The arm on a New York Central Railway Post Office car has just snatched the bag from the trackside crane. Incoming bags for such locations would simply be kicked out the door as the train passed. A. C. Kalmbach photo […]
Mail on the fly!
Section: Photos
Homefront supply line
Railroads were the primary means of moving men and materiel within the United States during World War II. Here a freight conductor walks beside flatcars loaded with M3 Lee tanks at an unknown location. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo […]
Photo of the Day
The Burlington Route created the first dome cars by modifying two coaches originally built by Budd in 1940. Silver Dome, pictured on display at Wichita Falls, Texas, was first, in 1945, followed by Silver Castle the next year. Wichita Times-Record News photo […]
The big picture
A westbound Union Pacific manifest freight works its way toward Los Angeles in October 2013 in the “Blue Cut” section of California’s famed Cajon Pass. With the lead locomotives a mile away in the distance, you gain a better perspective of magnitude of the San Gabriel Mountains and the challenges railroads overcame more than […]
Rock Island steam and stainless steel
In April 1948, a Rock Island 4-6-2 with an inbound commuter train approaches Englewood Union Station on Chicago’s South Side as the Peoria Rocket accelerates toward its namesake city. Bob Borcherding photo […]
Relics
A westbound Napoleon, Defiance & Western train crosses a short trestle over a country road near Antwerp, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 2014. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]
Highball
A southbound Norfolk Southern freight takes the clear signal at South Leesburg, Ind., on May 16, 2011. The former New York Central branch line was upgraded with Pennsylvania-style position light signals recycled from other routes during Penn Central ownership. Photo by Bob Jordan […]
Katy freight house in Houston
Freight terminals had extensive docks for trucks on the nonrail side of the structure. This is the Missouri-Kansas-Texas freight station in Houston, Texas, in the 1940s. LeRoy Wilkie photo […]
Scenic South Fork
Norfolk Southern’s Norfolk & Western-painted heritage unit leads northbound train No. 124 through South Fork, Ky., and into the Green River valley on May 31, 2016. Photo by Jeff Wagoner […]
Indiana stranger
A northbound Norfolk Southern freight passes the unique siding switch and signals at North Leesburg, Ind., on March 24, 2011. The Santa Fe-painted locomotive is a run-through from BNSF Railway. Photo by Bob Jordan […]
Steel makin’ train
Taconite pellets roll south through Marion, Ohio, on Oct. 19, 2014, bound for AK Steel in Ashland, Ky. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]
Short line, short train
Pioneer Railcorp GP16 No. 1603 leads a westbound Napoleon, Defiance & Western train at Antwerp, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 2014, with just seven cars in tow. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]
