FULL SCREEN UP photo Casement Brothers construction train used during the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Three 4-4-0s were the power this day. FULL SCREEN UP photo Casement Brothers camp train during the construction of the UP. Note the barely finished cottonwood logs stacked as ties to the left and the scant ballast, probably […]
Section: Railroads
The Russian rolls

Gainesville Midland Russian Decapod No. 206 rolls near Candler, Ga., on March 25, 1955, with a freight from the Seaboard Air Line connection at Athens. The engine was once Seaboard Air Line No. 544 and had originally been built for export to Russia but never went overseas. Photo by Hugh M. Comer […]
Alco time in Florida

Seaboard Coast Line C420s Nos. 1214 and 1222 work Rochelle, Fla., on April 13, 1974. The rare units later were shipped to SCL affiliate Louisville & Nashville when that railroad became power short in the late 1970s. Photo by William J. Husa Jr. […]
Historic diesel and steam

Norfolk & Western Bicentennial SD45 No. 1776 ties onto Southern Railway 2-8-2 No. 4501 at Mullens, W.Va., on July 5, 1974, during the multi-day Independence Limited II excursion from Cincinnati to Alexandria, Va. The SD45 helped the 1911 Mikado on steep grades over former Virginian trackage between Gilbert and Narrows. Photo by J. David Ingles […]
John Walker Barriger III: He Healed Railroads Using Pictures

FULL SCREEN Photograph by John Walker Barriger III. Courtesy of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis. A westbound, steam-powered freight train on the Santa Fe Railway framed by the front window of an early diesel locomotive at Matfield Green, Kansas, circa 1940. The diesel, […]
A rare look Southbound

Seaboard System Railroad officials inspect the jointly owned Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad (with Norfolk Southern) on Aug. 8, 1985. The train is crossing the Yadkin River near Badin, N.C., behind former Clinchfield Railroad F units Nos. 116 and 117. Photo by Doug Koontz […]
High hopes but no luck

In high hopes of increased coal traffic, West Virginia’s Middle Fork Railroad in the early 1960s laid heavier rail on its main line. Some of that rail waits in gons while a loaded coal train moves past at Ellamore, W.Va. Alas, the traffic never materialized. Photo by J. Michael Dunn III […]
Virginian Railway

Read about the Virginian Railway in a PDF of the article: “A Bit of Flair in the Coalfields” published in the Fall 2001 issue of Classic Trains in the Fallen Flags Remembered section. Download the story by clicking on the PDF below. […]
One man’s favorite locomotive

Engineer Norman Strickland (in front of cylinder) and fireman Russell Phillips stand at Perryville, Md., with G5s 1592, ready to depart with MD-58 for Philadelphia via the Octoraro Branch. George Gillespie Probably 90 percent of all railfans would say their favorite locomotive is the one on which they took their first cab ride. This is […]
Reading Company

Read about the Reading Company’s railroad in a PDF of the Fallen Flags Remembered article: “Take a Ride on the Reading” published in the Summer 2000 issue of Classic Trains magazine. Download the story by clicking on the PDF below. […]
Take a photo tour of Amtrak’s new Miami shop
FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston Welcome to Hialeah! Amtrak shares space in the 53-acre shop area with CSX and Tri-Rail vendors Veolia and Bombardier, which service Tri-Rail’s Miami-West Palm Beach commuter trains. FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston Wheels that have been recently trued (machined and straightened) are put on a truck for the Auto Train facility at […]
When the Green Hornet raced the Hiawatha

On a day when they left the “Green Hornet” parked in order to simply watch the Afternoon Hiawatha sweep by, artist buddies Howard Fogg (at right in photo) and Gil Reid witnessed an F7 Hudson lean into Deerfield Curve with the Chicago-bound train. Gil Reid The year is 1939, and I am a student at […]