Photo of the Day

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Vertical crossing signals

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A less common crossing signal warned motorists of oncoming trains by blinking “stop.” Kevin King Q As a child in the 1950s and 1960s, I saw a number of railroad grade crossings on the Wabash that were protected by a row of vertical lights on the signal mast in addition to the standard red alternating […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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