GE’s 70-tonner was ideal for the lightly constructed Pacific Great Eastern. The British Columbia road had six of them, two of which are seen on a mixed train in the early 1950s. Linn W. Westcott photo […]
Pacific Great Eastern 70-tonners
Cleaning a grain boxcar
The Soo Line used what it called Mobile Cleaning Units — trucks with a power sweeper, power washers, and other cleaning and repair equipment — to clean and prep boxcars for grain shipment at its yards in Schiller Park (Chicago) and Shoreham (Minneapolis) in the early 1960s. The rig, with two workers, could clean a […]
Day’s end for a 4-4-0
Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 136 waits to enter the one-stall engine house at Norton, N.B., after bringing a mixed train in from Chipman in November 1953. In the background is one of the light bridges on the Chipman line that required the use of three little 4-4-0s. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
J-3a Hudson departing La Salle Street
New York Central J-3a Hudson 5414, modified with twin sealed-beam headlight and high-capacity centipede tender, departs La Salle Street Station, Chicago, with a local for Toledo on June 1, 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
Liberty Limited at Baltimore
GG1 4901’s nose door is ajar as it leads sister 4894 on the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited out of Baltimore in September 1954. The train came in from Chicago behind diesels; the track arrangement at Baltimore required it to be hauled backwards to Washington (note the observation car behind the second G). H. N. Proctor photo […]
Lima along Lake Erie
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 779 hurries west with a freight beside Lake Erie between Lorain and Vermilion, Ohio, in April 1957. The 8-year-old Berkshire was the last steam locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works. John A. Rehor photo […]
0-4-0T amid smoke and steam
Four-wheel saddle-tanker No. 3, a 1910 product of Alco’s Cooke works, is enveloped in clouds of smoke and steam at the Colorado Fuel & Iron facility in Birdsboro, Pa., east of Reading, in September 1957. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]
Challengers on Helmstetter’s Curve
Western Maryland 4-6-6-4s up front and at mid-train lift a freight upgrade around Helmstetter’s Curve in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Today, Western Maryland Scenic Railway tourist trains still traverse this landmark a few miles west of Cumberland, Md. George C. Corey photo […]
City of San Francisco consists
See sample consists of the Overland Route’s City of San Francisco from 1936, 1939, 1947, and 1955. Download the information by clicking here. […]
Horseshoe Curve in 1969
See color movies that Dave’s friend Dick Wallin took during their 1969 visit to Horseshoe Curve. […]
When the train left, the fun paled
Central of Georgia’s 500-series Consolidations possessed good lines accented by interesting detail: visored headlight, capped stack, serif numerals, striped sandbox, generous cab. Classic Trains collection An alligator crosshead moving back and forth on its greased guides to the dictates of a hot piston rod; the hurried, hollow sighs up the stack as a pair of […]
The Shaughnessy Files
In honor of Jim Shaughnessy, a legendary railroad photographer, we have gathered together a free 15-page PDF download filled with three stories written and photographed by Shaughnessy. […]
