Shortline Ten-Wheeler

20180302

Engine 304 of western New York state short line Dansville & Mount Morris, pictured in September 1955, was built in 1905 by Alco’s Brooks plant for the Nickel Plate Road. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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PRR Congressional observation car

20180312

During a preview trip, members of the press enjoy one of the new parlor-lounge-observation cars the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired from Budd for the March 1952 re-equipping of the Congressional and Senator. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]

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SCL piggyback train

20180322

Two Seaboard Coast Line GP40s lead a fast piggyback train through Neuse, N.C., a few miles north of Raleigh on the former Seaboard Air Line main line in June 1979. Curt Tillotson Jr. photo […]

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West Virginia survivor

20180307

2-8-0 No. 4 of short line Buffalo Creek & Gauley works at Swandale, W.Va., in the early 1960s. After a spell at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, where it ran as “Southern Railway 604,” this engine is now at Cass, W.Va. Classic Trains coll. […]

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Topping Tennessee Pass

20180309

At Mitchell, Colo., an eastbound freight train is about a mile short of Tennessee Pass on Oct. 5, 1947. In deference to the stiff grade, the 4-8-2 road engine is assisted by a 2-8-8-2 at mid-train and another 2-8-8-2 at the rear — all for a 30-car train. Ralph E. Hallock photo […]

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The “middle” order

NS1615

Baldwin road-switcher 1615 passes the Hertford, N.C., depot with Norfolk Southern freight 88 in January 1965. A few months later, removal of a siding here would cause some confusion. Harry Bundy Telegraph operators working from the extra list rolled with the punches. They were on call 24/7, as they say now, to fill vacancies created […]

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Two big engines that couldn’t

Smoking steam Missouri Pacific locomotives with freight train

After a 2-10-2 and 4-8-4 stalled on MoPac’s Kirkwood Hill, an 0-8-0 and caboose couple up to render assistance. Joe Collias Heading west from St. Louis, Missouri Pacific trains faced the 6-mile-long, 1-percent grade known as Kirkwood Hill. Normal train length was 100 cars, powered by one of the rebuilt 2101-class 4-8-4s and led by […]

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