949 photo. Typical of builders’ offerings of the time, it was constructed in an A-B-B-A set. Photo by Baldwin […]

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Small town railroading

Santa Fe local 42 in California

Santa Fe local 42, with 4-6-2 3445, rolls along Duarte Road in the community of Duarte, Calif., east of Los Angeles on January 1, 1952. The railroad had 50 locomotives in the class, Nos. 3400–3449, built by Baldwin in 1919–1924 and retired in the early 1950s. Photo by Stan Kistler […]

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Diesels victorious

Pittsburgh & Western Virginia Fairbanks-Morse H20-44s in West Virginia

Two Pittsburgh & Western Virginia Fairbanks-Morse H20-44s lead 81-car train 92 into Louise, W.Va., in March 1950. P&WV completely dieselized its road trains with the Fairbanks-Morse units, sending all seven of its 2-6-6-4s to scrap. Photo by J.J. Young Jr. […]

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Deco depot

Last Vegas Depot in 1940

In 1940 Union Pacific replaced its old Las Vegas depot with this one, designed in a variant of the Art Deco style known as Streamline Moderne. The railroad’s shield and “Route of the Streamliners and the Challengers” sign — both rendered in neon, of course — faced up casino-lined Fremont Street. In 1956, UP augmented […]

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Remembering New York, Ontario & Western passenger trains

Cab unit diesel locomotive leads a passenger train.

  All through November 2020, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the charm and notoriety of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway that spanned central New York State. Check out this photo gallery of “Old & Weary” passenger trains from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. If you like this gallery, you […]

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Sterling performers

Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0s arriving at Northwestern Steel & Wire in Chicago

Northwestern Steel & Wire, located in Sterling, Ill., beside Chicago & North Western’s east-west main line, cut up untold numbers of steam locomotives in the 1950s and early ’60s to provide raw material for its furnaces. Among the condemned engines entering the plant were 15 Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0s, which arrived in 1960. NS&W spared […]

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Where there’s smoke

Delaware & Hudson PA's 18 and 19 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Where there’s smoke. . . there’s often an Alco. Delaware & Hudson PA’s 18 and 19 blast north out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with the Laurentian in June 1969. Doyle McCormack is restoring No. 18 (ex- Santa Fe 62L) as “Nickel Plate 190” in Oregon, while sister 16 has moved to the Museum of the American […]

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Missabe 2-8-0 at work

Duluth Missabe and Iron Range 2-8-0 at Rainy Junction, Minn.

Missabe 2-8-0 at work Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 1218 has hold of a side-door caboose as it switches cars around Oliver Iron Mining Co.’s plant at Rainy Junction, Minn., in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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