What kind of day did you have?

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Bystanders inspect a sedan deluged with coke during a derailment of an L&N train in Chattanooga. C. K. Marsh Jr. One day in 1965, a friend and I were searching for the obscure terminal of the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railroad in the Alton Park section of Chattanooga. Coming up on a railroad crossing, we […]

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C&O E8’s on “the George”

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Two brand-new E8’s are in charge of the westbound George Washington at Hampton, Va., on Sept. 12, 1951. C&O bought 31 E8’s from EMD between 1951 and ’53, the first 10 of which wore the blue-and-yellow “freight” livery seen here. Bill Taub photo […]

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Fastest hogger on the slim-gauge

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A predecessor of this Rio Grande engineer made a daring Chama–Durango run in 1923. A. C. Kalmbach My grandfather, Marvin Rhodes, lived for almost a century, and he spent more than half of his long life working out of Durango, Colo., on the narrow-gauge lines of the Denver & Rio Grande Western. He hired out […]

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Midwest passenger train consists, July 23-25, 1964

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Trains ridden: C&O-B&O Night Special, Detroit–Toledo–Lima, July 23-24 (C&O No. 21, Detroit Fort Street–Plymouth; C&O No. 48, Plymouth–Toledo; B&O No. 57, Toledo–Lima): B&O 1457/1409 (E9A/E6A), 12 cars* (B&O unless noted): REX 6398 express, REX 7082 express, C&O 396 baggage, 662 baggage, 230 baggage, 47 RPO, 3547 coach, 3572 coach, B&O Pullman sleeper Cascade Drive (MP Eagle […]

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Helping the helper crews at Lamanda Park

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Santa Fe’s Chief approaches the Lamanda Park siding on May 17, 1946. The fireman on the helper is ready to jump off and uncouple his 4-8-2 so it can move into the clear and let 4-8-4 No. 2921 continue east with train 20. Stan Kistler In early 1946, my family moved into a small house […]

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Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography

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FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress Santa Fe conductor George Burton tends the fire in the stove of his freight train’s caboose in March 1943. Burton lived in Chillicothe, Illinois, and worked the run between there and Corwith Yard in Chicago. FULL SCREEN Jack Delano, courtesy of the Library of Congress […]

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The cat’s out of the bag

J at speed

Anything in the path of fast-moving N&W class J was sure to sustain significant damage. W. A. Akin Jr. Back in the glory days, the speed limit for passenger trains on Norfolk & Western’s Bristol Line was 65 mph. Several of the trains, including 45 and 46, the streamlined Tennessean, did considerable station work en […]

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