B&O’s modern Pittsburgh station

20181017

Baltimore & Ohio’s Grant Street Station on the north bank of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh opened in 1957 after a road project claimed the road’s grand 1888 depot nearby. B&O’s through trains had long since switched to the P&LE depot on the south side of the Mon. Green Street closed in 1989 with the […]

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Union stations

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A CSX Transportation freight passes Marion (Ohio) Union Station. The site is now a museum with a restored interlocking tower. Brian Schmidt Q Why is the word “Union” used so often in the names of passenger stations and terminals? For example, Cincinnati Union Terminal, St. Louis Union Station, or Denver Union Station. Is there a […]

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Tracks on the PGA Tour?

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The Providence & Worcester operates in four Northeastern states. Here, train NR3 passes the Thames River in Preston, Conn., on Sept. 1, 2009. Robert A. LaMay Q I was watching a professional golf tournament being played in Cromwell, Conn., just south of Hartford. Who owns the rail line that passes between the 13th hole and […]

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A trip on the Erie

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Two Erie trains, a doodlebug with a Stillwell coach and a Pacific with four Stillwells, climb the steel viaduct out of Jersey City before entering the “Bergen Arches.” Erie Railroad During the 1930s as I was growing up, my father worked for the Erie Railroad as a machinist. One of the perks of his railroad […]

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Wood-burning Prairie

20180925

The engineer oils the valve gear of Brooks-Scanlon Corp. No. 5, a cabbage-stacked, wood-burning 2-6-2 that hauled forest products in Florida. Note the antlers and candlesticks adorning the headlight. Frank Clodfelter photo […]

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Stored Great Northern power

20180917

Five “stored serviceable” steam locomotives occupy a track outside the Great Northern roundhouse at Kelly Lake, Minn., the home terminal for GN’s Minnesota iron-ore operations, in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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UP 2-8-8-0 in Idaho

20180914

Union Pacific 2-8-8-0 3530 is near Pleasant Valley, Idaho, with time freight 655 in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Sixty-four cars back, another 2-8-8-0 pushes on the rear. Henry R. Griffiths Jr. photo […]

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