The Pennsylvania Railroad had 100 such 60-foot class X40B boxcars with 7-foot doors for merchandise service, a role made clear by the cars’ paint scheme. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]
Merchandise Service
Section: Photo of the Day
Lehigh legacy
Three Lehigh Valley Alco C420s fly the company flag at Treichler, Pa., in May 1974. The units were delivered in the mid-1960s in gray and yellow. Mike Bednar photo […]
Golden Spike Centennial
The Golden Spike Centennial Limited leaves Kansas City (Mo.) Union Station on May 14, 1969, St. Louis-bound via Norfolk & Western. Don Wood photo […]
Glowing gateway
The clean-lined entrance to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal features a liberal use of glass and is brilliantly lighted at night. James G. La Vake photo […]
Flexi-Van variety
Although most closely associated with developer New York Central, a number of other roads had Flexi-Van equipment on their rosters. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, for example, had 100 refrigerated Flexi-Van containers equipped with meat rails. New York Central photo […]
Driftwood departure
Coal empties leave Pennsylvania Railroad’s Buffalo Line at Driftwood, Pa., in 1955, bound for the mines. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Double diesel
Union Pacific U50C No. 5000 lays over at the railroad’s North Platte, Neb., shop on Jan. 21, 1975. It was one of 40 such units on the railroad in operation from 1969 to 1978. Bruce Barrett photo […]
Class of their own
In early 1954, Union Pacific 4-12-2 No. 9028 brings a train into North Platte, Neb., from the east. Only UP had 4-12-2s, 88 built during 1926–30, which led to the wheel arrangement being called the Union Pacific type. Art Stensvad photo […]
California commerce
The Southern Pacific had large trailer-on-flatcar ramps in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Multiple trains could be loaded and unloaded at the same time. This view is from the early 1960s. Southern Pacific photo […]
Automotive anachronisms
Several Chevrolets await loading at General Motors’ Tarrytown, N.Y., assembly plant in 1951. Tracks extend along both sides of an elevated platform. In the intervening decades, railroads and manufacturers have switched to multi-level auto racks for the shipment of new automobiles. New York Central photo […]
Automated Railway
In a view taken halfway up a light tower we see Union Pacific’s modern hump yard at North Platte, Neb., around 1950. At the bottom left is the hump tower, and the two cars just above it are rolling free toward the master retarder. Union Pacific photo […]
Pennsy power
Pennsylvania Railroad 2-10-4 No. 6456 is one of 125 such locomotives on the roster. The home-built engines were in the J1 and J1a classes, built between 1942 and 1944. The last was retired in 1959. Classic Trains collection […]
