A Milwaukee Road switcher moves a cut of refrigerator cars at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minn., in 1942. Most of the reefers are wood-sheathed cars leased from North American. Classic Trains collection […]
Meat reefers at Hormel
Section: Railroads
Head-on collision aftermath
Northern Pacific 2-8-2 No. 1917 lies on its side after being hit head-on at nearly 50 mph by four F units on a freight train. The incident occurred at Wibaux, a lonely siding in far eastern Montana, on September 20, 1954. Wing Studios photo […]
Hudson on the Riley
New York Central J-1 4-6-4 No. 5373 brings the Chicago-bound James Whitcomb Riley into Kankakee, Ill., on January 23, 1956. The Riley and other trains on NYC’s former “Big Four” lines were among the last stands of the great Hudsons. M. L. Powell photo […]
Lehigh Valley mail car
Workers transfer mail between a Post Office Department truck and a Lehigh Valley Railway Post Office car around 1910. The 60-foot, all-steel RPO is state of the art, unlike the ancient wooden, open-platform car to its left. Library of Congress photo […]
Classic Frisco
One of the St. Louis-San Francisco’s beautiful 1500-series 4-8-2s swings through a reverse curve about 20 miles east of Oklahoma City with the Meteor from St. Louis in October 1946. Preston George photo […]
“All aboard — and that’s an order!”
Newly inducted soldiers at Maryland’s Fort George G. Meade are lined up to board a Baltimore & Ohio troop train in May 1953. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
A 4-4-0 in 1952
Chicago & Illinois Midland 4-4-0 No. 500, built by Baldwin at the late date of 1927, pulls away from Hill Top, Ill., with the daily-except-Sunday train from Pekin to Springfield, Ill. The date is May 20, 1952 — late in the game indeed for American types on Class I railroads. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Taking Care of Business: Hull-Oakes Lumber Co., Part 1
Charlie Conway visits Oregon’s Hull-Oakes Lumber Company to explore an industry with historically strong ties to the railroads of North America. In this first of two TCB episodes, you’ll get to see exclusive insider views of the harvesting, hauling, and cutting processes in and around the sawmill. Plus, you’ll gain new appreciation of the people […]
Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 36 – Dash to Yellowhead Pass
Host Drew Halverson, along with KJ and Mike, found themselves far north of the U.S.-Canada border, right in the thick of the rugged Canadian Rockies! For their wildest adventure yet, Drew and The Crew teamed up with local sherpas for exhilarating explorations up, down, and all around Canadian National’s Yellowhead Pass. Don’t miss the full […]
GM&O’s “Plug”
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio F3 883-A leads the road’s weekday commuter train to Joliet away from Chicago Union Station not long before GM&O merged with Illinois Central to form Illinois Central Gulf. The little train was widely known as “The Plug.” John R. Taibi photo […]
PTC and passenger speeds
Amtrak’s ‘Empire Builder’ streaks through Brookfield, Wis. The speed limit for Amtrak on Canadian Pacific’s Watertown Subdivision is 79 mph. Tom Danneman Q Most Amtrak trains have a 79-mph speed limit. Will positive train control systems allow Amtrak to operate faster where track conditions allow? For instance, the Southwest Chief operates to 90 mph in […]
Stalled on Kirkwood Hill
Greasy rails on Missouri Pacific’s Kirkwood Hill west of St. Louis have brought 2-10-2 helper No. 1716 and 4-8-4 road engine No. 2111 to a halt in March 1946. The train got moving again with an assist from an 0-8-0. Joe Collias photo […]
